I agree that MD and NW are effectively out of it, but both are interesting from a mathematical perspective all that needs to happen for them to pull off a division championship.
For example NW finishes with MInn, Iowa, Wisc, Pur and ILL. So if NW wins all 5, they finish 6-3. Meanwhile Minn, Iowa get a 2nd loss, Purdue and Wisc get a 3rd loss, ILL gets a 4th loss. All to NW.
NW's 3 losses are to MSU, Mich and Neb. Neb already has a 4th loss. So NW could win any West division tiebreaker involving teams with 3 losses.
Also Iowa and Minn will play each other.
So NW just needs the winner of the Iowa/Minn game to lose once more in addition to losing to NW, and NW then controls its own destiny. Whew! Its that simple.
I have a hunch its similar for MD and ILL too.