Further south in the Big Ten West, Lovie Smith’s fourth Illinois team, who was almost unanimously pegged as the division’s cellar dweller and the one team out of seven that had no chance of playing in Indianapolis, won its fourth straight game in dramatic fashion over Michigan State and became bowl eligible at 6-4.
In the Big Ten East, Tom Allen’s fourth Indiana team had a bye week after running its winning streak to four. The Hoosiers jumped into both The Associated Press (No. 24) and coaches’ (No. 25) polls, hit mid-November ahead of Michigan in its division and, likely or not, is playing for a shot at up to 10 regular-season wins.