The record may sound broken at this point but, if you haven’t already heard, the Big Ten will play a conference-only schedule this fall (if the football season is able to happen).

This news obviously changes the logistics of the season and when/where/how games will be played and what they will look like.

But even more importantly, the elimination of out-of-conference play also has a few big-picture effects on the season with teams losing No. 1–valuable “easy” games to start the season that help prepare them for the conference slate, No. 2–crucial weeks for a new quarterback or offensive line to acclimate to the college level and No. 3–big time out-of-conference contests that later in the season are often used to judge a team’s strength compared to a similarly-ranked team from a different conference.

Today I went on the Locked On Big Ten podcast and discussed how the factors above affect the top teams in the conference and which teams’ stocks are going up, down or staying the same in terms of their chances of making the College Football Playoff.

A man with a GREAT 1st name @benzkenney makes his @LockedOnBig10 debut to break down the B1G conference-only schedule:
-How many games?
-Who does it help/hurt?
-How would it work for the CFP or remember bowl games?

Also Jack Coan truth talk of course: https://t.co/70xfMGl6t6

— Ben Stevens (@BenScottStevens) July 17, 2020

Here’s stock up, stock down–or as Colin Cowherd famously calls it “buy, sell or hold”–for the Wisconsin Badgers, Michigan Wolverines, Ohio State Buckeyes, Minnesota Golden Gophers and Penn State Nittany Lions.

 

Wisconsin Badgers

Stock: Way up

 

I wrote about how conference-only affects the Badgers’ playoff chances last week and long story short: it helps them immensely.

Here’s why.

First, the team’s path to the playoff is practically the same every season: win the division and find a way to beat Ohio State in the conference championship. That part hasn’t changed.

What has changed is now two huge tests in Appalachian State and Notre Dame are off the schedule and the team avoids having a four-game stretch of Appalachian State, Michigan, Notre Dame and Minnesota.

Before the change the Badgers had their two most important games–Minnesota and Michigan–sandwiched in between tough out-of-conference tests. Now, after the change, those games will be spaced out, have easier contests scheduled in between and leaves only four schools on the schedule that had a winning record last season.

Second, as mentioned in the beginning of this article, other teams around the Big Ten who are welcoming in a new quarterback or offensive line–namely Iowa, Michigan State and Michigan–have lost much of the preseason and now critical games to groom their new signal caller.

More of an addition by other teams’ subtraction, the fact that Jack Coan returns for his senior season and has experienced guys up front on the line gives the Badgers a huge advantage over schools with new signal callers in what will be a chaotic season.

Third (and finally), two of the Badgers’ biggest tests this season come on the road at Michigan and at Iowa.

Before the pandemic began those atmospheres would have been hard to win in. Now? There will most likely be no fans in attendance, something which will completely even the playing field and give Paul Chryst’s team a greater chance of running the table until the conference championship.

 

Next…a school on the Badgers’ schedule that isn’t helped by the schedule change