Big Ten bowl picture crowded

With four weeks to go in conference play, the Big Ten’s three highestranked teams remain in pursuit of a spot in the College Football Playoff.

The races in both divisions are tight, with half of the league harboring goals of reaching the conference championship. In the middle and back of the pack, even for the handful of longshots, bowl eligibility is still on the table.

But postseason projections, while fodder for fans and analysts, are hardly part of a team’s regular game plan.

“If you don’t win the next one, you are going to go from being first to fifth or whatever it may be,” said Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan, whose team is in first place in the West Division. “Any team can beat you any week, so you have to be at your best. We’re humble enough to know that anybody can beat us on any Saturday.”

There’s no program more committed to the art of staying present in the moment than the Gophers under coach P.J. Fleck, whose limits to looking beyond the current opponent — as publicly stated, at least — are the offseason and the bye week.

“I know you guys probably laugh when we say, ‘one-game championship season’ or whatever, but that’s really our mantra, our mentality. This game is all we’ve got,” Morgan said. “If we don’t win this week, who knows what next week holds?”

The Gophers (6-2, 4-1) host Illinois (3-6, 2-4) on Saturday in the epitome of a trap game, given that the Illini beat Penn State on Oct. 23 in that NCAA-record nine-overtime grind. Minnesota then plays at No. 19 Iowa (6-2, 3-2) on Nov. 13 in the first of two rivalry games for the Gophers that will determine the West Division title. They host Wisconsin (5-3, 3-2) on Nov. 27, after a game at Indiana (2-6, 0-5).

“It’s human nature to look at external, but we continue to fight it every day. This is about fighting human nature the best you possibly can, and that internal has got to be way louder than the external,” Fleck said.

WHO WINS THE WEST?

Wisconsin would claim a seventh Big Ten championship-game berth in 11 seasons of the divisional format by winning out — a legitimate scenario after an uncharacteristic 1-3 start. The Badgers visit Rutgers (4-4, 1-4) on Saturday and host Northwestern (3-5, 1-4) and Nebraska (3-6, 1-5) before the battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe at Minnesota.

Backsliding Iowa plays at Northwestern on Saturday. After the crucial game against the Gophers, the Hawkeyes finish with Illinois and Nebraska.

Losing earlier in the season to the Gophers and the Badgers hurts Purdue (5-3, 3-2) in the hunt.