JPinIC says that he is out and looking for help with the weekly OM but I’m suspicious that he’s just testing to see who can get the most comments so help me out below please.

I am well past my high school, college, and post-college education so my math skills are probably a bit rusty, but hang in there with me as we have a little math lesson to see if we can predict how Iowa will fare in conference play.

Given:

Michigan 40, Middle Tennessee State 21 (at Ann Arbor)

Iowa 48, Middle Tennessee State 3 (at Iowa City)

Prove:

Iowa will defeat Michigan in Ann Arbor.

This one seems obvious. Iowa defeated a team by a lot wider margin than Michigan did while both teams were at home. Mathematically this would translate into about a ten point Hawkeye victory on a neutral field. Subtract four for home field advantage and this would be an Iowa 30-24 victory. Trust me on the math, I don’t have enough column space to show all my work but I have checked and double checked my work.

Given:

Michigan 52, Rutgers 0 (at Ann Arbor)

Iowa 30, Rutgers 0 (at Iowa City)

Prove:

Michigan will defeat Iowa in Ann Arbor.

As an independent problem, this one would obviously work out to a Michigan victory on a neutral field by six points. Factor in the four points for playing at home and now we have a Michigan victory of 28-18. Again, just trust that the math works out.

Independently we have our answer, but now we have two data points to use and that muddies that water a bit.

Taking the two data points together and factoring in the fact that the game is Ann Arbor and the math says that the game will end in a 24-24 tie even with the new overtime rules. I got an A once in a math class so please don’t question my answer.

Given:

Wisconsin 35, Michigan 14 (at Madison)

Wisconsin 24, Northwestern 15 (at Madison)

Michigan State 31, Northwestern 10 (at Chicago)

Arizona State 10, Michigan State 7 (at East Lansing)

Arizona State 19, Sacramento State 7 (at ASU)

Prove:

That we have any idea what will happen.

Here’s where it really gets interesting. Before this weekend I would have said that Wisconsin was the hands down favorite to win the west, probably by two games. After seeing what happened when they played a Northwestern team that got whipped by Michigan State who lost to Arizona State who barely beat Sacramento State, I am less confident about the Badgers dominance.

Iowa plays at Wisconsin on November 9 so there is lots of time for analysis and other critical elements such as team health that will factor into how important that game is going to turn out to be in terms of conference standings.

That’s your math lesson for the week. What we’ve proven is that the transitive property probably doesn’t work in college football.

Last week Wisconsin looked pretty intimidating and then this week not so much. Michigan looked very beatable and now look a little more scary. As it has been for ages, the team that controls the time of possession, limits turnovers, and has the best field position should win.

Minnesota looks like they could be a handful and Nebraska looks, well Nebraska still looks terrible, but the Big Ten West looks to be more formidable than it did before the season as it is deeper and stronger than previously thought.

How was the math lesson? Did you learn anything? Have anything else to add? Is it too early to make Big Ten West predictions? Let’s make this a group project so that we can make sure we get a good grade and potentially in a bonus situation, make a little money at the sportsbooks.