MVN: Most Valuable Network

Big Ten title chase coming to a close
Vince McMahon couldn't have dreamed up a better storyline than the one that's playing out at the close of this Big Ten season.  With just two weekends remaining, three teams -- Penn State, Ohio State, and Michigan State -- still have legitimate chances of going to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl, thanks to Iowa's upset over the Nittany Lions last week.

Even better, two of those three teams -- Penn State and Michigan State -- will meet next weekend in a season finale that will trump Ohio State/Michigan for once.  If you really think about it, that game will also pretty much determine the quality of the Rose Bowl this year.  Here's how each team can make it to Pasadena:

• If Penn State beats both Indiana this week and Michigan State next week, they would go to the Rose Bowl as Big Ten champions -- pretty simple math, because they would have beaten both Michigan State and Ohio State this season. 

• Ohio State can take the Big Ten crown (again) if they beat Illinois and Michigan, and Michigan State beats Penn State.  That would mean the Spartans and Buckeyes would be tied with one conference loss apiece, but Ohio State would get the ticket to Pasadena by virtue of their 45-7 win over the Spartans earlier this year. 

• In order for Michigan State to reach the Rose Bowl, they obviously need to beat the Nittany Lions next week, and hope Ohio State either loses at Illinois (a slim possibility) or at home against Michigan (fat chance).  While the Spartans have the simplest path of the three teams to a share of the Big Ten title -- win their only remaining game and they're at least co-champs -- they need that extra help to be seen as the "true" champion by the BCS. 

If we assume that USC will come out of the Pac-10 (as James Rees pointed out earlier, there's still a chance that doesn't happen, but it's not likely), we see that a USC/Penn State match up would be pretty entertaining, a USC/Ohio State game would probably be a repeat of the beatdown on September 13, and a USC/Michigan State game might get as ugly as last year's Rose Bowl between the Trojans and Illinois (no offense to the folks in East Lansing -- the Trojans are simply too athletic and too quick for the Spartans' traditional grind-it-out style to work).

So what's the most likely outcome?  Even considering last week's loss, you have to figure that Penn State is the odds-on favorite to reach the Rose Bowl.  Both of their remaining games are at home, and they have the chance to purge any demons left over from last week against a hapless Indiana team that may be without its first and second string quarterbacks this week.  Sorry, Spartans fans, but even if you manage to knock off Penn State in the season finale, it doesn't seem likely that you'll get to make the trip to SoCal -- Jim Tressel has routinely made sure that his team takes care of business in-conference, and with a healthy Beanie Wells, there's no reason to think that the Buckeyes are losing another game this season.  Enjoy the CapitalOne Bowl, and don't get too down -- it's amazing how far the Spartans have come since going 4-8 a couple years ago.

Minnesota's Decker won't be battling for Bunyan's Axe
The Minneapolis Star Tribune is reporting that star receiver Eric Decker won't be suiting up for Saturday's game against Wisconsin.  Decker hurt his ankle two weeks ago in the Golden Gophers' loss to Northwestern, and couldn't make it through last week's loss to Michigan.

We saw last week what a Decker-less Minnesota offense looks like, and it wasn't pretty -- when your offense is being outproduced by Michigan's, you probably don't have much of a chance to win the game.  Not only does the loss of Decker take the punch out of Minnesota's offense, but it may also take the some of the punch out of this year's edition of the Minnesota/Wisconsin rivalry.

Yes, bad puns were intended in that last sentence.  For those who aren't familiar with the recent events in the rivalry, Decker is the Minnesota player who was caught by television cameras punching Wisconsin cornerback Jack Ikegwuonu in the groin during last year's game.  Perhaps not coincidentally, Decker torched the Badgers for 125 yards and two touchdowns on six catches in Minnesota's 41-34 loss.

Ikegwuonu is now gone and Decker won't be playing, but the rivalry is still heated.  Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema has bragged about being able to recruit any Minnesota player he wants.  One of those players that will have an impact on this week's game?  David Gilreath, the multi-talented return man/receiver/running back that broke off a 90+ yard touchdown run last weekend against Indiana.  Gilreath originally committed to the Golden Gophers, but backed out after Glen Mason was replaced by Tim Brewster.

Hey, it may not be Michigan/Ohio State in terms of reputation, but chances are you'll see just as much jawing in between plays this weekend.  This may not have been an ideal season for Wisconsin, but in the eyes of many fans, they can salvage it by retaining Bunyan's Axe.  In many ways, the Badgers/Gophers rivalry has become an extension of the Packers/Vikings rivalry -- after seeing the Packers fall to the Vikings last week, you can be sure that football fans in Wisconsin would like to see some revenge this weekend in Madison.