The road to Indy

The Gophers are one of seven Big Ten teams that have never played in the conference championship game since its debut it 2011. But with three games to go in the regular season and at 6-0 in the Big Ten, they are the front-runners to represent the West Division on Dec. 7 in Indianapolis. Here are the scenarios:

If the Gophers go …

• 3-0 or 2-1: They will be West Division champions. Period. If they go 3-0, they will be 12-0 and carry everything that goes with that.

• 1-2: Second-place Wisconsin would still have to win out to overtake the Gophers, and that would include winning at TCF Bank Stadium on Nov. 30.

• 0-3: Yes, even if the Gophers don't win another game, they could still get to Indy, but only for sure if two-loss Wisconsin and three-loss Iowa and Illinois all got to four conference losses — however remote the possibility. It's much more likely that Wisconsin would overtake them in this situation or that the Gophers would have to take their chances in some sort of tiebreaker.