College Football Insider: Huskers-Badgers winner could claim Big Ten West

As usual, Faux Pelini said it best.

The Twitter account @FauxPelini, a parody of Nebraska coach Bo Pelini, fired off a series of ALL-CAPS missives after the College Football Playoff selection committee announced its latest rankings Tuesday.

Nebraska fell three spots to No. 16 — despite having a bye last week.

Faux Pelini tweeted, "YOU PEOPLE DISCRIMINATE AGAINST TEAMS THAT HAVEN'T BEATEN ANYONE GOOD," before adding, sheepishly, "wait that came out wrong."

Actually, that's the perfect summation of the nation's perception of Nebraska and Wisconsin — and by extension, the whole Big Ten — heading into their clash Saturday in Madison. It's hard to know what to make of these teams because both have been thriving for weeks against inferior foes.

Since its season-opening loss to LSU, Wisconsin (7-2) hasn't faced a team currently in the top 40 of the Masseyratings.com composite. Nebraska beat Miami and suffered a five-point loss at Michigan State, but since then, the Huskers (8-1) have feasted on Northwestern, Rutgers and Purdue.

The same could be said of the Gophers, who lost to TCU but haven't faced another team in Massey's current top 48. The Big Ten West saved all the best matchups for last.

Ohio State, the likely East Division winner, needs one West contender to win out, setting up a higher-profile conference title matchup. The sexier that game is, the better chance the Big Ten will have of sneaking into the playoff.

Unless the Gophers pull a huge upset Saturday over No. 8 Ohio State, the Wisconsin-Nebraska winner should be in the division driver's seat. The Badgers and the Huskers both face the Gophers at home and Iowa on the road before season's end.

Wisconsin is a six-point favorite over Nebraska, with the game at Camp Randall and Cornhuskers star Ameer Abdullah questionable with a sprained MCL. Abdullah, who injured his left knee Nov. 1, returned to practice this week, wearing a brace.

Asked if he thinks Abdullah will be close to 100 percent, Pelini said, "Yeah, but I'm not a doctor. I don't know how it's going to play out."

If Abdullah is limited, it'll be too bad, because this could be a classic showdown of Heisman candidates with Melvin Gordon. Abdullah leads the nation in all-purpose yardage (187.9 per game), while Gordon leads the nation in rushing yardage (166.8 per game).

Nebraska sophomore Tommy Armstrong Jr. still is having growing pains. In five Big Ten games, he has completed just 51.4 percent of his passes and has thrown six interceptions, which leaves him seventh in the conference in pass efficiency at 110.5. The two quarterbacks atop that list are Ohio State's J.T. Barrett (169.7) and Minnesota's Mitch Leidner (153.0).

Wisconsin leads the nation in total defense (251.1 yards per game) and ranks third in scoring defense (14.3). But the Badgers have faced just two teams that rank in the top 60 in scoring offense: Bowling Green (48th) and LSU (58th).

Nebraska has been playing better defense of late, too, and will be looking to avenge its 70-31 loss from the 2012 Big Ten title game. These teams have met just eight times, but they introduced a new trophy to the "rivalry" this week — the Freedom Trophy.

Or, as @FauxPelini suggested, the "Freedom's Just Another Word for 'Nothing Left to Lose' Trophy."

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