Here's the most important 2018 non-conference game for Rutgers, each Big Ten program

The Big Ten was left out of the 2017 College Football Playoff, in part, due to a non-conference game.

If eventual league champion Ohio State doesn't lose to Oklahoma early in the year, it's the Buckeyes, and not the Sooners, that likely would have gone to the Rose Bowl and played Georgia. So non-conference games can mean a lot in the end.

Here's a look at each Big Ten team's most important non-conference game in 2018:

Critical non-conference game: vs. USF at Soldier Field on Sept.