Poor Indiana. Dang, I thought they had that one. When will they get over the hump? I like to call programs bridesmaids when they have achieved some success but they either can’t sustain it or their peaks are just shy of national relevance. UCLA is a classic example. Second fiddle in their own city, no one remembers if they have any titles nationally and no one can remember if they’ve won a Rose Bowl recently. USC is the bride, UCLA is the bridesmaid. So then what is Indiana? IU is no longer the cupcake (that’s Purdue) and I’m not sure they are rebuilding because they have athletes, yet they can’t get over the hump. The are the Biff of the Big Ten. Those of you who know Death of a Salesman are nodding. Those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about have already googled cat memes as a distraction.
Team of the Week: Nebraska – A- – We have a blackshirt viewing finally! After ten games of some pretty brutal defense the Husker D may have finally woken up in New Jersey. They forced 2 takeaways, held Rutgers to to just 259 yards, 3/14 on third, 14 points, 2.3 yards per rush and helped bail their offense out after Tommy Armstrong Jr. had a rare off-day with three interceptions. The win gets the Huskers to 5-6 before the bye. An upset on senior day over Iowa on Black Friday will get NU to a bowl. A 3-0 finish and a bowl berth would certainly make up for a rocky start to the Mike Riley era.
Illinois – F – Talk about one step forward, one step back. After gaining all sorts of offensive confidence last week they get eaten alive against Ohio State. 25 rushes for 20 yards? 3 points? 2 turnovers? Ugly ball. Credit Wes Lunt for hanging in there and putting up some decent stats when it was all said and done. Illini have two cracks to get to six wins and make a bowl. If they do, it will be because of Lunt’s arm.
Indiana – C- – Can somebody please get Kevin Wilson a defense for Christmas? Unbelievable how fun this team is to watch offensively. If you put a somewhat competent defense along with them, they probably would contend for Indianapolis. No joke, look at their games against Iowa, OSU, MSU and of course Michigan. The offense was barely slowed. I know failing to make a bowl will look bad but I would keep Kevin Wilson around. He has Indiana competitive for the first time in a long time. They are so, so close to breaking through.
Iowa – B- – Offensively, Iowa was great. 10/15 on third, 506 yards, 234 through the air, 272 rushing and 40 points on Minnesota is more than TCU, OSU and Michigan scored. Defensively, Minnesota’s pre snap action really confused the Hawks and UM took advantage, gashing Iowa like no one has done this year. Special teams also missed another field goal. The return game was good but not having those three points made things more nerve-wracking at the end. Give credit where credit is due though, the defense bailed out a struggling offense in Madison and the O returned the favor in this one. This is what good teams have to do sometimes to win.
Maryland – F – It takes a truly special team to force 3 turnovers, outgain their opponent and still lose by 17. That is this team. Maryland helped MSU out by having 5 giveaways, 3 through the air bringing their total up to 28 on the season! Awful, awful team.
Michigan – C+ – I have a feeling Wolverine nation is having the same reaction Iowa, OSU and MSU fans all had…..whew! Glad we don’t have to play them again. Indiana’s offense is a well oiled machine and keeps them in any game against any opponent. In order to beat them you need to take advantage of that struggling defense, especially the secondary, and that is what UM did. Jake Rudock had a career day with 33/46 passing for 440 yards and six TDs. He was great all day but simply brilliant in overtime. Big win for big blue as they are still alive in the tight eastern race.
Michigan State – C- – Well that was nearly a disaster, wasn’t it?! Connor Cook goes down with injury and the offense basically flat lines the entire game. Thankfully, they were playing the Terps so they still won 24-7. Cook is so good that even at 75-80% he has the chops to keep MSU competitive against Ohio State but until we actually see him next Saturday, we have no clue what his performance level is.
Minnesota – C+ – Hats off to the Gopher offensive staff for finding ways to exploit Iowa and move the ball and put up a ton of points. The problem was the supposed strength of this team, defense, just hasn’t lived up to expectations so the Hawks managed to escape in a shootout.
Northwestern – B – It wasn’t purdy but it was a win. Notice my hick spelling of pretty also included mentioning their opponent, Purdue. Brilliant. That is the one troubling thing from this game. Purdue played MSU tough so maybe I shouldn’t read too much into it but the Cats struggled. A repeat of this type performance in Madison will result in a blowout. They need a good week of prep if they have any hope of taking down the Badgers.
Ohio State – A – They dropped the hammer defensively on Illinois. As for J.T. Barrett’s return, it was okay. They didn’t really need him (or Cardale Jones) because Zeke Elliott was running circles around the Illinois defense. I’m not sure why he doesn’t get more Heisman love.
Penn State – Idle
Purdue – B- – Have to give the Boilers some credit, they played a scrappy game. Held NU to just 21 points, forced three turnovers and made Clayton Thorson’s day pretty miserable. David Blough had an okay game under center, in fact his 287 yards is his second highest total of his freshman season and is well above his average in Big Ten play. They may finally have a reliable option at that position which, in theory, puts this rebuild in much better shape.
Rutgers – F – Rutgers was 3-6 with Nebraska, @ Army and Maryland left. Winning out to (possibly) make a bowl may not have saved Kyle Flood but would have sent the seniors out with a bowl in every season they were apart of. Instead they dive-bombed against the Huskers. They could generate zero offense, and outside 3 INTs didn’t play much defense. This has the look of a team that has checked out.
Wisconsin – Idle
Game of the Week – 99 total points, multiple overtimes and those crazy Hoosiers were involved? I had to leave for the Iowa game late second half so thank you ESPN streaming app for letting me watch. I wasn’t driving!
Why did I watch this? Award – Despite MSU/Maryland being ugly football I actually ditched the Nebraska game. Up 21-7 at the half it was clear Rutgers was already planning a Thanksgiving holiday feast instead of actually lining up to play football. NU defense suffocated them that much.
Gambling Report Card
- Illinois vs Ohio State, OSU (-16.5), Under (55, Degenerate Tip)
Yes! The degenerates get a double up as the Buckeye’s dominating defense paved the way to a 28-3 win.
- Indiana vs Michigan, Points (UM, -13), Over (56)
This was like taking candy from a baby, really. Anyone who had seen IU play this year knows they score a million points and keep games close no matter who they are playing. The overtime thriller with Michigan lived up to expectations.
- Iowa vs Minnesota, UI (-10), Over (45.5)
This spread kept going up and up but I got in when it was just ten. Things were looking good there until an insanely quick score by the Gophers cut the lead to 5. Of course 40-35 easily goes over so we’ll earn a split.
- Maryland at Michigan State, MSU (-14.5), Over (56)
Can you imagine the score if Connor Cook had stayed healthy? Sparty won this thing 24-7 without any offense. I’ll take the split but I stand by what I said when declaring MSU was going to drop 49 on them. They got to 24 with zero passing yards (okay, fine they had 121 but just 44 from the backup).
- Nebraska at Rutgers, Over (64.5)
I honestly had no idea who was going to win this game. Both needed it to keep bowl hopes alive, both had shown flashes as well as massive disappointment. I thought based on RU’s shoddy defense and Nebraska’s defensive struggling in league play that the over would be dashed. Instead the Huskers rose to the occasion and held RU to just 14 points as 48 were scored total.
- Northwestern vs Purdue, NU (-14.5), Under (49)
Another split as the Wildcat defense performed to my expectations in holding PU to just 14 points but the train did a good job of containing their opponent. In the end the slim 21-14 Northwestern win gets us a split.
Week Record: 7-4-0
Season Record: 83-68-0
Big Ten and Counting 