Well so that week went, um, poorly. Outside of Ohio State beating TCU the Big Ten either had teams survive the week against lesser foes, were off, lost a tough game to a power-five school, or totally and completely embarrassed themselves.
Team of the Week – Ohio State (?) – B – Yes they won by 12 in the home state of a top 15 team but they needed two defensive touchdowns? After giving up seven big chunk plays to Oregon State and a boatload to TCU, I think the win actually created more questions than it answered. Buckeyes have plenty of talent to win the league, but beyond that? I could see Tua Tagovailoa picking apart this D. Still though, I can’t be a total Debbie Downer. This team did beat a good TCU team on a week when the Big Ten was tripping over itself all over the place.
Illinois – D- – Moral victories are thrown around way too often so I won’t go that far but Illinois did take on a good USF team and looked competent and that is…actual improvement. I’m still not 100% sure how the Bulls can put up 626 yards and 411 passing yards yet finish with 25 points. I might need to check some math on that because something is amiss.
Indiana – A – Nice win for the Hoosiers. It was a very workman like game against Ball State, a team that nearly took down top-ten Notre Dame. IU had over 200 passing and rushing yards and Patrick Ramsey is looking the part of a solid starter as his number have jumped across all metrics. Very encouraging 3-0 start for the boys in Bloomington.
Iowa – A – Can’t go too crazy since it was a FCS team but Iowa finally played a good first half. They finally looked like they had some offensive potential. They rushed for over 200, they passed for over 300! Good on third down and 27 first downs overall. Fun stuff. Do it against Wisconsin, and you will make me more of a believer.
Maryland – F – So the 2-0 Terps hosted the 0-2 Owls and Temple made the home team look absolutely ridiculous. Maryland had just 11 first downs. Went 1 for 12 on third. Had 195 total yards, 63 passing, and 2 picks. The talent surrounding Kasim Hill (and Tyrone Pigrome got into the game) is pretty good. The passing game has to be reliably solid (see: Indiana) and not the focal point of the O. Hill going 7/17 for 56 yards and a pick isn’t solid, it is an abject failure.
Michigan – A- – I think this was a case of some second half points and yards after it was all said and done making Michigan’s domination not as clear. When you see 45-20 against winless SMU it looks like, oh, it was a little competitive. It wasn’t. UM was up 21-7 at the break and the lead ballooned to 28-7 and then 35-13 in the second half. At no point did SMU’s 319 yards or 20 points feel like it made Michigan sweat. So why the minus? Well, it was 0-0 after a quarter so not an ideal start against a soft opponent and some real slop to this game. Slop as in, 13 Michigan penalties for a whopping 137 yards! Can’t do that against many Big Ten teams and walk away with the victory.
Michigan State – Bye
Minnesota – A – Another beauty put in by that D. They held Miami (OH) to just 199 yards and 10 first downs in the 26-3 victory. It wasn’t efficient but I did like how the offense didn’t give up on the ground game. Sure it took 44 carries to get there, but UM still racked up 118 yards (2.7 carry). I think a lot of teams would have said, “screw it: let’s chuck the rock” and that would be a mistake with a young QB. As for that quarterback, Zack Annextad is now three games in and still sits at zero picks. Even better, he is expected to be full strength after getting nicked up last Saturday.
Nebraska – F – Look, it would be really easy to give NU a D and say they had to start Andrew Bunch blah blah blah but that isn’t what is worrying about this loss. It is the special teams giving up a score. It is the defense giving up 143 rushing yards to a Sun Belt school. It is double-digit penalties. To say swapping Bunch for a healthy Martinez changes the results of this game is short sighted. Nebraska was outplayed in all three phases of the game by a Troy team that graduated practically every key play-maker from last year’s team. Troy was expected to take a step back within their own league this year and yet they win in Lincoln? Yikes.
Northwestern – F – So what killed NU against Duke? Turnovers. How did they correct that for Akron? They didn’t. Two pick-sixes and a scoop and score gave the Zips three defensive touchdowns en route to a massive second half comeback and ultimate victory, 39-34. NU started slow a year ago and still won 10 games. Without those 21 gifted points, NU walks away with this one. The fact is, if they can just figure out some ball security from the quarterback position, they can start racking up the victories again.
Penn State – A – Let’s not go TOO crazy, since Kent State is considered to be a MAC cellar dweller this year but how about Trace McSorley’s day with his legs? He carried that ball just nine times for 54 yards yet had 3 TDs. That’s, um, efficient. Overall the PSU offense continues to hum and the defense does look much improved since those jitters against App State a few weeks ago. To steal from baseball, this is a club rounding into form.
Purdue – C- – Anyone else confused about this team? So Elijah Sindelar basically one-knees it last year to a bowl win and wins everyone over, yet, is benched two weeks in. Okay, so David Blough put up 572 yards against Mizzou so maybe that was the right call, but more confusion develops. At Western Kentucky, Brohm ran the ball with great results and created a deadly balanced offense yet just 16 carries for 42 yards last week. Also the D somehow gets worse each week. I know they’re young but where are they improving? All in all, it adds up to a brutal 0-3 start.
Rutgers – F——- – They lost to Kansas. No, they were OBLITERATED by Kansas. The Jayhawks have been by far the worst power-five school for the better part of a decade now and in one afternoon that torch has been passed from Kansas right into the middle of the forehead of Rutgers. Kansas won 55-14, put up 544 total yards, rushed for 400 yards on 48 carries for a mind-melting 8.3 yards per carry. Oh, and the cherry on top of the RU crap fest sundae, Kansas had SIX takeaways. 6-0 in the turnover department. S…I…X giveaways. As my grandmother used to say, “oh my word.”
Wisconsin – F – This F doesn’t come from the opponent but on how the Badgers looked. They looked vanilla. They looked like a team that thought they could start 3-0 without any wrinkles in their offense put on tape. They looked like an average offensive line. They looked like a team that will not have a reliable passing game. They looked weak on the defensive line. So…does that mean Wisconsin was grossly overrated and will lose to Iowa or does it mean this was a reality check and they will come out pissed and blow Iowa out? It is tough to say because BYU took down Arizona and had Cal on the ropes. The Cougars appear to be a good team and that might indicate that UW was a little overrated because I think losing to, oh, UTEP, would be a wake up call, but losing like that to BYU…that could just be an example of getting out-worked by a similar club.
Game of the Week – The speed and talent on display in Jerry World with OSU and TCU was exhilarating. Honorable mention to Purdue and Mizzou though. Blink and you missed a score in that fun match-up. Hope that game finds a way to keep going.
Why Did I Watch This? Award – Rutgers and Kansas was supposed to be unwatchable because they both stink. It became unwatchable because one team is hot garbage and a total joke while the other team was Kansas.
Gambling Report Card:
- Illinois vs USF, USF (-13.5)
Whelp, UI’s moral victory (damn it, I did it) costs us a little bit of our hard earned cash.
- Indiana vs Ball State, IU (-15.0)
Hoosiers looking dependable on both sides of the ball worked to our advantage in their four touchdown victory.
- Iowa vs Northern Iowa
No Betting line
- Maryland vs Temple, UM (-15.0)
Forget winning by 15, Maryland didn’t even generate 15 points in their humiliating 21 point loss to the Owls.
- Michigan vs SMU, UM (-36.5), Over (52.5)
A split as Michigan won by 25 but the game went way over because of those 20 SMU points giving us a grand total of 65.
- Minnesota vs Miami (OH), UM (-13.0), Under (47.0)
An awesome double up as I expected the Gophers to win by several scores but give up next to nothing. RedHawks managed just a field goal in their 23 point loss for a combined 29 points, well under the mark.
- Nebraska vs Troy, NU (-9.5), Over (55.5)
Massive sweeping loss because not only did the Trojans win but they did it with defense, 24-19. That adds up to 43 points. Just 12.5 away from winning, so, um, well it’s something.
- Northwestern vs Akron, NU (-21.0, Degenerate Pick)
…And I cost us real degenerates some money but I warned the public not to bet this game so maybe some casual gamblers avoided the hit.
- Ohio State vs TCU, Over (58.5)
Whew, the 13 point spread made me nervous so I stayed away from that and just bet the over. The two explosive offenses came through as the Buckeye’s 40-28 win obviously adds up to a winning total of 68.
- Penn State vs Kent State, PSU (-35.0)
Going a tad conservative like the OSU game pays off a gain as the Lions easily covered in their 63-10 win but considering the over was just 64.5, it was nice not having to rely on the Flashes to put up some points to hit that number.
- Purdue vs Missouri, MU (-6.0)
So fun story, I forgot to write about taking the over. That was really dumb wasn’t it? So what should have been a split turns into a straight up loss because Mizzou only won by three.
- Rutgers at Kansas, KU (-2.5)
Thanks, Kansas! Also thank you Rutgers for being so easy to bet against.
- Wisconsin vs BYU, Points (UW, -22.5)
Maybe I was a traitor to where I have a diploma from, or maybe, I was realistic and saw that the Cougs were battling tough against two Pac 12 schools and thought they could hang in Madison. Didn’t expect the win, sure, but did expect a tight one so….money please!
Week Record: 8-7-0
Season Record: 23-21-1
Big Ten and Counting 