No point in sugar coating it, week two was a brutal one for the league. All told the Big Ten went just 8-5 and 0-3 in the marquee matches. Let’s take a look at how the carnage on the field affected the grades.
Team of the Week: Wisconsin – A – The Badgers chipped off a sluggish start to roll WIU in the second half. The defense overwhelmed the Leathernecks, holding them to just 162 yards of offense and a woeful 1.8 yards per carry. The passing game gained some much needed confidence after looking like a JV squad a week ago against LSU. They won’t go against any more FCS defenses this year, but the performance has to help raise some spirits.
Illinois – C+ – The good is they found a way to rally in the fourth and take down a good opponent and improve to 2-0. The bad is they gave up 400 yards of offense and needed to rally against a non-power league team. Worse, they were sloppy with 3 turnovers, 2 missed field goals and 9 penalties. Illini cannot afford to be that careless come league play. Gave them a little higher grade though since I think pretty highly of Western Kentucky and even had the Hilltoppers scoring the upset, so what should have been a C- gets changed thanks to the gut-check nature of the win.
Indiana – Idle
Iowa – Defense A, Offense D- – A tale of two teams in this one. Let’s start with the good. The D, which was on shaky ground after UNI smoked ’em, held the Cardinal to just 219 yards and six points. The offense was anemic at stretches. Executed poorly at stretches. Couldn’t finish in the redzone at stretches. They were hot when it mattered, scoring two touchdowns late to rally for the win but no one is kidding themselves, this was an ugly performance. Compounding the lack of scoring output was a dreadful day for the kicking game. Three drives stalled inside the Ball State 20 and the chip-shot field goals were all missed. Convert those and the nine points makes the game look more impressive, convert those drives to touchdowns and suddenly this game was a beat down. Sadly though, this game does not reward “should of” points. If you want those three TDs, earn ’em.
Maryland – D+ – So when you are a two touchdown road favorite but need a fourth quarter comeback either your opponent was underrated or you played like crap – right? Well Maryland chose the crap route. They had six turnovers, losing four fumbles. Recovering fumbles is a lucky stat but putting the ball on the turf four times regardless of who recovers is shameful. Putting up just 17 offensive points (a blocked punt was the other score) against the woeful Bulls also feels shameful. I’m very mad at these Terps for this performance.
Michigan – F – Uh…..31-0
Michigan State – C- – We all know what happened in the game so I don’t need to recap that, but, I have a theory. Anyone notice how at the end of the first half the MSU players started flexing their muscles after sacks and at one point a player ‘hushed’ the crowd. I think they pissed Oregon off. When you are as talented as Oregon is and then have a chip on your shoulder than the results will be, well, they will be what happened in the second half of the MSU-Oregon game.
Minnesota – B- – Gopher’s had a great first half, jumping out to a 28-0 lead. The third quarter saw them get out scored 17-7 and give MTSU a sliver of hope. The fourth was a stalemate until MTSU scored late to prevent Minnesota from covering but did little else. It was a good performance with two major flaws. The first is the passing game continues to struggle (5/11 for 67 yards) and for the second week in a row they have taken their foot off the gas in the second half.
Nebraska – D – McNeese is a good FCS team but come on, you are a ranked club at home and need a last second, improbable score to win? Not good. They need to take a struggling Fresno team to the woodshed to calm the nerves in Lincoln.
Northwestern – F – 15 points in a loss to a MAC team that had a fair amount of roster turnover? Pathetic. Losing at home for the second time in as many weeks is even worse. WIU is a must win.
Ohio State – D+ – The Buckeyes found a way to scrap back, tying it at 21 in the fourth but faltered down the stretching losing 35-21. The offense had too many turnovers (three of them) and the defense gave up too many points (28) so I’m sure it’s hard not to be discouraged as a OSU fan. Even more troubling is one of the few bright spots for the defense – three takeaways – couldn’t generate more points.
Penn State – A- – Held a nice Akron team to just three points as the rush and redzone defense was very impressive. Have to ding the offense a bit, just three touchdowns to three turnovers and a so-so 3.4 yards per carry average won’t cut it against the cream of the Big Ten corp. Well, unless Penn State is that team and this league continues to play horribly.
Purdue – F – All due respect to Central Michigan but the Train just lost by three touchdowns, at home, to a team predicted to finish fourth in its own division from the MAC. Unacceptable.
Rutgers – B – Much like Minnesota, the Scarlet Knights raced out to a big lead only to see some late heroics by the opponent make it look close on the scoreboard. Unlike Minnesota, the passing game is fine but the ground attack could use some work. Nova had a nice day throwing the ball but 2.9 yards per carry has to get better. Rutgers was also aided by 11 penalties for 100 yards from Howard. Gifts like that won’t come around too often so the offense has to continue to grow.
Game of the Week – They certainly weren’t the team of the week but Nebraska gave us quite a show after I nominated this game for being the snoozer. McNeese and Nebraska put on a show. At 24-14 entering the third it seemed like the Huskers had finally corralled the pesky cowboys. Instead they tied it with 4 minutes to go, sending fans of the league into a tizzy early. At the Iowa bar all talk was about the Huskers potential choke job. Of course the game would end with a jaw-drapping score. We’ve all seen the highlight of the insane Ameer Abdullah touchdown in the closing seconds but it’s worth another look. This one had it all.
Why Did I Watch This Award – Anyone else spend Saturday night waiting for Michigan’s offense to do something, anything? I figured they had to be better in the second half. The next thing I knew it was midway through the fourth and I still had the game on. Granted I flipped between it and Ohio State’s debacle but the majority of my night time viewing was the Michigan-Notre Dame game for some unknown reason. I’ll never get those hours back. They have been burned up.
Gambling Report Card
Illinois/WKU – Points (Ill -4) – Well I was feeling good about this for a while. Hopefully you didn’t bet it big.
Iowa/Ball State – Over (52) – They combined for 30 points. Brutal. In my defense, if Iowa had converted the 21 points they left on the field, they would have had….51. Sorry.
Maryland/USF – Maryland (-13.5) / Over (53.5) – Swing and a miss. Maryland’s six turnovers tanked us. This was my lock, too.
Michigan/Notre Dame – Points (ND -4) / Over (56) – Well the Irish did their part for clearing that over. Who would have predicted Michigan would have been shut out for the first time since 1984?
Michigan State/Oregon – Oregon (-12.5) – I wasn’t comfortable with it and advised a stay away for the more cautious gambler, but degenerates would have recouped a little bit of their losses with a win here.
Minnesota/Middle Tennessee State – Points (UM -16) – Thank god the game is four quarters and MTSU put together some points late. A garbage win, but money is money.
Northwestern/Northern Illinois – Over (58.5) – 38 combined points…brutal. Still surprised the ‘Cats would be held to a measly 15 points.
Ohio State/Virginia Tech – OSU (-11) / Under (47) – Like Vegas I did not see this coming. Tech’s offense hasn’t been that pretty for several seasons. They put up 28 plus the defense provided a pick six to obliterate that over. The casino should comp us after all these losses.
Penn State/Akron – Points (PSU -14.5) / Under (51) – Well we split this one folks. Penn State’s defense locked the Zips down to cover and at a combined 24 points we were well under.
Purdue/Central Michigan – Over (54.5) – They combined for 55. Over is over!
Week Record: 4-10
Season Record: 4-10
Dunce of the Week
Big Ten kickers decided misery loves company and decided to have a collectively bad effort at field goals. Illinois’ Taylor Zalewski went 0/2. Iowa’s kickers were a combined 1/4. Matt Wile at Michigan contributed to the goose egg by going 0/2. OSU’s Sean Nuernberger also contributed an 0/2 efffort. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Rutgers and Purdue kickers also missed a field goal each. I would blame the weather if I could but I can only make so many excuses for this league.
Big Ten and Counting 