The Big Ten went 12-2 to open the season but losses to the SEC and Pac 12 will do little temper the flames of anti-Big Ten partisans from around the nation. Several close calls and sluggish starts also makes the league look weaker than expected. I predicted a bounce-back season for the league with several teams contending late, and with 11 more games that can still happen, but I was a little disappointed with how the middle and bottom looked last Saturday.
Team of the week: Rutgers – A – This is more about defying expectations than how the stats shake out. WSU put up 38 points and had 532 passing yards but the Knights won! They found a way to soldier on though some bad stretches of play and get a big win. They traveled across the nation, faced a decent team with a difficult offense to game plan for and got the job done. Outstanding.
Illinois – D – The Illini needed 21 fourth quarter points to finally get past Youngstown State. An FCS team that apparently doesn’t know how to punt. Everyone and their brother thought this would be a long season for Illinois and they lived down to those expectations in a flat opener.
Indiana – C+ – Well it wasn’t a repeat of last year’s shelling but I have a theory about that. Yes, Indiana looked a little pedestrian in a ho-hum 28-10 victory over FCS Indiana State but they were up 21-3 at the break and only attempted 18 passes (to 69 rushes!). It’s pretty clear to me that the Hoosiers were holding themselves back. Last season they dropped 73 points on ISU and everyone got excited about their potential. They got a little ego stroke for such an eye-popping game and promptly followed the ISU win up with a loss to Navy. I think Kevin Wilson just wanted his team to survive, advance and stay a little under the radar. No harm in that.
Iowa – D+ – Well other than being out gained and barely winning, how was your Saturday Hawkeye fans? We’ve documented how good UNI is so let’s give them some credit for exploiting Iowa’s weaknesses but if it weren’t for 16 penalties there is a very real chance the Panther’s would have taken this one. Iowa’s rushing wasn’t great and the passing only averaged 6 yards a pop. The passing defense was exposed and the special teams was vanilla. Not the type of performance one would expect of a team hoping to win their division.
Maryland – A- – The score was very impressive and the defense was sharp, forcing three turnovers, but I’m miffed at the passing game’s struggles. C.J. Brown was 11/24 and averaged under 5 a play? I know I’m picky but when you see some of the gaudy passing numbers that were put up this week you’ll see why I downgraded the Terps every so slightly.
Michigan – A – Not much to pick apart in a 52-14 shelling. UM raced out to a 35-0 halftime lead that was extended to 42-0 before the Mountaineers could get on the board. Gardner was crisp going 13 of 14 with three TDs and the running game overwhelmed Appalachian State.
Michigan State – A – My heart sank when I saw Connor Cook go down. I want MSU to carry the banner proudly again this season so like everyone else when he came back from a knee-injury scare I was thanking the football gods on that. Other than that speed bump, MSU throttled Jacksonville State. Cook went 12 of 13 with three TDs (what are they feeding those guys in Michigan?!) and the defense nearly pitched a shutout. Jeremy Langford didn’t have a very impressive debut but they really didn’t need him and saved his strength by only giving him 13 touches. That’ll change.
Minnesota – C – A strange game where the Gophers started slowly – a touchdown in each of the first three quarters – to progressively build a lead. Then in the fourth both teams exploded. UM with 21 and EIU with 20. The final two Eastern scores were of little consequence (it was 42-7 at that point) but it may have Minnesota a smidge curious what their reserves will be like if they get pushed into action. I’m more curious though about the first half and why it took them so long to get into gear. We’ll know more about this team next week when they face Middle Tennessee State. MTSU went bowling a year ago and just destroyed their opening week opponent 61-7.
Nebraska – A – FAU is god awful but I can’t get passed 784 yards of offense! Nearly 500 on the ground! 232 for Abdullah alone! They can’t keep this clip up but even if that figure gets halved by competent opponents that is still nearly 400 yards of offense and 115 a game for Ameer? Um, yeah, I’ll take that if I’m a Husker fan.
Northwestern – F – A fantastic rally made this game closer than it was but Cal hadn’t beaten a FBS-level opponent since October 13th……2012. The Bears jumped out to a 31-7 lead before they started doing Cal-type things like a crazy deflection INT gave NU a shot to get back in. Siemian looked bad with 2 INTs and a lot of missed balls. Worse, he when he would hit his man, often times they dropped it. The running game averaged a meek 3.0 yards per carry and for the better part of the game the passing defense was eviscerated by Jared Goff. Uh-oh.
Ohio State – B – They found a way to triumph over a team that will win at least 8 games but could win as many as 10. The defense played pretty well against a tricky offense and J.T. Barnett held his own in his first start under center. Outside one dumb mistake on the INT, he was pretty clean. I’m not sure Barnett being their leading rusher though is a recipe for long term success. That is a major factor in what diminished Braxton Miller’s health over the years and god forbid something happens to Barnett. Replacing Carlos Hyde was never going to be easy, but they can’t afford to have their quarterback be exposed to extra hits.
Penn State – B- – It wasn’t pretty but they found a way to rally against UCF. Even without Bortles, this Knights team was still one of the stronger week one opponents and PSU looked good (at times). 3 turnover was bad and just 57 rushing yards was worse. Relying on Hackenburg to set school records 11 more times doesn’t sound like a good way to navigate the season.
Purdue – D+ – 456 yards of offense for Western Michigan and 34 points. Enough said. On the bright side, Purdue did manage to win the game, so they got that going for them. Obviously the defense is not Big Ten caliber yet. For the train to show any signs of improvement this year that unit will need to learn on the job quickly.
Wisconsin – Quarters 1-3: A, Quarter 4: F- – What a tail of two, not halves, but quantities? I’m not sure how to turn this into a cliche but for 3/4 of the game UW dominated the line. They ran all over LSU and the defense looked like JJ Watt and Chris Borland were still playing. Then in a tribute to the great hockey program, Wisconsin stopped playing. Sure LSU threw a few wrinkles out there like running a power game from a spread look – forcing UW to play smaller nickel-package players but for the most part Wisconsin gagged. Their quarterback and receiver play was criminally bad and the defense hit a wall (though seventy consecutive 3 and outs in the second half will do that to you). I know it can get better, but I’m not sure how. Without any consistency in the passing opponents will just load up 20 men in the box.
Game of the week – The Rutgers-WSU game was bonkers as the Knights rallied to win 41-38 thanks to a late special team’s gaffe by the Cougars the Knights were able pull off the impressive win.
Why Did I Watch This Award – Cal-Northwestern. I’m still trying to figure out how I get back from the Iowa bar, sit down and watch this game. I had a morbid curiosity to see just how many points Cal could put on them. Once I was ready to turn it off NU started coming back. I could have done so many productive things in those two hours but I chose to watch this. What the hell was I thinking?
Dunce of the Week – Me. I had RU getting destroyed. I had UW beating LSU. I had NU beating Cal. I watched the NU game. I’m willing to admit my mistakes and I had some big ones this opening week.
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