The last week of the regular season is upon us. While Ohio State vs. Michigan is always going to be the Big Ten’s biggest rivalry, the biggest game this weekend is in Madison where Penn State and Wisconsin play for the right to represent the Leaders Division in the first-ever Big Ten Championship Game.

First off, apologies for the absence of the Numbers last week. The demands brought on by our Penn State coverage proved to be a bit too overwhelming.

November is here, and the Big Ten races are officially the most convoluted mess I’ve ever seen. Actually, I’m not sure there are official stats for that kind of thing – but, suffice to say, I didn’t see this coming. No fewer than eight teams head into the final month of the regular season with a shot at playing in Indy on Dec. 3. Crazy.

What can I possibly say about last week’s Wisconsin-Michigan State game that hasn’t already been said by the greatest of men – or at least by those who talk about college football and publish their material in the immediate aftermath of the game?

One of the things I enjoy about college football is that you never really know what’s coming. Because there are so few games in a season relative to other sports and because so much needs to be sorted out in those few games, college football lends itself to having multiple “games of the year.” Nebraska-Wisconsin seemed like the Big Ten “game of the year” a few weeks ago. Now Wisconsin-Michigan State is taking on that feel. And, if the Badgers win and, say, Illinois gets back on track, then their meeting in Champaign on Nov. 19 will get that “game of the year” tag. Or, if the Spartans win, their game at Nebraska next week may suddenly earn the spotlight treatment.

The Big Ten is set to record a first this week – a first that might fly under the radar but one that could play a significant role in determining which two teams square off in the first-ever Big Ten Championship Game on Saturday, Dec. 3. For the first time ever every conference game this weekend is also a divisional game.  Remember, the divisional record is the next tie-breaker when a multiple-team tie can’t be broken by head-to-head record.  A three-way tie seems eminently possible in the Legends Division where parity may reign (see full tiebreaker rules at BigTen.org).

Wow. So, it seems like Wisconsin is pretty good. I don’t normally focus the Numbers on teams that aren’t playing this week because, well, then what would I talk about the next week? But, it seems reasonable to make at least a minor exception here.

Conference play is finally here. Nothing against the Tennessee Techs, Chattanoogas and South Carolina States of the world, but …  actually, I don’t even know how to finish that sentence. Maybe I do have something against them. Perhaps it’s time for some introspection, time to come clean…

I said at the beginning of last week’s Numbers that the Illinois game excited me the most of any one on the Week 3 slate, and the Illini did not disappoint. Their 17-14 win over then-No. 18 Arizona State turned the nation on to something Howard, Gerry and I believed when we saw them in the pre-season: The Illini are for real. The numbers I gave last week were related to their offense, but the real story of the game was the “D.” So that’s where we’ll begin this week.

I wouldn’t necessarily have thought this going into the season, but the game that excites me the most on the Big Ten slate this weekend is Illinois’ game with Arizona State. Obviously, Ohio State–Miami and Michigan State–Notre Dame are generating more national buzz.  But Gerry, Howard and I thought the Illini were a legitimate contender in the Leaders Division when we watched them in the pre-season  and this is our first opportunity to see if we’re right.