It’s the last-ever Big Fives session as we know it. With the addition of UCLA and Washington to the Big Ten next year, this second session is an official farewell to this format. Please, forces that be, do not foist two six-team sessions upon us and bless us with a true championship tournament format.
Michigan is easily positioned to walk away with this one. Four wins would leave the Wolverines with a 8-1 record on the season, and they would waltz into the conference championship night session in Ann Arbor. All of the other likely night session berths were in the Friday Big Five, so Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, and Penn State will be focused on securing the best possible road numbers for NQS reasons. That said, Penn State has a 197 on the year, so if Michigan leaves the door open, the Nittany Lions could pounce.
Illinois and Maryland have topped out in the mid-196s, while Iowa has come close, maxing out at 196.400. This group is tightly bunched, so every landing and soft knee will matter.
NQS matters for Michigan, too, which has some pretty big upside, with a 196.900 still hanging around in its total. Maryland doesn’t have an NQS yet, but it could use a big number since all of its best scores have come at home. Penn State has the biggest upside of the…
