Big Ten Championship Game scenarios for Week 13: What happens if Indiana beats Ohio State?

The biggest game of Week 13 comes in Columbus, where the undefeated Indiana Hoosiers' Cinderella run comes up against a very stiff test in the form of the No. 2-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. The stakes are as high as could be: Win, and Indiana will finally silence its growing number of haters while more or less punching its ticket to the College Football Playoff. Lose, and suddenly a dream season threatens to unravel in an instant.

This matchup will also go a long way to deciding which matchup we get for the Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis in two weeks' time. The conference has been a four-team race pretty much all year, and we'll have a lot more clarity about which two will be left standing by the end of Saturday. Here are all the scenarios based on how the final two weeks play out, and how an Indiana upset could flip things upside-down.

Big Ten Championship Game: Who advances if Indiana beats Ohio State?

First, let's run down how things currently stand atop the conference:

Oregon is sitting pretty right now, with a bye on Saturday before welcoming Washington to Eugene next weekend to close its regular season. The Ducks don't play either Indiana or Penn State, but they do have a crucial head-to-head victory over the Buckeyes already in the bag. Penn State has a tricky road test against Minnesota this weekend before closing its season at home against Maryland. Ohio State has Indiana and Michigan left, while the Hoosiers follow their trip to Columbus with their traditional rivalry game against Purdue.

The cleanest scenario is the one in which Ohio State knocks off Indiana. The Buckeyes would have head-to-head wins over both the Hoosiers and Penn State, meaning they'd need just a win over Michigan next Saturday to clinch a spot in the conference title game. Lose that game, and they'd need help from either Indiana or Penn State to close the year. (If Ryan Day loses to the Wolverines for a fourth straight year and misses out on a trip to Indianapolis, lord help us.)

If Indiana wins, the Hoosiers would sit tied atop the conference with Oregon entering the season's final week. Given how sorry Purdue has looked this year (a loss at Michigan State on Friday night dropped Ryan Walters' team to 1-10 on the year), it's almost impossible to imagine Curt Cignetti's crew stumbling over its final hurdle. If they did, though, it would create tiebreaker chaos, with the possibility of Indiana, Ohio State and Penn State all finishing with one conference loss.

The three teams haven't all played each other, and the only common conference opponent among the three is Purdue. In a world in which they lose to the Boilermakers, that would eliminate Indiana, with Ohio State then advancing to Indianapolis based on its win over the Nittany Lions.