It’s November, which frequently turns into college football’s Silly Season, when predictability goes out the window and the results are more like pulling ping-pong balls out of a whirling lottery machine. Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself.

The Big Ten title picture, which was muddier than swamp boots last weekend, is only slightly clearer now. Oregon is all but in, barring a truly unexpected result. Penn State is all but out unless Ohio State and Indiana join it in a circular firing squad. And nobody else has a shot, no matter how hot they get.

This week a couple teams in bad need of a break to reflect on themselves (USC, Nebraska, Illinois) will get that break in the hopes of turning around what’s left of their seasons. The rest of the conference plays some games that … well, they’ll certainly be televised, but I’m not sure how many of them will actually be worth watching. Then again, Silly Season. I could be very wrong about that. And as evidence that I’m not always right about everything, I give you:

MINNESOTA AT ILLINOIS: I said Illinois 24, Minnesota 21; actual score Minnesota 25, Illinois 17

I did not realize it would also not be one of Illinois’ best days.

OHIO STATE AT PENN STATE: I said Ohio State 34, Penn State 20; actual score Ohio State 20, Penn State 13

PSU’s CHECK ENGINE light isn’t flashing. Yet. But if James Franklin was capable of beating top-ranked teams, he’d be doing it.

NORTHWESTERN AT PURDUE: I said Northwestern 28, Purdue 23; actual score Northwestern 26, Purdue 20

61,141 people proved that hope still triumphs over experience: They showed up to watch this game.

OREGON AT MICHIGAN: I said Oregon 34, Michigan 18; actual score Oregon 38, Michigan 17

This week’s Dangerously Accurate Prediction, it would seem.

INDIANA AT MICHIGAN STATE: I said Indiana 31, Michigan State 20; actual score Indiana 47, Michigan State 10

Eh, close enough.

UCLA AT NEBRASKA: I said Nebraska 27, UCLA 23; actual score UCLA 27, Nebraska 20

Great precision, horrible accuracy on this pick.

USC AT WASHINGTON: I said USC 33, Washington 24; actual score Washington 26, USC 20

Yeah, Lincoln Riley had better finish strong.

WISCONSIN AT IOWA: I said Iowa 20, Wisconsin 16; actual score Iowa 42, Wisconsin 10

The Iowa offense is forcing internet comedians to get new material. I love it.

That 5-3 performance takes me to 82-21 (.796) on the season. This isn't where I'd like to be (I'd like to be at 1.000, but I would also like coffee and doughnuts to fall from the sky every morning at 10) but I will take it. After all, it's Silly Season and that record will inevitably get worse.

In fact, let's see how.

*: all times in this column are Central because it’s written in the Central time zone. See how that feels, East Coast types?

I want, with all my heart, to run down Minnesota, because it’s fun. But the Gophers have won four games in a row and Rutgers hasn’t looked good since September. I am guessing the Scarlet Knights will pull the plug on Greg Schiano 2.0 after about 1.5 more seasons of this when it becomes (more) clear that his first run of success was a fluke in the first place. Going from fluke to Fleck, I still think the Gophers have a ceiling that they’ve already hit, but it won’t show in this game.

Minnesota 27, Rutgers 20

Don't miss out on any of our exclusive football, basketball, and recruiting coverage. Sign up with Hawkeye Beacon here.

“The humanity … the humanity …”

Ohio State 48, Purdue 3

I’ve seen many a Michigan-Indiana game where a Top Ten team had its way with an unranked squad but this time the shoe is on a horse of a different feather, or something like that. I truly feel that the big stories of this season in the conference are firstly how Oregon hit the ground running, secondly how Curt Cignetti was the shot of adrenaline that awoke the long-moribund Indiana program, and thirdly how sharply Michigan dropped off. In a couple years IU boosters will be in the most unusual situation of having to pony up to keep a coach, but I’m guessing they won’t care.

Right. The game. I think this will be close by 2024 Indiana standards but there doesn’t seem to be any way Michigan wins this game.

Indiana 30, Michigan 13

Maryland lost at home to Northwestern by 27 points. The Terps have lost three out of their last four games, with the sole victory coming over USC and all the losses by two touchdowns or more. So if you think they have a shot against Oregon, or that there’s even the slightest chance the game will be watchable, good on ya, mate, but you’re wrong.

Oregon 44, Maryland 17

Here is another game where it’s pretty hard not to gloat at the prospect of James Franklin and Penn State finally getting exposed, but it seems unlikely that Jedd Fisch and Washington are the ones to do it. The Huskies lack an impressive victory and have the “huh?” moment of having lost to Rutgers, even if it was a narrow loss, on the road, on a short week. This is a team that played for the national title last season, just like Michigan, but I wouldn’t blame you if you thought it felt like that was half a decade ago.

Penn State is pretty good, but emphatically not great and still ranked too high at No. 6. However, it should have little trouble here.

Penn State 38, Washington 22

And that leaves …

Yeah, no. I want no part of this action.

Iowa, coming off a highly emotional victory over Wisconsin in which it feels like Something Has Changed, has to fly across the country on a short week to play a Friday night game in a place it hasn’t won since the dwindling days of the Eisenhower administration, against UCLA, a team it hasn’t beaten since I was in fourth grade in 1981? (For real, though: Chuck Grassley was a freshman senator the last time the Hawkeyes beat the Bruins. Granted, this will be the first time they’ve played since the Ronnie Harmon Fumble Bowl…)

That would be worrisome even if it didn’t seem like DeShaun Foster was starting to feel some ground under his feet. Or maybe I’m overvaluing the Bruins’ victories over Rutgers and Nebraska, I don’t know. Those were both the football equivalent of the AI slop that gets shared on social media with captions like “Why don’t pictures like this ever trend?”

So yeah, I’m nervous about this game. There’s simply too much that can go wrong and I have well-placed doubt in Kirk Ferentz’s ability to keep his team focused on a West Coast road trip. But again, Rutgers and Nebraska. Those are two teams that aren’t that tough to beat and, while the Rose Bowl does seem to have a hypnotic effect on teams, it must work on the Bruins too since they are winless at home this season. I think Iowa can keep them that way.

Iowa 30, UCLA 24