Week three was a time where we would learn more about a few of these teams as Michigan State, Penn State, and Purdue faced road trips to fellow power five foes. Meanwhile, the rest of the league were having expected tune-ups, minus Northwestern who…wow. We’ll get to that one.
Team of the Week – Penn State – A+ – This isn’t the best coach or team Auburn has ever had…but…it was a road game in a historically tough venue and the Nittany Lions torched it to the ground. In their 41-12 blowout they won the always critical turnover margin four to nothing. They put up nearly 500 yards of offense but the averages were outright silly: 10 yards per pass, 6.3 yards per rush. The phenomenal Nicholas Singleton had another hundred yard day – 124 in fact with 2 TDs – on just TEN carries. Complete domination by Penn State.
Illinois – Off
Indiana – D+ – Well it was a win, and that’s the important thing. Optics wise though, brutal day. The Hoosiers trailed all game, entering the fourth 24-13. Outscoring Western Kentucky 17-6 in the final frame got the game to overtime where the Hoosiers were able to pull it out, 33-30. It feels more like WKU lost than Indiana really won. Connor Bazelak had a huge day (33/55, 364 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs) and will need to replicate that performance over and over for the Hoosiers to keep winning.
Iowa – A – Nevada is awful…one of the worst teams in FBS, so to say it was a “get right” game is putting a fair amount of lipstick on a pig. Iowa was supposed to crush them and did, winning 27-0 and while the running game looked better, the OL looked better, and Petras looked a little better, keep in mind who it was up against. Iowa needs to demonstrate this…output (?)…I mean, it isn’t pop or explosiveness, against more stiff a competitor before I will trust this Hawkeye team any.
Maryland – D – The Terps did exactly the opposite of what you want to do in your last tune up. They were sloppy, sloppy, and more sloppy. Two giveaways, 15 penalties, 141 penalty yards (!!!), bad on third down, and trailing much of the game. Credit to UM for winning the fourth quarter 14-0 to steal the game but this was not the performance any Maryland fan wanted to see against SMU. We all figured the Ponies were good enough to cause some headaches, but Maryland kept shooting themselves in the foot over and over again. It is a sign of a poorly coached team and with Mike Locksley at the helm, you will always have that worry that they just aren’t coached well enough to get over the hump and really compete for the division.
Michigan – A – The expected blowout of Connecticut went according to plan, 59-0. Nothing was learned in this game, although Blake Corum had one of the funnier stat lines. Normally when someone scores FIVE touchdowns as a running back you are expecting an insane amount of touches and / or yards. He only ran the ball 12 times for 71 yards but still had those five TDs…awesome stuff.
Michigan State – F – The number one thing Michigan State had to solve in the offseason was their passing defense. After two MAC squads (one of them being terrible Akron) we had no idea how good this D would be – especially after absorbing some injuries. Well, the results in Seattle were alarmingly bad. Michael Penix Jr did whatever he wanted all day en route to nearly 400 passing yards and 4 TDs. Credit to Payton Thorne for competing at a high level even as it became increasingly apparent MSU had no hope in this game. Despite being an 11 point game, this one never felt that close. Michigan State has a ton to sort out and not a lot of time to do it with the Gophers coming to town in a week.
Minnesota – A – Colorado is the worst power five team in the country by a huge margin. In fact, I think Georgia Tech could beat the Buffs by two touchdowns. Still, humiliating a team 49-7 shows focus and game planning that is impressive. Mo Ibrahim rushed for over 200 yards on an 8.8 average and 3TDs…basically all in the first half as the Gophers OL opened up massive holes all day. Tanner Morgan didn’t need to do too much but two of his 11 completions were pinpoint perfect touchdown passes. Honestly, they looked like NFL level throws. The biggest downside of this game was the season ending injury to WR Chris Autman-Bell. This sixth-year senior came back to be a part of a special team and now that’s gone from a non-contact injury. Feel gutted for this kid. In the cold reality of “what does this mean for the team?” Well, WR was one of the deeper positions for the Gophers and with the brutal ground game the Gophers have, defenses will be focused on that allowing opportunities for the other Gopher wideouts. “Tight end” (he’s more of that modern receiving type) Brevyn Spann-Ford has had an awesome start to the season, expect him to get more targets now that Autman-Bell is done.
Nebraska – F – I was tempted to give this an “incomplete” as NU was facing off against a much, much, much better Sooner team with an interim coach but then they fired DC Erik Chinader and news came out that he ran practices with just tagging and not full contact and that this went on the entire time Frost was in Lincoln. I knew Frost was in over his head but I didn’t realize he was that big of a screw up. If that news doesn’t deserve an F grade, I don’t know what does.
Northwestern – F – Northwestern played like crap against Duke before an epic comeback brought them almost all the way back. Against FCS Southern Illinois, NU decided to just play like crap all game. Four turnovers, lousy on third down, and a pass defense that was non existent spelled doom. Pat Fitzgerald has the same fault as my Ferentz staff: loyalty. He won’t do anything in the regular season, and he might not even do anything in the offseason, but it is increasingly clear that DC Jim O’Neil is a big old anchor dragging this team down. Despite the sloppiness on offense, the Wildcats still put up 24 points and Ryan Hilinski is a vast improvement over the quarterback play a year ago. So why does NU keep faltering? The defense isn’t up to par like it was under the retired Mike Hankwitz.
Ohio State – A – This was a cupcake against Toledo that we would learn nothing from. I suppose OSU’s offensive explosion of 77 points is eyepopping and after the hiccup against Notre Dame and pulling the starters against Arkansas State, there might be some comfort for OSU fans to know they do have the capability to drop 70+ against teams.
Purdue – D – Call it refball if you want (13 penalties for 138 yards) to sooth the pain of blowing this game but Purdue let Syracuse hang around by doing nothing offensively until the fourth. Purdue scored just 9 points in the first three quarters, letting the Orange even sniff a chance of stealing this game. Throwing for 420+ yards and being efficient on third down don’t really matter if you are going to crack mentally at the end of the game and put your subpar defense in a terrible position. Yes, Purdue was screwed by the refs…but they put themselves in a position to lose because of some poor calls. FYI, the pass interference wasn’t a bad call. I would’ve called it a hold and not a PI…but that needed to be flagged for something because you can’t mug a wideout like that and not get flagged.
Rutgers – D+ – Unlike Iowa, who showed at least a pinch of progress, RU put up 59 passing yards on Temple in a 16-14 nail biter. Yes the D is as advertised, but that O is worse than people expected. I’m seriously concerned about RU’s chances at a finding three more wins to get to a bowl unless the quarterback play gets better. Speaking of QBs, shoutout to E.J. Warner, son of the legendary UNI Panther and NFL hall of famer Kurt Warner, for playing well in his first career start. Wishing him luck and I hope Temple picks up some wins with him running things.
Wisconsin – A – After dropping the Washington State game, everyone expected a very angry team to take out their frustration on the overmatched New Mexico State Aggies. UW didn’t disappoint, winning 66-7. My favorite stat from this game was UW’s third down attempts and completions. Due to scoring SO QUICKLY, Wisconsin only faced six third downs all day and completed just two. That’s the odd stuff you come to this site for.
Game of the Week – For all its strangeness, the Syracuse-Purdue game was incredible to watch unfold. Every time you thought “okay, Purdue has this locked up now” they would do something incredibly stupid. But then, Dino would do some terrible time management to help Purdue out. The PU kickoff from the 10 yard line was a thing of beauty something, as was the Syracuse kickoff from the PU 35. Anyone who watched this probably has an insane text thread with someone in their life as the fourth quarter was a whacky one.
Why Did I Watch This? Award – I stayed up for some Pac 12 After Dark and kept checking the Iowa-Nevada lightning delay. The three delays added up to about four hours as the game took seven hours to complete. I remember the game starting back up sometime around 1 am. Then I remember waking up on my sofa well after 2 am and the game being over. So yes, I did technically watch most of the game…I just didn’t finish it.
Gambling Report Card:
- Indiana vs Western Kentucky – Points (IU -7.0)
In the preview I said this game felt closer to 1 to 3 point margin. IU won in overtime by just three points.
- Iowa vs Nevada – Points (UI -24.0), Under (39.5)
Earn a split as the Hawks’ fourth quarter touchdown put them up 27, but the final score was 27-0, nowhere near that over.
- Maryland vs SMU – Under (73.0)
We got the close, back and forth game, we all expected but the total was 61, well under what Vegas expected.
- Michigan vs Connecticut – UM (-47.5)
Michigan’s 59-0 win gave us the win. Interestingly, the over was 59 in this game so anyone who did bet it, got an unusual push.
- Michigan State at Washington – UW (-3.5)
I had the Huskies winning by a touchdown or more, which they did in their much-more-lopsided-than-the-final eleven point victory would indicate.
- Minnesota vs Colorado – UM (-28.5), Over (47.5)
This was basically free money as the Gophers predictably killed the Buffs, 49-7 giving us two winning tickets from this game.
- Nebraska vs Oklahoma – OU (-10.5)
Not sure why this spread wasn’t two or three touchdowns but I enjoyed the easy win as OU dominated this one, winning by 35.
- Northwestern vs Southern Illinois – NU (-13.5)
Swing and a miss as SIU didn’t just cover, they won outright! Terrible day for the Wildcats – both fans and bettors.
- Ohio State vs Toledo – OSU (-31.5)
The Buckeye O just gets more and more in sync each week. They crushed the Rockets by 56, giving us an easy win.
- Penn State at Auburn – PSU (-2.5)
I called this one a no-brainer and PSU didn’t let me down, throttling Auburn 41-12.
- Purdue at Syracuse – Over (59.5)
When it was 10-9 heading into the fourth quarter I was more than a little concerned…but then that magical gift of a fourth quarter happened with 42 combined points in the final fifteen giving us the over and another win.
- Rutgers at Temple – RU (-18.0), Under (43.5)
I think I read a little too much into Duke’s 30-0 win over Temple when I picked RU to cover that spread. Still got the split though as this game’s final total was just 30 points.
- Wisconsin vs New Mexico State – UW (-37.5), Over (45.0)
End on a strong note with an extra double up as UW’s 66-7 shelling of the Aggies cleared both numbers with ease.
Week Record: 14-3-0
Season Record: 27-13-1
Big Ten and Counting 