Big Ten championship: 5 reasons Ohio State will crush Northwestern

1. Buckeyes have been here before

It’s no secret that the expectation for each Buckeye season is that it ends in a conference championship celebration.

Not many other teams in the Big Ten can relate to the success the Buckeyes have achieved in recent history.

The Bucks have been in the Big Ten championship three of the last five years and won two of those three appearances.

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This trip to the title game will make it four out of the last six years that the Bucks have played in this game.

The Buckeyes can make an even bigger statement this weekend with a victory as they will reclaim the conference as theirs for the keeping once again. They have not won consecutive titles since the 2005-2009 streak in which they won it every season.

Last season, the Buckeyes edged out Big Ten West representative Wisconsin. That game marked head coach Urban Meyer‘s second Big Ten championship victory since joining the team in 2012. This is surprising considering his dominance in the conference each season. However, it also speaks to the strength of the Big Ten as a whole.

Considering the match up this weekend, there is a sizable difference in experience between the competitors. Northwestern has not won a conference championship since 2000. This is unfamiliar territory for the Wildcats as their success in the conference hasn’t been above par until this season.

Something the Wildcats can see as a positive is how they’ve fared against the Buckeyes in the past. Just two seasons ago, the Wildcats came into Ohio Stadium and almost delivered a crushing upset.

The Wildcats came up short by just four points. Three years before that in 2013, they lost by just ten points at home.

It will be tough sledding for the Wildcats on Saturday night as the odds will be stacked against them.

They have no conference championship experience on their team, the Buckeyes are red hot coming off their best game, and of course the Bucks’ fans travel very well. Expect the Buckeyes to be composed in this environment as they are more experienced in the Big Ten championship game.