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Sean Merriman, BTN.com web editor, January 16, 2014
BTN senior writer Tom Dienhart put together an outstanding piece earlier today, highlighting the 10 best Big Ten football teams in the BCS era, which ran 16 seasons stretching from 1998-2013.
[ MORE: One look back at Big Ten's best BCS era teams ]
With any list of this magnitude comes plenty of fan chatter, going back and fourth about which teams deserved to be higher and lower on this list. Of course, there's no way to determine which team would win if these 10 squads got together and played in a tournament-style playoff. But we decided to do the next best thing.
Using the software from WhatIfSports, we paired each team in a tournament format and simulated 10 games, generating each game's possible outcome, including actual box scores. The results were rather intriguing.
1. 2002 Ohio State vs. 10. 2010 Michigan State
Winner: 2002 Ohio State, 6-4 (out of 10 possible simulations)
Game 10 Box Score:
| Final – 1/16/2014 | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 Ohio State Buckeyes | 0 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 13 |
| 2010 Michigan State Spartans | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 12 |
| Scoring Summary | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Quarter | ||||
| MSU | 10:36 | FG | Dan Conroy 31 yds. | 0-3 |
| MSU | 4:38 | FG | Dan Conroy 27 yds. | 0-6 |
| 2nd Quarter | ||||
| MSU | 12:52 | FG | Dan Conroy 28 yds. | 0-9 |
| OhioSt | 8:08 | TD | Maurice Clarett 15 yd. run (Nugent kick) | 7-9 |
| OhioSt | 0:00 | FG | Mike Nugent 28 yds. | 10-9 |
| 3rd Quarter | ||||
| OhioSt | 11:46 | FG | Mike Nugent 42 yds. | 13-9 |
| MSU | 0:48 | FG | Dan Conroy 21 yds. | 13-12 |
2. 2013 Michigan State vs. 9. 1998 Wisconsin
Winner: 2013 Michigan State, 6-4 (out of 10 simulations)
Game 10 Box Score:
| Final – 1/16/2014 | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 Michigan State Spartans | 10 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 29 |
| 1998 Wisconsin Badgers | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| Scoring Summary | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Quarter | ||||
| MSU | 11:36 | FG | Michael Geiger 42 yds. | 3-0 |
| MSU | 0:07 | TD | Jeremy Langford 69 yd. pass from Cook (Geiger kick) | 10-0 |
| 2nd Quarter | ||||
| Wisc | 4:09 | FG | Matt Davenport 46 yds. | 10-3 |
| MSU | 1:00 | TD | Macgarrett Kings 9 yd. pass from Cook (Geiger kick) | 17-3 |
| MSU | 0:00 | FG | Michael Geiger 26 yds. | 20-3 |
| 3rd Quarter | ||||
| MSU | 9:32 | FG | Michael Geiger 32 yds. | 23-3 |
| Wisc | 2:36 | FG | Matt Davenport 32 yds. | 23-6 |
| 4th Quarter | ||||
| MSU | 4:40 | FG | Michael Geiger 44 yds. | 26-6 |
| MSU | 1:37 | FG | Michael Geiger 42 yds. | 29-6 |
3. 1998 Ohio State vs. 8. 1999 Wisconsin
Winner: 1998 Ohio State, 10-0 (out of 10 simulations)
Game 10 Box Score:
| Scoring Summary | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Quarter | ||||
| OhioSt | 10:15 | TD | David Boston 7 yd. pass from Germaine (Stultz kick) | 7-0 |
| OhioSt | 7:38 | TD | Joe Montgomery 36 yd. run (Stultz kick) | 14-0 |
| OhioSt | 0:41 | TD | John Lumpkin 18 yd. pass from Germaine (Stultz kick) | 21-0 |
| 2nd Quarter | ||||
| Wisc | 11:32 | FG | Vitaly Pisetsky 32 yds. | 21-3 |
| Wisc | 7:06 | FG | Vitaly Pisetsky 35 yds. | 21-6 |
| Wisc | 2:38 | TD | Nick Davis 80 yd. pass from Bollinger (Pisetsky kick) | 21-13 |
| OhioSt | 0:51 | FG | Dan Stultz 36 yds. | 24-13 |
| OhioSt | 0:20 | TD | John Lumpkin 21 yd. pass from Germaine (Stultz kick) | 31-13 |
| 3rd Quarter | ||||
| OhioSt | 10:28 | TD | Steve Wisniewski 48 yd. pass from Germaine (Stultz kick) | 38-13 |
| Wisc | 9:09 | TD | Ron Dayne 39 yd. run (Pisetsky kick) | 38-20 |
| OhioSt | 3:24 | FG | Dan Stultz 33 yds. | 41-20 |
| OhioSt | 0:15 | TD | Michael Wiley 37 yd. run (Stultz kick) | 48-20 |
| 4th Quarter | ||||
| OhioSt | 10:56 | FG | Dan Stultz 36 yds. | 51-20 |
| Wisc | 10:30 | TD | Ron Dayne 3 yd. run (Pisetsky kick) | 51-27 |
| OhioSt | 7:18 | FG | Dan Stultz 22 yds. | 54-27 |
| Wisc | 3:14 | TD | Demetrius Brown 4 yd. pass from Kavanagh (2-PT conversion failed) | 54-33 |
4. 2006 Ohio State vs. 7. 2010 Wisconsin
Winner: 2006 Ohio State, 7-3 (out of 10 simulations)
Game 3 Box Score:
| Final – 1/16/2014 | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 Ohio State Buckeyes | 6 | 17 | 13 | 28 | 64 |
| 2010 Wisconsin Badgers | 7 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 20 |
| Scoring Summary | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Quarter | ||||
| OhioSt | 12:01 | FG | Aaron Pettrey 28 yds. | 3-0 |
| Wisc | 5:07 | TD | John Clay 6 yd. run (Welch kick) | 3-7 |
| OhioSt | 1:43 | FG | Aaron Pettrey 37 yds. | 6-7 |
| 2nd Quarter | ||||
| Wisc | 14:49 | FG | Philip Welch 25 yds. | 6-10 |
| OhioSt | 11:01 | TD | Chris Wells 18 yd. run (Pettrey kick) | 13-10 |
| Wisc | 6:52 | TD | David Gilreath 11 yd. pass from Tolzien (Welch kick) | 13-17 |
| OhioSt | 2:09 | TD | Maurice Wells 2 yd. run (Pettrey kick) | 20-17 |
| OhioSt | 0:00 | FG | Aaron Pettrey 28 yds. | 23-17 |
| 3rd Quarter | ||||
| OhioSt | 8:51 | TD | Antonio Pittman 37 yd. run (Pettrey kick) | 30-17 |
| OhioSt | 5:00 | TD | Brian Hartline 41 yd. pass from Smith (Pettrey missed extra point) | 36-17 |
| 4th Quarter | ||||
| Wisc | 14:56 | FG | Philip Welch 29 yds. | 36-20 |
| OhioSt | 11:00 | TD | Chris Wells 14 yd. run (Pettrey kick) | 43-20 |
| OhioSt | 6:43 | TD | Chris Wells 70 yd. run (Pettrey kick) | 50-20 |
| OhioSt | 4:30 | TD | 87 yd interception return (Pettrey kick) | 57-20 |
| OhioSt | 1:43 | TD | Antonio Pittman 51 yd. run (Pettrey kick) | 64-20 |
5. 2002 Iowa vs. 6. 2007 Ohio State
Winner: 2002 Iowa, 8-2 (out of 10 simulations)
Game 4 Box Score:
| 2002 Iowa Hawkeyes | 3 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 20 |
| 2007 Ohio State Buckeyes | 7 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 13 |
| Scoring Summary | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Quarter | ||||
| OhioSt | 11:24 | TD | Chris Wells 7 yd. run (Pretorius kick) | 0-7 |
| Iowa | 5:26 | FG | Nate Kaeding 38 yds. | 3-7 |
| 2nd Quarter | ||||
| Iowa | 11:52 | FG | Nate Kaeding 21 yds. | 6-7 |
| 3rd Quarter | ||||
| Iowa | 11:49 | FG | Nate Kaeding 39 yds. | 9-7 |
| OhioSt | 9:35 | FG | Ryan Pretorius 34 yds. | 9-10 |
| 4th Quarter | ||||
| OhioSt | 14:56 | FG | Ryan Pretorius 26 yds. | 9-13 |
| Iowa | 4:39 | FG | Nate Kaeding 37 yds. | 12-13 |
| Iowa | 0:32 | TD | Dallas Clark 4 yd. pass from Banks (Russell 2-PT conversion) | 20-13 |
