Michigan State vs. Iowa: B1G Title punches ticket to playoff

Michigan State vs. Iowa: This year’s B1G Championship game will punch a ticket to the college football playoff — who will come away with a win at Lucas Oil Stadium?

Forget the one loss of the Michigan State Spartans — a one-point defeat at the hands of the Nebraska Cornhuskers just around a month ago. That loss no longer matters. The B1G Championship game is a play-in game to the CFB Playoff for both the Spartans and the undefeated Hawkeyes, that one point proving the difference between this game being played between two 12-0 teams.

The Spartans and Hawkeyes are nothing if not consistent. While other Big Ten schools like Ohio State have proven themselves among college football’s elite by winning a National Title last season, Michigan State and Iowa are staking their claim as two of the best teams in the country, coming in to this game as two top five programs.

Michigan State at a glance

The Spartans have been involved in some glorious, crazy finishes. You might remember this…

And a crushing defeat…

But the slate is clean — for both teams.

The Hawkeyes, led by B1G coach of the year Kirk Ferentz, have been one of the most consistently great teams in the country all season. They have had a couple of close contests — see: Pittsburgh, Wisconsin — but the Hawkeyes are averaging a two touchdown margin of victory in their games this season.

Michigan State is averaging roughly the same.

On paper, these two teams seem so evenly matched. It’s not necessarily about ‘star’ power when you talk about these two teams, unless you find MSU quarterback Connor Cook to be a ‘star’ at this point in time. It’s all about being well-coached, playing hard-nosed football, and winning the battle in the trenches.

Michigan State is favored in this game, but that’ll be nothing new to the Hawkeyes, who have been underrated all season long except where it matters. It seems like the only people who have chosen to respect the Hawkeyes’ record outside of Iowa City are those who compile the CFB Playoff rankings, where the Hawks have spent the last three weeks among the top four ‘in’ if the season ended today.

And after Sunday night, there will be no more wondering.

Can the Hawkeyes find a way to go 13-0? Can C.J. Beathard really win the first 14 starts of his college career?

Can Michigan State take down the undefeated Hawkeyes on a neutral field? Will they be able to slow down the Iowa running game?

If you look at each team’s schedule, it seems like Michigan State is more battle tested than Iowa, though every team at this point in the season has had a daunting road to where they are. The Spartans defeated Oregon early on this season, and they have gone into Michigan and Ohio State and gutted out tough wins.

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Although, the Michigan win in all reality should have been their first loss of the season…

When these two teams line up to play on Saturday night, I think we can honestly say it’ll be the Big Ten’s best-on-best — the matchup of the year in a conference that has had some awesome games already this season. Iowa’s signature wins might not really impress some people who think the SEC is the only viable conference in the country, but going 12-0 in this day and age of football is incredible, and the Hawkeyes have road wins against in-state rival Iowa State, at Wisconsin, at Northwestern, and at rival Nebraska. Their signature non-conference win is against Pittsburgh earlier this season when Marshall Koehn kicked a 57-yard field goal as time expired, and you simply knew there was something special about this Hawkeyes team.

Tonight’s game is so evenly matched, I really don’t even know what to think. Both of these teams do such a great job of believing in their game plan and executing on game days. Both of these teams have all-time college football coaches. Both of these teams have flat out winners at the QB position.

Both of these teams deserve to be where they are, and tonight’s game is going to be a treat for college football fans across the country.

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