You are right on the scheduling fluke. Ohio St. was picked near the bottom of the conference while Minnesota was considered a challenger for the top. Wisconsin has dropped off to point they haven't been in long time. Flip those over in NU's schedule and things probably look different. Not sure how they draw up the schedules but it can fall both ways. Look at Rutgers, they get Purdue, Ohio St., Michigan St., Nebraska twice and Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Minnesota once. But they played Minnesota in early December when they were full strength. So the Scarlet Knights definitely got the worst draw.