Wisconsin won the Big Ten West standings, will face Penn State next

Jeff Hanisch

Nebraska came out flat on Black Friday and lost to Iowa, so Wisconsin had already clinched the Big Ten West by the time it took the field on Saturday against Minnesota. But the Badgers went ahead and won anyway, and they learned their matchup for the Big Ten Championship, too.

Because Ohio State beat Michigan on Saturday, and then Penn State handled Michigan State in a game just now ending, the Badgers will either face Penn State in the conference championship game. That sets up a Badgers-Lions final.

Updated West standings:

Wisconsin could've fallen into a four-way tie atop the West by losing to Minnesota on Saturday. Even if that had happened, the Badgers would have won the West on a tiebreaker, so the only suspense on Saturday was about Playoff positioning and Paul Bunyan's axe. Avoiding a third loss on the year gives Wisconsin a pretty good – although definitely not certain – chance to make the Playoff by winning the league final next week.