Dr. Strangelove
All-Conference
The Big 10 West will never be good enough to push Nebraska out of a bowl game twice in a row. A 5-7 season is the absolute bottom, but that is difficult.
The reality is this: Purdue, Northwestern and Illinois are bad teams and will likely be fringe bowl teams (at best) in a given decade. Iowa is always going to be slightly better, 7-5 or 9-3 on a good year, but an average team without athletes. We're currently watching the best Minnesota team in a very long time, but they're going to be a 7-5 type team most years with Kill as coach and usually worse when he's gone. Only on a truly terrible season can you lose 3 of those games.
That leaves Wisconsin and the crossovers. Im of the opinion that most coaches would win 7 or 8 games a season minimum. It just doesn't take much to beat most teams in the conference.
The reality is this: Purdue, Northwestern and Illinois are bad teams and will likely be fringe bowl teams (at best) in a given decade. Iowa is always going to be slightly better, 7-5 or 9-3 on a good year, but an average team without athletes. We're currently watching the best Minnesota team in a very long time, but they're going to be a 7-5 type team most years with Kill as coach and usually worse when he's gone. Only on a truly terrible season can you lose 3 of those games.
That leaves Wisconsin and the crossovers. Im of the opinion that most coaches would win 7 or 8 games a season minimum. It just doesn't take much to beat most teams in the conference.