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Half of the conference's teams have been to the B1GCG in the 10 years that it has been played.  Two more (Michigan and Minnesota) have tied for a divisional championship but lost the tiebreaker.  The seven that have appeared in the B1GCG are:

• Ohio State:  Six appearances, five wins.  
• Wisconsin:  Six appearances, two wins.  
• Michigan State:  Three appearances, two wins.  
• Penn State:  One appearance, one win.  
• Northwestern:  Two appearances, no wins.  
• Iowa:  One appearance, no wins.  
• Nebraska:  One appearance, no wins.  

Here is the closest each team that hasn't made it has been:

• Michigan:  Tied tOSU in 2018, lost H2H tiebreaker.  
• Minnesota:  Tied UW in 2019, lost H2H tiebreaker.  
• Indiana: Oneish game out in 2020:  They lost H2H to tOSU and finished 1/2 game behind the Buckeyes and would have gone but for a last minute rule change.   Their next closest finishes were four games out in both 2016 and 2019.  
• Purdue:  Two games out in 2011.  The Boilermakers finished 4-4 behind UW and PSU (both 6-2).  They lost to both the Badgers and the Lions so it was two games plus the tiebreakers.  
• Illinois:  Three games out in 2019.  The Illini finished 4-5 behind UW and MN (both 7-2) and Iowa (6-3).  They lost to the Hawkeyes and Gophers but did beat the Badgers.  
• Maryland:  Three games out in 2020.  The Terps finished 2-3 behind tOSU (5-0), IU (6-1), and PSU (4-5).  They lost to IU, beat PSU, and didn't play tOSU.  Their next closest was four games out in 2014.  They finished 4-4 behind tOSU (8-0) and MSU (7-1).  They lost to both that year so it was four games plus the tiebreakers.  
• Rutgers:  Four games out in 2020.  The Scarlet Knights finished 3-6 behind tOSU (5-0), IU (6-1), PSU (4-5), and UMD (2-3).  They lost to the Buckeyes, Hoosiers, and Lions but did beat the Terps.  Their next closest were finishing five games out in both 2014 and 2017.  

I voted Minnesota.  I think it is close between the Gophers, Hoosiers, and Wolverines but right now I think that the Gophers have the advantage in that group because the Buckeyes don't stand in their way. 

outside of playing them the first game next season

It won't be the Wolverines....


...actually it probably will be, unfortunately.

While the B1G West is the easier path, every team with a puncher's chance of winning that division already has. Now if Northwestern can win it twice, then Minnesota, Purdue and Illinois could certainly win it once as they each have a "higher ceiling" than the Wildcats. But none of these teams are exactly "on the cusp" so to speak.

For Indiana, Maryland and Rutgers, they not only have to be good, but they have to be good during a year where OSU, PSU and M are all putrid. Indiana came close to achieving the magic recipe by being good on a year where both PSU and M were putrid, but the OSU card didn't fall in line.

Now there could always be another 2012 where the third place team gets in, but those are difficult to predict.

None of the above?

yup, just missing the coach

My order:

• Gophers: As annoying as they are, I think they're more stable in their roster and their results than the rest of the West. They started their rebuild from a better base. 
• Michigan: Based purely on talent. No, I don't think OSU is going to stumble, and OSU is the giant boulder in their path. But if OSU has a down year, Michigan is best poised to take advantage of it--even if it's losing their only game to a 2-loss OSU and still managing to get into the CCG. 
• Purdue: The talent has been getting upgraded across the roster in WLaf, but particularly on the OL (which takes years to develop). If they can put it together, they've got potentially the highest offensive ceiling of anyone in the conference, which might be the only way to beat Wisconsin. 
• Illinois: Better recruiting ground than Purdue, probably better than Minnesota. But after Lovie, I suspect their rebuild will take several years to come to the point where they're able to challenge for the CCG, so I think Minnesota or Purdue might have better short-term odds of getting to the CCG.
• Maryland: More historic success than IU or Rutgers, generally IMHO better recruiting. Obviously you can see that other than Michigan (talent), I picked the three West teams before the three East teams, based PURELY on the strength of the OSU/UM/PSU triad relative to Wisconsin and... Ummm... Wisconsin. 
• Indiana: They're on the right path. But, Indiana as a state is terrible recruiting ground given Purdue and Notre Dame in-state, and OSU and UM state-adjacent. I just don't think that they can amass enough talent to catch all of the OSU/UM/PSU triad on down years or get into the CCG on a crazy tiebreaker. 
• Rutgers: Because Rutgers. 

Michigan

As long as Ohio State is doing this:




And Michigan has this:




It ain't gonna happen.