It’s here, it’s here…league play is finally here! Six league games will showcase 12 Big Ten teams and there are some really intriguing games. A shaky looking Nebraska team tests the waters at Illinois, Iowa tries to put the bitter Penn State loss behind them at Michigan State, Maryland looks to regroup after a long UCF game up in the Twin Cities, and our game of the week is an early western showdown that will impact that divisional race. Like always, all times are central.
*Note, with Friday night games still rare in the Big Ten, I’ll highlight those like this: Friday, in order to have them stand out a bit until we all get used to this new scheduling. For week three, we have one Friday game.
Game of the Week
Northwestern at Wisconsin
A rash of injuries hurt Northwestern in their last road game at Duke, but they dominated Bowling Green then had the bye week to prepare for Wisconsin. I’m not sure there is an ideal time to play UW, OSU, or PSU but if you have to play them, getting them after the bye seems like your best case. As for Wisconsin they are top-10 and 3-0 but their opponents are a combined 4-8 so the Cats are by far the biggest test of the season for the Badgers.
- Saturday, 11 am, ABC
Sleeper:
Both teams suffered their first defeats of the season but they were strikingly different. Iowa gave top-five Penn State all they could handle before losing at the wire. Michigan State looked way too much like their 2016 three win team in a 38-18 loss to Notre Dame. Both teams try to get back on track in East Lansing this week but for Iowa the game means a bit more. Hawks have the ability to make it to Indianapolis if they take advantage of their more manageable games. Michigan State is far from a cakewalk but it is also a manageable game thanks to MSU’s sub-par quarterback play.
- Saturday, 3 pm, Fox
Don’t Forget:
With last week off it has been a bit since we’ve gotten to see the Gophers. Last time out they were hammering Middle Tennessee to complete a hot 3-0 start. For Maryland they saw stud freshman Kasim Hill go down resulting in two season ending injuries for quarterbacks. Without Hill it became much harder to overcome UCF and they suffered their first loss of the season. The have had a week to prepare and try and correct course but doing so in TCF Bank Stadium is not an easy task. With two x-factors going into the year squaring off, I’m excited to see who prevails, even with the Terps sadly being banged up.
- Saturday, 11 am, FS1
Snoozer
For the second week in a row the Buckeyes hit the snooze alarm. With all due respect to Chris Ash’s ball club, they just haven’t rebuilt enough to stand much of a chance in this one so for the vast majority of us, it is a totally skip-able game.
- Saturday, 6:30 pm, BTN…Umm, have you seen the prime-time slate this weekend? Don’t waste your evening on this one, please.
Upset Watch
Ahh, now that we are in league play there is no right and or wrong end, just a single pick. This week is easy. Illinois is a home dog to a Nebraska team that hasn’t exactly been clicking. So far Tanner Lee has more picks than TDs, NU lost to Northern Illinois at home, lost at Oregon, and barely fended off Rutgers. Illinois played like total garbage at South Florida but the Bulls are night and day better than Nebraska. A home-cooking upset isn’t the strangest thing to happen so if they force enough turnovers, the Illini have a decent shot at making Mike Riley’s hot eat a raging inferno.
- Nebraska at Illinois, Friday, 7 pm, FS1
Elsewhere (Alphabetical Order):
Indiana at Penn State – Last time we saw the Hoosiers go against a highly ranked team they went full Chernobyl in the second half and ended up losing by 28 at home. They are a nice team and a bowl bound club but I just don’t see them having enough skill yet on either side of the ball to upset Penn State, especially with the game in Happy Valley.
- Saturday, 2:30 pm, BTN
Michigan – Idle
Purdue – Idle
Random Musing:
Whelp, doing this real fast on Friday night because it was finals week at the high school I teach at so I’ve been grading like mad. So glad football is here after a long week work wise, and a disappointing week blog wise.
Big Ten and Counting 