Well that was mildly embarrassing, wasn’t it? In a super hyped-up game Michigan totally no showed and was embarrassed by a deeper, more talented, more experienced, and hungrier Penn State team. Elsewhere Wisconsin remained undefeated, Iowa did Iowa-ish things against Northwestern, Rutgers has a winning streak, and both Michigan State and Minnesota survived their tangos with Indiana and Illinois.
Team of the Week – Penn State – A+ – Where to start with the domination? On offense? Barkley and McSorely each had monster days as the Nittany Lions put up over 500 yards on Don Brown’s defense. On defense? Penn State held Michigan’s hapless offense to just 269 total yards. No matter how you slice it Penn State dominated Harbaugh’s gang and are now well positioned for a run to the “playoffs”…if they can survive a trip to the Shoe.
Illinois – D+ – Defense had 3 takeaways, nice. Defense held Minnesota to just 47 passing yards, extra nice. Unfortunately for Lovie and Fighting Illini fans, the Illinois offense has to occasionally play. They were dreadful, yet again. Under 300 total yards, 2 giveaways total and one was a 31 yard pick six.
Indiana – B – The Hoosier D scrapped hard, holding MSU to just 274 total yards and less than 90 of that out of the running game. First year coach Tom Allen has that side of the ball clicking but the offense just isn’t there this year. Indiana was out-gained by MSU’s meager output and only had five more rushing yards than their opponent.
Iowa – F – Iowa barely had 300 yards, had just 10 points, and lost in overtime to Northwestern because of a bad case of the drops, including Noah Fant dropping a sure first down conversion in OT on fourth down. Not helping matters, the Iowa running game continues to be stuck in neutral for vast stretches of games. This time they were held to 89 yards on 33 carries with zero scores.
Maryland – C- – With all of UM’s injuries, it is kind of hard to give them a fair grade since we know they aren’t playing with a full deck. Offensively the Terps had an okay day rushing and Ty Johnson had 83 yards against a tough defense to run against but the passing game is as you would expect with a third stringer being forced to start: a tad erratic.
Michigan – F – At no point did it feel like Michigan belonged on the same field as Penn State. Even after a turnover followed by a failed 4th down conversion let Michigan cut it to a 14-13 lead, Penn State got rolling again and tuned up Michigan. The bottom line is, with Michigan’s anemic offense, the pressure is so intense on the defense that the players and coaches know the margin of error is practically none and against Penn State that unit appeared to press, gamble, over commit, and allow huge cutback lanes. All those mistakes added up to the 42 points Penn State put on them.
Michigan State – B+ – Defense was amazing and the offense got just enough in the fourth quarter, 14 points in the final frame to be exact, to survive the Indiana upset bid. QB Brian Lewerke and running back LJ Scott were held in check by the Hoosiers. That doesn’t bode well for a MSU team that has much tougher defenses later in the schedule.
Minnesota – C – Unless you are a triple option team, it is pretty tough to win with under 50 passing yards but the Gophers did just that. The defense chipped in by bottling up Illinois’s awful O as well as getting on the board thanks to a Jonathan Celestin pick-six but the rushing offense was a thing of beauty. Kobe McCrary had 153 yards and a score while Rodney Smith chipped in 103 yards. As a team Goldy had 290 yards on the ground as they pounded the hapless Illini.
Nebraska – Idle
Northwestern – C+ – In a horribly windy day, NU decided to pass 36 times. In a day of strange coaching calls, Fitz kneels down with plenty of time and timeouts to play for overtime. Yet, the Cats made the plays, especially in overtime to pick up a big win, 17-10. Fitz preaches “Iowa week” every year and it was pretty clear who the more dialed in team was. NU played with fire and intensity that Iowa didn’t match and it paid off as they are now above .500 at 4-3 and looking good for another bowl trip.
Ohio State – Idle
Purdue – F – They had 250 more yards than Rutgers. They had 17 more first downs than Rutgers. They averaged 6.8 yards per carry. The won time of possession by over four minutes. So what the hell happened? Two interceptions were costly, settling for field goals were costly, and sometimes football is just a strange, strange game. By every measure, RU should have been blownout but instead the Scarlet Knight defense holds on a two-point conversion attempt to tie late and RU won 14-12. Doesn’t totally end the PU bowl hopes but it has to be beyond frustrating to play so well and yet fail to score and ultimately lose to a team you are clearly better than.
Rutgers – D – Sometimes you should just throw out all the stats because you find a way to win. That is what Rutgers will be doing. They had just 217 yards and Giovanni Rescigno had a rough 9/18 for 87 yard day through the air as the offense sputtered. Hell, the best player was Ryan Anderson with 12 punts for 523 yards and a long of 61 but at the end of the day, the RU defense did a whole lot of bending but next to no breaking to steal this one 14-12. That’s right folks, Rutgers on a winning streak!
Wisconsin – B – Badgers showed no quarter against a banged up Maryland team in a 25 point victory that saw Jordan Taylor (126 yards and a score) and that rushing attack also get some nice(er) passing from Alex Hornibrook (16/24, 225 yards). The defense also remained at its usual high standard of play as UW pushed their start to 7-0.
Game of the Week – Indiana at Michigan State was a vintage Big Ten struggle with each team being held under 300 yards and points difficult to come by. Normally this could be considered a boring game but with MSU’s ranking it turned into a potential upset game and the fact that the defenses were playing so well prevented it from just being a slop fest. Finally the 14 point fourth quarter by the Spartans to steal the victory made for a thrilling conclusion.
Why Did I Watch This? Award – IU and MSU may have avoided being a slop fest but my god, Purdue and Rutgers showed that just because a game is close, it isn’t an instant classic.
Gambling Report Card:
- Illinois at Minnesota, UM (-14.5)
My predicted score of 31-14 wasn’t that far off. I mean Illinois only had 17 points. Oh, wait, Gophers had 24 and didn’t cover making this bet a loser. You know what they say, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
- Indiana at Michigan State, MSU (-6.5), Under (48)
Neither offense has much bite so having the game in the 50s felt like a reach. This panned out well as the two combined for just 26 points. What also panned out well was Sparty getting 14 fourth quarter points to just not just win but cover, too. Love those double ups.
- Iowa at Northwestern, Points (NU -2), Under (46)
With Iowa’s smelly offense and a pretty good defense, the under is always in play. Combine that with some wind and Northwestern having the same mix between up-and-down O with a good D and you had a great shot at winning that under, which we did. Unfortunately I didn’t stop there and picked Iowa, resulting in a split.
- Maryland at Wisconsin, Points (UW -24)
I mean did anyone think Wisconsin eve had 24 points in them? Their O put up 17 against Purdue! The impressive 25 point win helps Wisconsin’s resume a tad but hurts us at the book.
- Michigan at Penn State, PSU (-7.5), Over (43)
A nice double up out at the white out game as the Lions rolled over the undermanned Wolverines. The extremely low over was also easily splashed since the Lions singlehandedly put up 42.
- Purdue at Rutgers, Points (PU -9.5)
As much as Rutgers has struggled this year, I was shocked to see Purdue giving almost ten points in a road game. I mean they are rebuilding as well and if there is one thing you can depend on, it is rebuilding clubs being woefully inconsistent. I trusted that inconsistency and got a little bit of cash back thanks to the RU win.
Week Record: 6-3-0
Season Record: 62-58-1
Big Ten and Counting 