The Michigan State Spartans (10-2, 7-1) should feel pretty disrespected. As their matchup with the Wisconsin Badgers (10-2, 6-2) approaches, they are listed as the underdogs to a team they beat in the first game of the season on a Kirk Cousins' Hail Mary to Keith Nichol.
But how the Badgers have responded and looked like the team everyone expected them to be at the start of the season, the Spartans are again taking the backseat to the team everyone pegged as the frontrunner for the Big Ten championship this season.
The Badgers knocked off the Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday, 45-7, to clinch the Big Ten Leaders Division and earn the right to play the Spartans in the first Big Ten Conference Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
The records are similar and the Spartans have the win over the Badgers. But the Spartans lost to Nebraska 24-3 and the Badgers beat the Cornhuskers, 48-17. Aside from their head-to-head matchup, that is the only way to truly gauge these two teams.
Whatever happens, they'll more than likely meet the Oregon Ducks in the Rose Bowl, unless UCLA somehow channels Rudy and produces an upset of epic proportions to win the first Pac 12 championship.