Big Ten Football: Five most anticipated games of 2015 season

Nov 29, 2014; Madison, WI, USA; The Wisconsin Badgers line up for a play during the game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Camp Randall Stadium. Wisconsin won 34-24. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

For the first game on this list, we travel ahead to the final contest of the regular season between the Gophers and the Badgers. While most of the buzz surrounding the West division is focused on Wisconsin and Nebraska, Minnesota is the dark horse in this year’s race.

Head coach Jerry Kill’s squad not only boasts the talent to make a run to the Big Ten Championship game, but also the favorable schedule. This season, the Gophers get both the Huskers and Badgers at home — the latter of whom are most experts’ West favorites.

While the Gophers may need to endure a couple of bumps in the road against TCU and at Ohio State, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them enter this game with an unblemished in-division record if they can take care of Nebraska at home in mid-Oct.

Minnesota has seemingly been knocking on the door the past couple seasons, but this might be the year that they finally break through. However, even if they’re still not in contention for the West title by this game, there’s a good shot Wisconsin will still be in it — therefore making this matchup a prime upset special, at the very least.

The Badgers similarly must play Alabama in their season opener, but look like a good candidate to run the table after that game if they can just take down the Huskers on Oct. 10 in Lincoln, Neb. Is there a Big Ten West team good enough to win the conference title? We will likely find out in this game.

Next: Wisconsin at Nebraska