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Big Ten latest: Who Has a Road to the Semis?

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Big Ten latest: Who Has a Road to the Semis?

Indiana wins big despite some issues. Alex Goff photo.

Indiana, Ohio State, and Notre Dame all won this weekend in Big Ten action, with those three teams now a total of 8-1 in conference play.

Notre Dame has the only conference loss among those three, losing their opener to Ohio State 39-14—a game the Irish would certainly have wished was a little later in the fall.

Indiana won comfortably over a rebuilding Illinois side 69-15. New Head Coach Luke Gross has been installing a new system and this was probably a good game for his side to test it out, as they could rely on their athleticism to make up for errors.

And there were errors.

"We are starting to play our attack and defense systems," said Gross. "But penalties and turnovers are killing us."

For Ohio State, some injuries have plagued them, but the Buckeyes put 60 on Michigan. Tries from prop Joey Phipps, scrumhalf Vince Carso, and wing Hunter Simons put them up 21-0 and they never looked back. Eddie Maxen, Chris Mason, and Nick Zolikoff (back from injury) all scored before halftime. Connor Forrestal converted four and it was 38-0 at the break.

The Buckeyes did a good job of spreading the wealth and cruised to the victory.

With all of that it seems pretty clear that, imperfect as they are Indiana should win the Bog 10 Est. The chase is on for 2nd place and while no team has put its hand up yet, Purdue has their destiny in their hands with upcoming games against Wisconsin and Illinois in October.

In the Big 10 West Ohio State is on the inside track to finish 1st, and Notre Dame for 2nd. But it is not set in stone. Michigan State can still make a move, playing at Notre Dame on October 15 and at Michigan on October 29.

The top two from each side will play in the semifinals on November 5.

Big 10 East W L T PF PA PD BT BL Pts
Indiana 2 0 0 96 20 76 1 0 9
Illinois 1 3 0 82 210 -128 1 0 5
Wisconsin 0 3 0 47 125 -78 1 1 2
Purdue 0 1 0 0 34 -34 0 0 0
                   
Big 10 West W L T PF PA PD BT BL Pts
Ohio State 3 0 0 170 54 116 3 0 15
Notre Dame 3 1 0 132 49 83 3 0 15
Michigan State 2 1 0 91 47 44 2 0 10
Michigan 0 2 0 21 100 -79 0 0 0