Big Ten watch guide week 14: Can Indiana win without Michael Penix Jr.?

There’s been a couple of cancellations, but the Big Ten still has five games happening this week. Here’s what you should watch and what you should avoid during week 14.

Well, two of the more interesting Big Ten games that were scheduled for this weekend have been cancelled. The Maryland Terrapins would’ve had a realistic shot at upsetting the Michigan Wolverines (and potentially ending the Jim Harbaugh era), but that matchup got cancelled.

The game between No. 14 Northwestern and Minnesota also got cancelled. While neither of those teams happen to be all that impressive, Northwestern has a really, really good shot of getting into the conference championship game as things continue to get weird with the Big Ten’s scheduling.

So that leaves the Big Ten with five football games happening this weekend. One of these games looks like it should be great, and two are certainly palatable. That means that there are two that should be avoided, if at all possible.

Must-watch game:

No. 12 Indiana at No. 16 Wisconsin — By far the most intriguing Big Ten game this week is the matchup between No. 12 Indiana and No. 16 Wisconsin. The game lost some of what made it intriguing when Indiana quarterback Michael Penix Jr. got injured, but the contest still has the potential to be close, assuming Indiana is able to replace Penix without any sort of issue.

While that might be a pretty big assumption, Indiana has an advantage over Wisconsin in that the Hoosiers have played twice as many games as the Badgers have so far this season. The Hoosiers have been able to get plenty of experience while Wisconsin might be battling some rust.

Watch these games if you have nothing better to do:

No. 19 Iowa at Illinois — There’s no real guarantee that this game will be a close one, but it is worth noting that these two teams are both coming into this game with their most recent opponent being the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

The Fighting Illini and the Hawkeyes both defeated the Huskers, but even though Iowa looks better than Illinois on paper, the Fighting Illini handled Nebraska better than the Hawkeyes did. Iowa got a six-point win over Nebraska, while Illinois defeated the Huskers by 18 points. Does that have any meaningful bearing on this game? Probably not. Does it make this game a potentially intriguing matchup? Yes, I think so.

Penn State at Rutgers –This is another one of those games where you can sit back and say “well, someone has to win here.” Penn State and Rutgers have a combined three wins between them and neither team appears all that impressive. Both the Nittany Lions and the Scarlet Knights nabbed decent wins last week and are looking to carry that momentum into this matchup. The game could theoretically be an interesting one as the two teams involved could be fairly evenly matched, but that’s only because both teams have struggled all season.

Nebraska at Purdue — This game could be an evenly-matched affair. Both teams are bad and both teams are looking for a rare win. Much like the Penn State-Rutgers game, this contest could be a close one in which the team that wins happens to make a play or two late in the game, which puts them over the top. However, much like Penn State-Rutgers, this game involves really bad teams. So, you know, maybe watch it if you really want to, I guess.

There are better, more interesting games on elsewhere:

No. 4 Ohio State vs. Michigan State — It seems likely that this game will be an absolute blowout. Because of pandemic-related schedule complications, the Ohio State Buckeyes are running out of chances to prove they belong in the College Football Playoffs. Expect the Buckeyes to run up the score as much as possible in this one.

How to watch every Big Ten game (all times Central):

• No. 4 Ohio State at Michigan State – Saturday, Dec. 5 at 11 a.m. on ABC
• Nebraska at Purdue – Saturday, Dec. 5 at 11 a.m. on BTN
• Penn State at Rutgers – Saturday, Dec. 5 at 11 a.m. on FS1
• No. 12 Indiana at No. 16 Wisconsin – Saturday, Dec. 5 at 2:30 p.m. on ABC
• No. 19 Iowa at Illinois – Saturday, Dec. 5 at 2:30 p.m. on FS1

For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.