As the 2022 college football season drew near, not many pundits and pundits were predicting the Big Ten Championship Game match we’ll see on Saturday. Nonetheless, it will be No. 2 Michigan looking for its second straight conference crown when the Wolverines take on a Purdue team from the Big Ten West traditionally known as a thorn in the side of the top five ranked lists.
Of the two teams, Michigan’s performance is the least surprising. Finally, the Wolverines won the Big Ten last season, beating Iowa 42-3 in that game and making the college football playoffs. However, that didn’t stop most pundits from picking Ohio State to win the Big Ten East this season, including myself and all my stupid CBSSports.com colleagues. Heck, two of them called the Wolverines the most overrated team in the league. Was that pinned to a bulletin board as motivation for the season? We’ll never know, but the Wolverines are back anyway.
Then there’s Purdue, the biggest surprise of all. This will be Purdue’s first appearance in the Big Ten Championship Game and will be the ninth Big Ten school to reach it since its inception in 2011. However, I’m going back to the Dolts’ brilliant preseason predictions here at CBSSports.com. Barrett Sallee and Jerry Palm propelled the Boilermakers to third place in the Big Ten West, but that’s as high as anyone was willing to go. I let her take sixth place! They have defied expectations and want to repeat that in a game where few will give them a chance to win.
Follow all the action between Michigan and Purdue with our Big Ten Championship Game Live Blog.
How to watch Michigan vs Purdue live
date: Saturday 3 December | time: 8 p.m. ET
location: Lucas Oil Stadium—Indianapolis
TV: Fox | Live broadcast: fuboTV (try for free)
Michigan vs. Purdue: Must know
The West has never won the Big Ten championship: The Big Ten switched to a divisional format for the 2011 season, but for the first three years the divisions were not based on geography. Who could forget the mighty legends and leaders? Well, the Big Ten tried fast. The league was geographically split ahead of the 2014 season in time for the College Football Playoffs and this game has been dominated by the East ever since. It’s tied 8-0 and four different teams have won it at least once (Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, and Penn State). The average winning margin for the East in their first eight encounters was 20 points per game, with the widest margin being Ohio State’s 59-0 win over Wisconsin in 2014. The closest game was Michigan State’s 16-13 win over Iowa in 2015. Only three of the eight games were decided by a goal, and all of them took place over the three seasons of 2015–2017.
Michigan could become the third team to repeat as title game champions: While the West never won the game, Wisconsin has won its first two Big Ten championships as members of the Leaders Division (seriously, what have we done?). From 2013 to 2016 there was a different winner each season, although Michigan State won in 2013 and 2015. Ohio State then reeled off four straight wins from 2017-2020 before Michigan broke its dominance last year. Now Michigan is hoping to win its second straight title and start a dominant run of its own.
Purdue’s last Big Ten title was in 2000: To put that in perspective, Purdue’s starting quarterback in the 2000 season was a young man named Drew Brees. Since playing for the Boilermakers, Brees has had a 20-year NFL career, during which he won a Super Bowl and retired two years ago. So yeah, it’s been a long time. It’s been even longer since Purdue’s last Big Ten title. The 2000 title was shared with Northwestern and Michigan (there was no championship game then). The Boilermakers’ last overall title came in the 1929 season when Drew Brees was a freshman (joke), although he has won shared titles in 1931, 1932, 1943, 1952 and 1967. t something Purdue has made a habit of.
Michigan vs. Purdue prediction, tips
Featured Game | Michigan Wolverines vs. Purdue Boilermakers
I don’t give Purdue much of a chance of winning this game, but I don’t think the Boilermakers are wimps. This is a team that could give the Wolverines some trouble offensively, but the concern is how many stops will the Purdue defense get? It’s a solid unit, but not one that sits well with the Wolverines. With that in mind and the fact that this match will be played indoors and on grass, I can see more points being scored than expected. For this reason, I like the Over more than anything. Prediction: Over 52
What college football picks can you hit with confidence during Championship Week, and which big favorites will get scared? Visit SportsLine to see which teams will win and cover the range – all from a proven computer model that has brought in nearly $2,500 in profits over the last 6+ seasons – and find out.