Who won the Big Ten during the 2015 college football season?
The Big Ten conference boasted some of the best talent in all of college football last season, as six teams from the conference finished in the Associated Press Top 25. As the page turns to 2016, there will once again be a couple of conference teams who should be in the mix for the National Championship Game.
Last season, the East Division of the Big Ten had three of the top 12 teams in the country, as Ohio State (4), Michigan State (6), and Michigan (12) all had tremendous seasons. In the end, Michigan State beat Ohio State to win the division, clinching their spot in the Big Ten Championship Game.
Over in the West Division, Iowa was the team to beat last year, but the problem was, nobody could beat them. The Hawkeyes went an incredible 8-0 in the conference, and punched their ticket to the Big Ten Championship Game, where they would face the Spartans on December 5.
The contest was a low-scoring affair, as both Michigan State and Iowa struggled to get in the end-zone. In total, the two teams combined for only two touchdowns, with Michigan State defeating Iowa 16-13.
In the first quarter, the two teams traded field goals, and Iowa tacked on another three when Marshall Koehn hit his second field goal of the game. Leading 6-3 at the half, Iowa could not get anything done in the third quarter, as the Spartans tacked on two field goals to head into the fourth quarter with a 9-6 lead.
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Iowa would reach the end-zone first, as quarterback C.J. Beathard hit Tevaun Smith for an 85-yard touchdown. Up 13-9, Iowa nearly held on for the victory, but Michigan State reached the end zone late in the fourth quarter, as L.J. Smith’s one-yard touchdown run gave the Spartans a 16-13 victory.
The win gave Michigan State a spot in the Cotton Bowl against Alabama in the College Football Playoff, but the Crimson Tide thrashed the Spartans 38-0.
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