You know the ‘dog days of summer’ in baseball? Those seemingly meaningless games in June and July that are super hot out and the excitement of the start of the year is gone but the excitement of a playoff push is too far in the future to care? Week six this year is a dog day in fall. These games feel meaningless. They aren’t in reality…but they just feel that way. Let’s make things exciting. As always, all times are central.
Game of the Week:
- Purdue at Maryland
The Boilermakers got a massive win last week at Minnesota to get to 3-2 (1-1). They are officially lurking in the west as every team has at least one league loss. For Maryland they are 4-1 (1-1) with their lone loss a closer-than-expected battle with Michigan. If PU wins, it will be a big lift to their divisional title hopes. If Maryland wins, it puts the odds of a bowl game to practically 100% since they still have Rutgers and Indiana left on the slate, among others. Oh and there is this little thing called offense. Both Purdue and Maryland can move the ball extremely well and put up lots of points. This should be a fun one.
- Saturday, 11:00 AM, BTN
Sleeper:
- Iowa at Illinois
The weekly “can they score two touchdowns?” show of Iowa heads to Champaign this week. Illinois has dominated this rivalry of late, riding an 8 game winning streak in the series but this is not your Ron Zook Illini squad. Illinois has things humming and are 4-1 (1-1). A win here would put them into true western contention status because they would have tiebreakers over both Wisconsin and Iowa. But Iowa isn’t the pushover their 3-2 (1-1) mark would indicate because they have an amazing defense. Will things come as easily to Illinois this week as it did a week ago in Madison? Will the Illini trip over their own feet yet again in this rivalry? Will I enjoy my first ever trip to Memorial Stadium? Hopefully the answers as an Iowa fan are No, Yes, and Yes.
- Saturday, 6:30 PM, BTN
Don’t Forget:
- Nebraska at Rutgers
The Cornhuskers got a huge win against Indiana last week to get to 2-3 (1-1). This doesn’t sound too impressive but in the wild west, 1-1 has them in the hunt at this stage in the season. More realistically, making a bowl game despite firing Scott Frost a few weeks into the year would be an amazing turn around and lock up the full time job for interim coach Mickey Joseph. Speaking of bowls, RU is 3-2 (0-2). Being forced to start against Iowa’s outstanding defense and then go to the Horseshoe was a nasty start to league play. For their bowl hopes they have to take care of business against NU to get to 4-2 and then look to pick up wins against some combination of Indiana, at MSU, at Maryland, and to a lesser extent at Minnesota. Quite frankly, a loss here puts RU’s bowl hopes in dire straits. A loss for NU also hurts but thanks to the wacky west, they still have more chances to get to six wins.
- Friday, 6:00 PM, FS1
Snoozer:
- Ohio State at Michigan State
Until we see any improvement from Sparty, they are the worst team in the league. Seriously, Indiana, Northwestern, Rutgers, and Wisconsin all currently do more things better than Michigan State. With that said…look at their opponent! The best team in the league. Uh-oh!
- Saturday, 3:00 PM, ABC…I for one will be in a parking lot in Illinois tailgating. That sounds more fun than watching this one.
Upset Alert:
- Michigan at Indiana
With Minnesota’s upset last week (and off this week) plus Penn State being off, there are just two teams good enough to be upset in action this week and you know Ohio State ain’t losing to MSU…that leaves Michigan. Maryland was able to move the ball on the Wolverines and Iowa was able to get some stops against them. Who knows, maybe Indiana puts it all together and gets the massive upset. Perhaps Michigan is looking ahead to next week against Penn State. For this far-fetched fantasty to even have a prayer of coming true, Connor Bazelak will have to have the game of his life for the Hoosiers.
- Saturday, 11:00 AM, Fox
Elsewhere (Alphabetical Order):
Wisconsin at Northwestern – You remember the Oregon Trail game when someone kicked the bucket and it would say things like “Tom has died of dysentery”? This is the you have died of dysentery game. Badgers are 0-2 in league with a nearly impossible road back to winning the west, canned Paul Chryst, and have such OL issues they are coming off a two yard rushing performance. Meanwhile NU 1-4 with losses to heavyweights like Miami (OH) and Southern Illinois. Hilariously their lone win is against Nebraska…in Ireland…means they are 1-1 in the Big Ten and therefore still technically speaking, alive in the division race! What a mess this game is.
- Saturday, 2:30 PM, BTN
Bye Week:
Minnesota and Penn State
Random Musing:
So far we have had Scott Frost and Paul Chryst lose their jobs. Will their be any more carnage in the Big Ten? MSU DC Scottie Hazelton and Iowa OC Brian Ferentz are having terrible seasons – and in the case of Brian been terrible for his entire tenure – yet weirdly they are both loved like sons by their head coaches. Indiana HC Tom Allen has had some success but is past performance enough to see him through this rough schedule? Perhaps Fitz will clean house in Evanston and dump his poor performing coordinators. Who knew this would be more a season of Guiding Light than college football.
Big Ten and Counting 