B1G Life. B1G Stage. B1G Recap.

With one week remaining in the season, the race to the inaugural Big Ten title game has become much clearer with one spot having been decided and only two teams remaining in the hunt for the other spot.  Now the attention turns to teams trying to become bowl eligible and the likely bowl pecking order in the conference.

Iowa (7-4, 4-3) got their first road win of the year with a 31-21 victory over Purdue (5-6, 3-4).  The Hawkeye offense put up an impressive 408 yards with a balanced attack.  Quarterback James Vandenburg threw for 271 yards and three touchdowns, receiver Marvin McNutt caught nine passes for 151 yards and 2 touchdowns, and running back Marcus Coker ran for 139 yards.  The Iowa defense forced four turnovers and held Purdue to only 286 yards.  The Boilermakers had the game tied at 14 midway through the second quarter but then gave up 17 straight points.  Now Purdue needs a win at Indiana to become bowl eligible, considering Indiana’s season so far, they are very likely to get that win.  Iowa gets a tougher test as they close the season with a trip to Nebraska in a battle between two states whose primary claim to fame is corn.

Even before their game against Penn State, Ohio State saw their slim hopes of making it to Indy die as Wisconsin (9-2, 5-2) rallied for a 28-17 victory over Illinois (6-5, 2-5) in a showdown between the two dumbest coaches in the conference.  Illinois led 17-7 at the half and Wisconsin had struggled to move the ball so far.  At that point Brett Bielema remembered that he had Montee Ball and the Badger defense tightened, not allowing Illini to score again.  Ball finished the 224 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground; he also caught a short pass for a third touchdown.  Illinois outgained Wisconsin 301 to 285 but committed four turnovers and botched a punt to give the Badgers opportunities with a short field.  Wisconsin will now face Penn State with the winner going to the Big Ten title game.  The Badgers did not look good in this one but the fact that the game will be at Camp Randall gives them a huge edge.  Illinois is bowl eligible and will be looking to improve their spot in the bowl order as they close the season with a road game against the mostly hapless Minnesota.

In what had been expected to be an intense, hard fought game, Michigan (9-2, 5-2) routed Nebraska (8-3, 4-3) 45-17.  The game was tied at 10 midway through the second quarter but then the Wolverines scored three straight touchdowns to put the game out of reach.  The Cornhuskers struggled to stop the explosive Wolverine offense, giving up 418 yards.  Denard ‘Shoelaces’ Robinson passed for 180 yards, 2 touchdowns, and only 1 interception while also running for 83 yards and two more tds.  The Nebraska offense only managed 260 yards and Taylor Martinez struggled, completing only 9 of 23 passes.  The Cornhuskers also committed four turnovers, virtually killing any chance they had in the game.

The loss ends Nebraska’s hopes of making it to the Big Ten title game, which makes the Big Ten look better since most of the national media had predicted the Cornhuskers to dominate.  Michigan meanwhile heads into the game against Ohio State with hopes of a BCS bowl and a strong faith in their ability to win; this faith was evidenced in chants of “Beat Ohio” which rang out in the fourth quarter.  In recent years it would have been a battle for Michigan to beat Ohio University but with how this season has gone, the Wolverines have a very good chance of breaking their streak against Ohio State.

Thanks to Nebraska’s loss, Michigan State (9-2, 6-1) was able to celebrate locking up the Legend’s Division title and a trip to Indy as they rolled over  Indiana (1-10, 0-7) 55-3.  The Spartans came out of the gate strong, jumping to a 17-0 at the end of the first quarter and then never looked back.  The Spartans rolled to 470 yards of offense and got their backups into the game for extended periods of time.  The Hoosiers meanwhile continued to look helpless, managing only 236 yards of offense and committing two turnovers.  Michigan State closes the season with a trip to Northwestern in what is now a meaningless game for the Spartans.  Indiana meanwhile hosts rival Purdue in their last chance to get a conference win this season, it isn’t going to happen.

Northwestern (6-5, 3-4) became bowl eligible with a 28-13 victory over Minnesota (2-9, 1-6).  The Gophers outgained the Wildcats 393-368 but had two deep drives stall, coming away with only 3 points despite getting into the redzone both times.  The Wildcats were led by quarterback Dan Persa who threw for 216 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception.  After losing five straight earlier in the season, Northwestern has been solidly on the upswing, winning four in a row.  The Wildcats struggled with finishing games during their losing streak, blowing leads several times, but they held strong in this one, denying Minnesota the chance to make it a three point game in the third quarter.  The Wildcats host Michigan State next weekend and a win could get them headed for a warm weather bowl.  Minnesota meanwhile hosts Illinois to end a season that opened with signs of promise, almost beating Southern Cal, but has shown few positive signs since then.

With one week remaining in the season, Michigan State has locked up the Legend’s Division crown while Wisconsin will host Penn State in a battle to determine the winner of the Leader’s Division.  Nine Big Ten teams are bowl eligible and Purdue can make it ten with a win in their final game.

B1G Life. B1G Stage. B1G Recap.

With the conference season winding down, this week saw several matchups that had major impacts on the race for the spots in the innaguaral Big Ten Championship game.  While the two division winners will most likely not be decided until the final week of the season, this weekend saw the number of teams that were competing for those spots dwindle.

The most hyped game of the week was the showdown between Nebraska and Penn State where the matchup of these two historic programs was overshadowed by the sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Penn State athletic department.  The firing of Joe Paterno and all the controversy swirling around Happy Valley likely proved to be a bit of a distraction for the Nitany Lions who got off to a very slow start, only putting together one good drive in the first half and allowing the Cornhuskers to build a 10-0 lead at intermission.  Nebraska extended the lead to 17-0 midway through the third quarter and the game looked like it was about to be over when the Penn State offense finally woke up.  The Nitany Lions scored two touchdowns and had the chance to win before time ran out on their final drive, giving Nebraska a 17-14 victory.  As normal the Penn State offense was anemic but their defense played tough, as expected.  With how this game went, I suspect that a Penn State team not weighed down with the distractions of the week would have likely found a way to pull out yet another improbable late victory.  For their part Nebraska rebounded nicelyfrom their upset loss to Northwestern, getting their running game back on track.

With this loss, Penn State now only holds a one game lead over Wisconsin in the Leaders division with upcoming trips to Columbus and Camp Randall to close out the season.  This Nitany Lion team has pulled out a number of victories that they should not have this year but their mental state will be the main factor in how the rest of their season goes and I think that will end up costing them in both of these games.  Nebraska remainds one game behind Michigan State in the Legends division.  The Cornhuskers must win out and hope for a loss by Sparty if they want to make it to Indy, Nebraska does own the tie breaker over MSU.

A key matchup between two teams competing for the Legends division title saw Michigan State defeat Iowa 37-21.  The Spartan offense had struggled mightily on the road this season but finally got things going in this one, jumping out to a 34-7 lead as they looked like they were seeking revenge for last season’s embarassing loss to the Hawkeyes.  The Hawkeyes refused to go away and scored 14 points in a five minute stretch to end the third quarter to get MSU fans nervous.  The Spartan defense stepped up in the fourth quarter though and Iowa did not score again, giving Michigan State their first road victory at Iowa in 22 years.  The Sparty offense rolled up 443 yards of offense and did not commit any turnovers.  The Iowa offense put together almost 350 yards but was undone by three turnovers.

This game was considered the last major roadblock for MSU on their way to a spot in Indy, their remaining games are at Northwestern and home against Indiana.  The fact that MSU seems to have figured out the issues with their offense on the road likely eliminates the concerns that they may have had when facing a high powered Northwestern offense next week and the Hoosiers should not pose a real threat, assuming that Sparty can avoid being the traditional Sparty.  Iowa continues its up and down season; in the past three weeks the Hawkeyes have lost to hapless Minnesota, upset a high powered Michigan, and then got mostly handled at home by Michigan State.  This loss essentially eliminates Iowa from the race for the division crown and frankly who knows which Iowa team will show up the last two weeks of the year.

Michigan managed to keep its chances of getting to Indy alive with a 31-14 victory over an Illinois squad that has seen their season fall apart.  After winning their first 5 games of the year and being ranked, the Illini have taken a nose dive and did not even cross the 50 yard line in this game until well into the second half.  Despite their complete lack of offense, the Illini were only down by 10 midway through the third quarter.  The two teams traded scores and Illinois was down by only 10 with just under four minutes to go.  Michigan intercepted a Nathan Scheelhaase pass that setup the decisive touchdown to put the game away.  For the day the Illinois offense only managed 214 yards while committing three turnovers.  The Wolvering offense did a bit better, 362 yards but also committing a trio of turnovers.  The Wolverines were led by running back Fitzgerald Toussaint who had 192 yards and a touchdown.  Toussaint has emerged as a major running threat for the Wolverines over the past few games, giving their offense another ground weapon in addition to Shoelace.

The loss increase the temperature of the already burning seat under Illinois coach Ron Zook while Michigan keeps its slim hopes of getting to Indy alive.  The Wolverines are only one game behing Michigan State but lose the tiebreaker to Sparty.

Paul Bunyan’s axes will be staying in Madison this year as Wisconsin destroyed Minnesota 42-13.  The Golden Gophers had showed signs of improvement in recent weeks, upsetting Iowa at home two weeks ago and nearly pulling off an upset at Michigan State last week.  The Gophers returned the opening kickoff of the second half for a touchdown to put themselves down only 28-13 and give Minnesota fans some hope.  That hope ended though when the Wisconsin defense locked down and the Badgers scored two more touchdowns to put the game well out of reach.  The Wisconsin offense was once again formidable, wracking up over 450 yards.  The Badgers were led by running back Montee Ball who ran for 166 yards and 2 touchdowns, in the process setting the Big Ten single season rushing touchdown record.  Minnesota’s offense was another story, only managing to gain about 156 yards.

Wisconsin’s win puts them one game behind Penn State in the Leaders division; with Penn State having to close the season at Camp Randall this most likely gives the Badgers the edge for the division title.  Minnesota’s loss and overall poor offensive showing is a big letdown for a team that looked to be improving over the past couple weeks.  The Golden Gophers close with games at Northwestern and home against Illinois; both games could go either way depending on how the Gophers respond to this loss.

Northwestern took a break from conference play to post a solid 28-6 win over Rice.  Dan Persa had a career high 372 passing yards, most of them to wide receiver Jeremy Ebert who had a career high 208 receiving yards.  Persa threw four touchdown passes, matching a career high, but also threw two interceptions.  Overall the Wildcat offense rolled for more than 500 yards and would have won by more if not for the fact that they committed three turnovers.  The Wildcat defense also played well, limiting the Owls to just over 250 yards.  This is the third straight victory for the pretty kitties who, despite having lost five in a row earlier in the year, are now one win away from bowl eligibility.  With home games against Minnesota and Michigan State remaining, Northwestern has a good chance to find that needed win, most likely against the Gophies.

With two weeks remaining in the season, Michigan State and Penn State sit atop their respective divisions, each with a one game lead.  While MSU is the favorite to win the Legends division, the edge in the Leaders division has to go to Wisconsin who is only a game behind the Nittany Lions and will get to close the season at home against a Penn State team that is likely to still be distracted by other happenings in Happy Valley.

Ohio State was not the only Big Ten title contender to receiver a scare on Saturday as Michigan State (7-2, 4-1) narrowly escaped an upset bid by Minnesota (2-7, 1-4) 31-24.  The MSU offense put up over 400 yards though the run game was less crisp than Spartan fans would like to see, barely breaking the 100 yard mark.  The big surprise in this one was the play of the Michigan State defense; normally one of the best defenses in the country, the Spartans gave up415 yards and allowed the Golden Gophers to take the lead several times before finally standing tall in the final quarter.  This performance very well have been the result of a hangover from last week’s tough loss at Nebraska but it does not paint a positive picture for the Spartans who will be heading to Iowa next week.  Minnesota’s performance showed that last week’s upset of Iowa may not have been a fluke and Jerry Kill’s Gophers may be improving, unfortunately it is too little-too late for this season.

While MSU received a scare, a worse fate befell their hated rival as Michigan (7-2, 3-2) was upset by Iowa (6-3, 3-2) 24-16.  The Hawkeyes scored first and slowly built a lead that stood at 24-9 with just 10 minutes remaining in the game.  After struggling for most of the game, and suffering an injury to his throwing hand, Denard Robinson stepped up his play and led the Wolverines on a comeback that saw them on the Iowa goal line with a chance to tie the game.  The Hawkeye defense stood strong though and made a great goal line stand to preserve the victory.  The Iowa defense did a good job of limiting Robinson and shutting down a Wolverine offense that had been explosive for most of the season.  On the offensive side of the ball, Iowa was led by running back Marcus Coker who many be the hottest rusher in the Big Ten right now, posting over 120 yards on the ground in each of his last four games.  This victory puts Iowa back in the running for a trip to Indy and makes next week’s matchup against Michigan State look much more interesting than it did a week ago.

Michigan was not the only team to suffer an upset loss as conference newbie Nebraska (7-2, 3-2) learned just how dangerous the pretty kitties can be as they fell 28-25 to Northwestern (4-5, 2-4).  Wildcat starting quarterback Dan Persa injured his shoulder and spent the second half on the sideline.  This would seem to spell doom for Northwestern but backup QB Kain Coulter ran for two touchdowns and threw for a third while putting together an efficient performance.  The surprise of the day came from the Northwestern defense which shutdown Nebraska star running back Rex Burkhead, limiting him to just 69 yards on the ground.  Coming off of a big victory over MSU last week, the Cornhuskers may have been looking past this one but that should not diminish the effort of Northwestern.  After falling apart and blowing leads in the second half several times this year, the Wildcats managed to show a bit more toughness in this one, hanging on for a huge victory that gives them some momentum and keeps their bowl hopes alive.  The Wildcat’s will not win their division but they will likely have a major say in who will be going to Indy.

After coming off of two emotional losses in a row, the mental state of Wisconsin (7-2, 3-2) was in question.  That question was quickly answered as the Badgers demolished Purdue (4-5, 2-3) 62-17.  The Boilermakers kept it close through the first quarter but once the second quarter began, it was all Wisconsin.  The Badger offense gained 605 yards, led by Montee Ball’s 223 rushing yards and three touchdowns.  This was pretty much an old fashioned beatdown which essentially eliminated Purdue from the race to Indy.

With three weeks remaining in conference play, a bit of clarity has emerged in the conference standings but a lot of chaos lurks just in the background.  With both Nebraska and Michigan suffering upset losses, Michigan State is now in sole possession of first place in the Legend’s division.  The Spartans have the easier remaining schedule, at least on paper, but trips to Iowa and Northwestern are still dangerous and MSU cannot afford a performance similar to this past week.  Nebraska and Michigan still play each other and the loser will be essentially eliminated from the division race.  On top of that matchup Nebraska travels to Penn State while Michigan faces Ohio State in very dangerous games.  At this point I would give MSU a 50% chance of winning the division, Nebraska a 40% chance, and Michigan a 10% chance.

In the Leaders division, Penn State holds a two game lead over Ohio State and Wisconsin but has a very tough remaining schedule, with trips to Camp Randall and the Shoe plus a home game against Nebraska.  Ohio State has the next toughest schedule with games against Penn State and Michigan, plus the always dangerous trap game against Purdue.  At this point Penn State has the edge and is most likely to make it to Indy but Ohio State is not far behind thanks to the schedules, that OSU can be this close to winning the division with all that has happened this year is remarkable.  While I would not put money on any team to make it to Indy at this point, one thing is for certain, we are in for an exciting end to the season with the division championships on the line come Thanksgiving weekend.

B1G Life. B1G Stage. B1G Recap.

After Saturday night’s thrilling Ohio State victory it would be easy to forget that there was other Big Ten action going on this weekend.  However there were other conference games and several of them had surprising results that impact the race to Indy.

Big Ten action kicked off on Saturday with Michigan State (6-2, 3-1) traveling to Nebraska (7-1, 3-1) looking for a win that would virtually lock up the Legends division.  Instead the Spartans got pantsed by the Big Ten’s newest member 24-3.  Michigan State got outplayed and outcoached in virtually every aspect of the game.  After some initial success running the ball on their opening drive MSU went away from the run for some unknown reason.  The Spartan passing game struggled as senior quarterback Kirk Cousins seemed like he was colorblind, repeatedly throwing into double coverage.  The Spartan defense did a better job, holding the Cornhuskers to only 270 yards on the day but they got repeatedly pushed around by the Nebraska running game and could not generate turnovers.

This was the last game in  very hard stretch for the Spartans and going 3-1 over that stretch was better than what was expected at the start of the year.  MSU is still tied for first in the Legends division and their schedule gets much easier going forward.  Nebraska is also tied for first in the division but their schedule gets tougher with games against Penn State and Michigan still to come.  The Cornhusker rushing game looks good enough to possibly get them to Indy but their with Taylor Martinez at quarterback, with his atrocious throwing motion, they are vulnerable to giving up turnovers to an opportunistic defense.

In a battle between two teams that were in last place in their divisions, Northwestern (3-5, 1-4) broke a four game losing streak with a 59-38 win over Indiana (1-8, 0-5).  The Wildcat offense was unstoppable, wracking up 616 yards and scoring on 9 of their first 10 possessions.  The Hoosier offense also put up some impressive numbers, gaining 488 yards and tying their season of 38 points.  While this was an exciting shootout to watch, the complete lack of defense by both teams does not bode well for their chances of winning again this season.

The past three seasons Michigan (7-1, 3-1) has started well only to see their season fall apart after losing to in-state rival Michigan State.  Their game against Purdue (4-4, 2-2) was the first match for the Wolverines since their loss to the Spartans and the 36-14 win by Michigan gives their fans some hope that the trend from the past three years will not repeat itself.  The Boilermakers drew first blood, scoring on their opening drive but then the Wolverine defense shut them down and Purdue did not score again until the final minute of the game.  The Michigan offense was explosive as normal, gaining over 500 yards.  For a change Denard Robinson was not the leading offensive force for the Wolverines, that honor went to running back Fitzgerald Toussaint who amassed 170 yards on the ground and scored 2 touchdowns.

Purdue’s offense had seemed to have been making strides over the course of the season but this makes the second week of disappointing performances from the unit.  With tough upcoming games against Wisconsin and Ohio State, the Boilermakers will have a fight on their hands to be bowl eligible.  The past three years have seen Michigan exhibit an explosive offense paired with an atrocious defense.  The Wolverine defense is notably better this season and is a reason that the Wolverines are a threat to make it to Indy.

A snowy afternoon game saw Penn State (8-1, 5-0) defeat Illinois (6-3, 2-3) 10-7 in a thriller that gave Joe Paterno his 409th win, making JoePa the winningest coach in Division I history.  The snowy weather likely contributed to what was a very sloppy game as the Nitany Lions fumbled six times, losing two, while the Illini lost both of their fumbles.  The Penn State offense was even more atrocious than they had been so far this season, gaining 209 yards and only showing signs of life on their last drive which led to the game winning touchdown.  The Illini had a chance to force overtime but those hopes were dashed as their game tying field goal clanked off the upright as time expired.

Illinois has lost three in a row and appears to be struggling to find an offensive identity as evidenced by Ron Zook swapping quarterbacks during the game for the second week in a row.  Meanwhile Penn State keeps finding ways to win despite their anemic offense and the Nitany Lions now stand alone atop the Leaders division.  While it is easy to dismiss PSU because of their offensive struggles and upcoming tough games against Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Ohio State, the Nitany Lion defense has been very good this year and their penchant winning close games makes them a very dangerous team.

After suffering through a very difficult and embarrassing season (see their loss to a I-AA team) Minnesota (2-6, 1-3) gave its fans something to celebrate with a 22-21 upset of Iowa (5-3, 2-2).  After going into halftime tied at 7, Iowa managed to open up a 21-10 lead just under a minute into the fourth quarter.  Minnesota dug deep though and found some magic in the form of quarterback MarQueis Gray who accounted for193 yards through the air and 62 yards on the ground, including running for the game winning touchdown and two point conversion with under three minutes remaining in the game.  After the Golden Gophers made a final stop as time expired their fans stormed the field to celebrate Minnesota winning Floyd of Rosedale for the second straight year.  Minnesota’s win took a team effort, with the offense pulling off an impressive late rally and the defense coming up with stops when needed despite giving up 488 yards.  It is doubtful that Minnesota will get another win this season, though games against Northwestern and Illinois give them a chance, this victory should give the Gophers and their fans some hope for the future.  Iowa fans however must be experiencing a growing frustration with a team that is not as good as their disappointing record suggests.

With four weeks remaining in the season, the race for the spots in the Big Ten Championship game is wide open.  Penn State has a two game lead in the Leaders division but the Nitany Lions face a difficult closing schedule that includes a home game against Nebraska and trips to Wisconsin and Ohio State.  On the side of the conference Michigan State, Michigan, and Nebraska are all tied atop the Legends division with MSU having a slight edge due to having an easier remaining schedule.

Saturday kicked off with Purdue (4-3, 2-1) pulling off an upset of then 23rd ranked Illinois (6-2, 2-2) 21-14.  The Boilermakers opened the game looking sharp and opened up a 21-0 halftime lead while looking like they were going to turn this one into a blowout.  The Illini rallied in the second half as their defense managed to stop the Purdue offense but the Illinois offense still struggled to get something going.  The Illini finally got on the board midway through the fourth quarter and had a chance to win after a late touchdown cut the lead to 7 with under two minutes remaining in the game.  The Illini attempted an onside kick but the Boilermakers recovered it and were able to run out the clock.

The Illini have now dropped two in a row and after being the darkhorse to make it to Indy, Illinois suddenly finds itself needing a miracle to win their division.  Illinois displayed some poor play calling throughout the game and now need to figure out how to get their offense back on track.  After a rough start to the year, Purdue continues to be on the up-swing.  The Boilermakers offense looked good in the first half but got bogged down in the second half.  If their offense continues to improve the Boilermakers could play spoiler to some team this year or possibly find themselves with a shot at Indy even.

In another early game Iowa (5-2, 2-1)  rolled over Indiana (1-7, 0-4) 45-24.  Indiana looked tough early, trading scores with Iowa to tie the game at 14 with ten minutes remaining in the second quarter.  At that point the wheels fell off for the Hoosiers and the Hawkeyes scored 21 unanswered points to put the game out of reach.  The Hawkeyes rolled up over 450 yards of offense and were led by wide receiver Marvin McNutt who caught three touchdown passes to become Iowa’s career leader.  Indiana put up an impressive 414 yards of offense but the Hoosiers constantly shot themselves in the foot as they committed over 100 yards worth of penalties.

Iowa seems to have righted the ship offensively after their loss against Penn State but their defense is a major concern after giving up over 400 yards to the Hoosiers.  Indiana is making some nice strides on offense but their defense needs to step up and more importantly, the Hoosiers need to get out of their own way and cut down on the penalties.

Minnesota’s woes this season continued as the Gophers (1-6, 0-3) were crushed by Nebraska (6-1, 2-1).  This game was just an old-fashioned beatdown as the Cornhuskers ran all over over the hapless Gophers, accumulating over 500 total yards of offense, 345 of those on the ground.  The Golden Gophers only managed 254 yards.  At this point Minnesota fans have to be looking forward to hockey season as the Gophers are not going to get a conference football win this season.

Northwestern had the night spot on BTN and to mark the occassion the Wildcats broke out new uniforms that looked like they were stolen from TCU.  The new uniforms did not help the pretty kitties though as Penn State (7-1, 4-0) knocked off Northwestern (2-5, 0-4) 34-24.  This game had a strong resemblence to the past few Northwestern games as the Wildcats started off strong, leading several times in the first half and going into the locker room only down 27-24.  However in what as become the trend this season, the Wildcats faded down the stretch and did not score in the second half.

Penn State finally abandoned their two QB system as Matt McGloin played the entire game, putting up a solid 192 yards and two touchdowns on 17 of 26 passing.  The Nitany Lion offense looked much better than they have lately as they put 381 total yards, paced by Silas Red’s 164 yards on the ground.  The rest of the Big Ten should be concerned if the Nitany Lion offense gets going as their defense has been very good.  The Nitany Lion defense did give up 406 yards in this game but they made some huge plays when they needed to, coming up with several big tackles in the backfield and forcing a crucial interception.  The Wildcats once again got production out of their two quarterback system but Northwestern has to learn how to finish games as this was the third game in a row where they faded down the stretch.

In what was very likely a preview of the first Big Ten Title game, Michigan State (6-1, 3-0) won a thriller over Wisconsin (6-1, 2-1) 37-31.  Wisonsin jumped out to an early 14-0 lead and looked like they would dominate the game.  The momentum turned however as the Spartan defense force a safety when Russell Wilson was called for intentional grounding in the endzone.  MSU put up 23 unanswered in the second quarter to head into the break 23-14 and threatening to blow the game open.  The second half swung back to the Badgers as Wisconsin managed to bog down the Spartan offense and then tie the game at 31 with under two minutes remaining.  MSU was not done though as the Spartans drove into Badger territory and with four seconds left quarterback Kirk Cousins launched a hail mary.  The pass was tipped by a Wisconsin player into the hands of quarterback-turned-receiver Keith Nichol who bared muscled the ball over the goal line to give the Spartans a shocking victory.

This game was a thriller and more than lived up to its hype.  Michigan State’s defense allowed points and seemed to fade down the stretch but they managed to frustrate the high scoring Badger offense for two quarters.  The Spartan offense put together perhaps their best game of the year though their play calling in the fourth quarter almost cost them as it looked like Jim Bollman had taken over on the Spartan sidelines.  Wisconsin got their first real test of the season and their soft early schedule may have cost the Badgers as they seemed confused and lost when MSU got things going in the second quarter.  Quarterback Russell Wilson had been impressive leading up to this game and he made some huge plays in this one but he also made several key mistakes when under pressure.  The Badgers are still the most talented team in the conference but the heart breaking nature of this loss will be a test of their mental strength.

B1G Life. B1G Stage. B1G Recap.

We are three weeks into the Big Ten season and Ohio State now has their first conference win and two teams have stood out as the favorites to make it to Indianapolis for the first Big Ten Championship game this season.  While OSU is not one of those favorites to get to Indy, writing this article this week following a win is a lot more enjoyable that writing it last week was.

Saturday’s slate of games opened with the one blowout Big Ten game of the day as Wisconsin destroyed hapless Indiana 59-7.  Despite only throwing for 166 yards on the day, Wisconsin quarterback Russel Wilson still turned in the biggest play of the day for the Badgers when he caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from running back Montee Ball on a trick play that was mostly designed to kiss up to pollsters and improve Wilson’s chances at postseason awards; the Hoosiers couldn’t stop normal plays, no need for trick ones.  Wilson’s low throwing numbers were not due to him struggling but rather Indiana’s inability to stop the Badger ground game which rolled up 332 yards, 142 of those yards gained by Ball.  Overall this game went as expected, Wisconsin got an easy victory and Brett Bielema ran up the score against a bad opponent, the starting running back and quarterback were in till the end of the third quarter despite the Badgers being up by 31 points at the half.

Penn State provided more entertainment than expected on Saturday as the Nitany Lions won a nailbiter over Purdue 23-18.  Penn State’s passing game is still a mess as Rob Bolden and Matt McGloin combined to go 10 of 23 for 185 yards and an interception.  The Nitany Lion ground game helped pick up some of the slack though as runningback Silas Redd ran for 131 yards and a touchdown.  The PSU defense remains the strength of the team as they forced three interceptions from a Purdue offense that had been demonstrating marked improvement over the past few weeks.  Despite the three turnovers, the Boilermakers still had a chance in this game but were undone by special teams miscues as they missed a field goal, and extra point, and a two point conversion; against a defense like Penn State’s you just cannot leave points on the field like that and expect to win.  The win kept the Fighting Joe Pa’s undefeated in the conference and tied with Wisconsin for first place in the Leaders Division.  At this point in the season it is obvious that the Penn State offense is not going to find a magic cure and will have to rely on their defense in order to get victories.  Purdue continues to improve each week and may prove to be more of a challenge the rest of the season than expected.

The biggest game of the weekend in the conference was a clash of in-state rivals in East Lansing where Michigan State physically dominated Michigan on the way to a 28-14 victory, you would be forgiven for being confused about who won this game as the Spartans wore new Nike Pro Combat uniforms that bore a strong resemblance to USF’s uniforms.  It had been obvious that Mark Dantonio had changed things at MSU and gotten the team heading in a new direction and as much as the game in Columbus two weeks ago showed that these aren’t the ‘Same Old Spartans’, this game was truly the coming out party for Dantonio’s boys.  MSU came out and played textbook Big Ten football, playing with an aggressiveness and an edge in a physically dominating performance that was not as close as the final score indicated.  In fact the game would have been more lopsided has the Spartans not gotten carried away at times with the aggressiveness, leading to several personal foul penalties that kept stalled Wolverine drives alive.  The Spartans held a potent Michigan offense to only 250 yards and successfully bottled up September Heisman winner Denard Robinson.  While the Wolverine defense looked a bit better than expected, miscues by the Spartans, a pair of fumbles and some dropped passes, kept the MSU score from being even higher.  The MSU offense showed more signs of life than they did against OSU two weeks ago and their running attack is solid but quarterback Kirk Cousins continues to look a bit off this season.  This game established MSU at the top of the Legends Division and probably ended the honeymoon period for new coach Brady Hoke, this was the Wolverine’s fourth straight loss to MSU.  In fact one had to wonder at times what Hoke was thinking as he pulled Robinson on several occassions, replacing him with backup quarterback Devin Gardner.  The past two years Michigan has come into the game against MSU undefeated and has imploded each time, time will tell if this year provides a repeat of that pattern.

Saturday’s Big Ten nightcap saw Iowa beat out Northwestern 41-31 in a shootout.  A week after being shut down by Penn State the Hawkeye offense looked much better this week.  The Iowa defense struggled, allowing almost 500 yards of offense but they made plays when needed, recovering a fumble and returning an interception of a Dan Persa pass for a crucial touchdown.  After leading at half time in each of their first two Big Ten games the Wildcats could never get ahead in this one, though they pulled even several times, including knotting the game up at 17 late in the third quarter.  However for the second straight week the Northwestern defense faded down the stretch, giving up 24 fourth quarter points and the Wildcat offense just could not answer enough.   This crumbling down the stretch is a bit uncharacteristic of a Pat Fitzgerald coached team and does not bode well for the remainder of the season.

After three weeks of conference play a few things have now become obvious.  Wisconsin is clearly the class of the Big Ten and Michigan State has the inside track for the other spot in Indy in December.  Minnesota and Indiana are clearly at the bottom of the barrel in the conference and have not shown any signs of improvement while Purdue’s offense is figuring things out and helping the Boilermakers move up a bit in the Big Ten picture.  What hasn’t become clear is the relative position of everyone else in the conference as the remaining 7 teams are more or less clustered together in a giant mess in the middle where any team could probably beat any other team on any given day, which should make for some very entertaining football in the weeks to come.

B1G Life. B1G Stage. B1G Recap.

After the pain that was Saturday night it took me a little while to get up the strength to sit down and take a look at how the rest of the Big Ten did this weekend.

Big Ten play kicked off on Saturday with Purdue demolishing Minnesota 45-17.  The Boilermakers dominated on both sides of the ball, amassing almost 400 yards of offense while holding the Gophers to 213 yards and forcing three turnovers.  It is hard to say if this game shows that Purdue is getting better, what we can tell is that Minnesota is really bad and will be lucky to be even close in any of their remaining games this season.

Thanks to returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown, Indiana was able to jump out to a 10-0 lead on ranked Illinois and give Hoosier fans some hope after a horrible start to the season.  That hope was short lived as Illinois recovered from their stumble and rallied to an easy 41-20 victory.  The Illini rolled up over 500 yards of offense, 300 on the ground and 210 through the air that came primarily in the form of two touchdown passes (67 and 77 yards) from Nathan Scheelhase to AJ Jenkins.  Scheelhase continues to show that while he is not the best quarterback in the Big Ten, he is a solid qb who can rally his team from a deficit.  The Illinois defense continued to look good, holding the Hoosiers to just over 300 yards of offense, only 83 of those yards on the ground.  At this point Illinois certainly looks like the dark horse to win the conference while Indiana continues to make Hoosier fans wish that they could at least still turn to basketball for comfort.

In another game that was frustrating for OSU fans, Michigan rallied to a 42-24 victory over Northwestern despite trailing for most of the first 3 quarters of the game.  Northwestern scored all of their points in the first half thanks to a solid passing performance by Dan Persa but an interception and a fumble in the third quarter took the wind out of their sales.  To make matters worse Wolverine quarterback Denard Robinson recovered from throwing 3 first half interceptions to put together a solid performance, he finished with over 450 yards of total offense and two passing and two rushing touchdowns.  The national media of course overlooked the three interceptions that helped put Michigan in a hole and named Shoelace a player-of-the-week candidate.  This game showed us that the Michigan defense is still vulnerable but they are not the sieve that they have been the past three years.  The improvement in the second half by the Wolverines may suggest that they now have a coaching staff that is capable of making in-game adjustments, a foreign concept under Rick Rod.  Northwestern fans have to not only be dissapointed with their team, they have to be frustrated by the lack of mental toughness shown in the second half as both the offense and deffense seemed to get dragged down mentally by the other unti’s mistakes, not something that I expect to see from a Pat Fitzgerald coached team.

The other Big Ten game of the weekend saw Iowa visiting Happy Valley where Penn State showed that Vegas was right as the Nittany Lions pulled off a narrow 13-3 victory.  Iowa came into this game with the top rated passing offense in the conference but the Penn State defense held the Hawkeye passing attack to only 169 yards and forced two interceptions.  After looking almost as bad on offense as Ohio State, Penn State found a bit more life this weekend thanks to running back Silas Red who gained 142 yards rushing, overall the Nitany Lions picked up over 200 yards on the ground.  The improved rushing attack helped as the Penn State passing attack still struggled with neither Matt McGloin or Rob Bolden looking impressive.  The Penn State offense will continue to be a problem for Joe Pa’s team this season but this week we saw that their defense is good enough to win them some games.  Meanwhile Iowa has to worry about how well their offense will hold up against Big Ten defenses.

B1G Life. B1G Stage. B1G Recap.

After four weeks of ‘preseason’ play, the ‘real’ season started in the Big Ten this week as the conference teams faced off to begin their run for the first ever Big Ten championship game.  After weeks of playing mostly cupcakes, this week gave us our first real chance to see just how the conference stacks up and some things about this year’s pecking order have already become very clear.

Saturday began with (1-4, 0-1) Minnesota facing (5-0, 1-0) Michigan for the Little Brown Jug, which the Wolverines kept as they crushed the Golden Gophers 58-0.  The result in this one is not much of a surprise as Minnesota lost to a I-AA opponent just last week and did not have an offense that could really test to see just how good the Michigan defense is this year.  The surprise of this game was the solid passing performance of Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson who was 15 of 19 through the air for 169 yards, 2 touchdowns, and no interceptions while adding another touchdown on the ground.  Robinson normally struggles with his passing, making up for it with his feet, but today he looked like an actual quarterback.  This is likely more of a reflection of how bad Minnesota’s defense is, but if this indicates an improvement on the part of Shoelaces, then the rest of the Big Ten needs to take notice, and be fairly concerned.  Michigan is now 5-0 and ranked 12th in the AP poll.  Fast starts for the Wolverines has happened the past couple years but have not led to success in conference play, we will have to see if the same holds true this season.

Another early game on Saturday saw (4-1, 1-0) Penn State struggle to a 16-10 victory over (1-4, 0-1) Indiana to keep the Nitany Lions unbeaten streak against the Hoosiers alive.  Matt McGloin started the game but was replaced by Rob Bolden only to return to the game and throw a 74-yard touchdown pass and lead the Nitany Lions to a field goal.  Obviously the qb situation in Happy Valley is still not settled to Joe Paterno’s liking but the past two weeks have shown that McGloin is the better choice right now.  Overall the Nitany Lion offense is still very much a work in progress and they will likely struggle against better defenses in the conference.  The Penn State defense is better than their offense but has not faced a good opposing offense other than Alabama so time will tell if they are good enough to keep Penn State in games.  Indiana’s offense also struggled in this game and while they have shown signs of life this season, do not look nearly consistent enough to threaten many teams in the Big Ten.

The most entertaining Big Ten game of the week saw (5-0, 1-0) Illinois edge (2-2, 0-1) Northwestern 38-35 to claim the Land of Lincoln trophy.  Wildcat quarterback Dan Persa returned for the first time since tearing his achilles last season and threw 4 touchdown passes to put Northwestern up 28-10 midway through the third quarter.  Unfortunately Persa left the game after possibly re-aggravating the injury and seemed to take the Wildcat’s heart with him, the Illini took the opportunity and scored 21 straight to take a 31-28 lead.  The Wildcats retook the lead with a touchdown with just under two minutes remaining but could not stop the Illini from marching down the field and scoring the game winning touchdown.  This thriller boasts several positives and several warnings for each team.  After looking impressive for the first four games of the season, the Illinois defense suddenly looked vulnerable when facing an elite level quarterback.  Fortunately for the Illini they have a good qb of their own as Nathan Scheelhaase (that is a fun name to spell) was an impressive 21 of 32 for 392 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.  Northwestern looks like they could be a contender in the conference with Dan Persa at the helm but the lingering effects of his injury are a major cause for concern.  A bigger cause for concern is the collapse by the pretty kitty defense late in the game, possibly showing a lack of mental toughness as the wheels fell off following Persa leaving the game.

The most hyped game of the week saw (4-1, 0-1) Nebraska travel to (5-0, 1-0) Wisconsin for a matchup of two top ten teams and the first ever Big Ten game for Nebraska.  The Badgers did not give the Cornhuskers a warm welcome, it was more of a pantsing, as Wisconsin rolled to a 48-17 victory.  Coming into this game I thought that the Nebraska defense would do well against the pass but would struggle against a physical running attack; I was half right as the Cornhusker defense struggled across the board, allowing almost 500 yards of Badger offense.  Russell Wilson continued his impressive season as the Wisconsin quarterback, going 14 of 20 for 255 yards and two touchdowns while still not throwing an interception this season (I’m sort of trying to jinx him by point that out).  The star of the game was Badger running back Montee Ball whose 30 carries netted him 151 yards and 4 touchdowns.  On the other side of the ball the Wisconsin defense gave up two scores before clamping down and forcing three interceptions.  Wisconsin showed that they are not only the class of the Big Ten this season but they are a legitimate national title contender.  Conversely Nebraska showed that they will not come in and bully the existing conference members and that Taylor Martinez can be rattled by good defensive pressure.

Purdue was the only Big Ten member who played a non-conference foe this week, Iowa had off, as the Boilermakers fell 38-10 to Notre Dame in yet another racial stereotype rivalry game against a Big Ten team.  The Purdue defense was awful, giving up 551 yards and not forcing any turnovers.  The Boilermake offense was almost as bad, struggling to amass 276 yards  with their only touchdown coming in garbage time.  Purdue is probably the third worst team in the conference but have a good chance of earning two conference victories as they will face Minnesota and Indiana this season.

After one week of Big Ten play some things are very clear.  Wisconsin is the easy favorite to win the conference and head to the Rose Bowl while Purdue, Minnesota, and Indiana will fight have no hope of a bowl and will fight it out for the conference basement.  Nebraska may still be the second best team in the conference but Michigan State has a defense that could be good enough to get them into that spot if they can figure out their offense and Illinois is a major dark horse contender and Michigan may also be able to contend.  Iowa, Ohio State, and Northwestern are more likely to play the role of spoiler than end up in Indy in December.

As normal most of the conference played patsies this week and many of those games went as one would expect.  After suffering a leg injury during pre-season practice, Joe Paterno returned to the sideline for a half to watch Penn State roll to a 34-6 victory over Eastern Michigan.  Matt McGloin had an excellent day, going 14 of 17 for 220 yards and three touchdowns, which may end the quarterback controversy in Happy Valley.  A similar excellent performance was turned in by Iowa’s James Vandenburg who threw for 3 touchdowns and ran for one more as the Hawkeyes bested Louisiana-Monroe 45-17.  Nebraska prepared for their first Big Ten game by amassing almost 500 yards as they rumbled their way to a 38-14 victory over Wyoming.  The biggest blowout in the conference came at the hands of Wisconsin and stand-out transfer quarterback Russel Wilson who racked up 345 passing yards and three touchdowns as the Badgers crushed South Dakota 59-10.  In Ann Arbor Michigan jumped out to a big lead thanks to three rushing touchdowns by Denard Robinson, the Detroit and national media would like you to remember he is the most exciting player in college football and thus you should overlook his less than 100 yards passing and two touchdowns, and coasted to a 28-7 win over San Diego State (Brady Hoke’s previous team who he so courageously tried to get off of the Wolverine’s schedule).

Next week’s opponent, Michigan State, prepared for the start of conference play by beating up on Central Michigan 45-7.  The Spartan’s offense was fairly crisp but their offensive line once again struggled to open up holes in the middle, the majority of MSU’s rushing yards came on runs to the outside.  MSU may have the best playing defensive backfield in the conference which prevented CMU from going deep with their passes but the Spartans were a bit weak against screen passes to the outside.

A week after finding themselves in the top 25, Illinois tried to play their way out of the rankings as they struggled to a 23-20 victory over Western Michigan.  The Illini struggled to move the ball early on and found themselves down 13-10 at the half.  Illinois got their running game going after the break and held onto the ball for 22 of the final 30 minutes.  After looking so impressive in their first three games of the season, the Illini defense looked more pedestrian in the first half before upping the pressure in the second half.  It will be interesting to see if this was a blip on the radar for Illinois or a sign of trouble to come for the Zooksters.

Not all of the Big Ten fared as well against their ‘little sisters of the poor’ opponents.  Indiana fell behind 24-0 to North Texas before putting up 21 unanswered in the fourth quarter to fall just short to the Mean Green, 24-21.  The Hoosier defense was porous, giving up over 400 yards despite coming up with 3 turnovers in a loss that destroyed any confidence in Bloomington that may have arisen from last week’s victory.

As embarrassing as Indiana’s loss was, Minnesota laid an even bigger egg as the Gophers lost to I-AA opponent North Dakota State for the second time in five years 37-24.  After playing Southern Cal amazingly close in the season opener, the Gophers have repeatedly stumbled, losing to New Mexico State two weeks ago and now to the Bison.  Minnesota was held to under 300 yards and completed less than 50 percent of their passing attempts.  At this point it looks unlikely that the Gophers will win another game this season.

After the completion of the non-conference portion of the schedule for most of the conference teams, there are still a lot of questions surrounding the conference members and their pecking order.  Wisconsin has easily looked like the best team in the Big Ten and really the Badgers are the only team in the conference without clear weaknesses.  After the Badgers their is no clear second best team, instead their is a muddled second tier consisting of Michigan State, Nebraska, Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, Penn State, and probably Ohio State.  Northwestern is a bit behind that tier at the moment but their future largely depends on how well Dan Persa returns from injury.  Purdue, Minnesota, and Indiana are clearly the bottom teams in the conference and the Hoosiers and Gophers are unlikely to win another game this season.  While the large number of weaknesses that are present in the conference will lead to frustration for fans of the teams, it should make for a far more interesting and chaotic season.  Let the games begin.

After the Ohio State-Miami game, which fortunately I do not have to rehash here, the Big Ten game with the next highest profile was the annual rivalry match between Michigan State and Notre Dame.  After losing their first two games of the season, the Irish were not expected to stand much of a chance in this one.  Unfortunately Michigan State decided to act like the Sparty teams that we are all used to a blow it in a big game, losing 31-13.  MSU had a chance late in the game as they had the ball in the redzone down by 13, however Spartan quarterback through an ill advised pass that was picked off and returned 82 yards to set up a Notre Dame score and put the game away.  The key to this game was the inability of MSU to establish a running game as the o-line could not open up holes in the Irish defense.  The Spartan line lost three starters from last year and their youth had been a concern coming into this season, that concern now seems valid.

MSU was not the only Big Ten team feeling charitable toward a winless opponent as Northwestern fell to Army 21-14 to give the Black Knights their first victory of the season.  Army runs a triple-option which can be tricky to stop, so it wasn’t much of a surprise that the Black Knights rolled to over 300 yards on the ground.  The surprise of the game was the Wildcats inability to put points on the board, showing that despite their performance the first two weeks of the season the Wildcats really do miss star quarterback Dan Persa.  Persa will return in the Big Ten opener for the Wildcats and he will need to shake off the rust quickly as he now seems more crucial to the team’s success than he did after Northwestern opened the season with two wins.

Embarrassment for the Big Ten did not just come in the form of losses, it also came in the form of wins as Iowa and Penn State both struggled and trailed late in their games.  Iowa trailed Pitt by 17 with approximately 12 minutes left in the game and needed the biggest comeback in school history to edge the Panthers 31-27.  Quarterback James Vandenburg had a career day, throwing for 399 yards, including 162 in the fourth quarter, to lead the comeback.  Pitt gained over 400 yards in the game which, along with Iowa State pulling the upset in a shoot-out last week, raises serious questions about the Hawkeye defense.  The Hawkeye offense raised some questions of their own as they did almost nothing for the first three quarters before exploding in the fourth, this may have been do to a hangover from their loss last week or may illustrate a serious issue.

Penn State’s offense has some serious issues as the Nittany Lions trailed for the first 57 minutes of the game before scoring a late touchdown to escape Temple 14-10.  The Nittany Lions missed two field goals in the game that would have made it less of a nail-biter.  The Penn State defense looked impressive, holding Temple to under 150 yards and forcing three turnovers.  The offense was another story as Rob Bolden looked rattled and was replaced by Matt McGloin who did a bit better but not well enough to end the qb controversy in Happy Valley.

Big Ten newcomer Nebraska had almost the opposite story to Penn State as the Cornhusker offense showed off its firepower which was necessary to overcome the poor performance of its defense as Nebraska beat Washington 51-38.  The Cornhusker running game was formidable and rolled up over 300 yards, all of it needed.  The Cornhusker defense allowed over 400 yards in the game but did force three turnovers which proved key.  This game, along with Nebraska’s game last week against Fresno State, showed that the Cornhusker defense is very vulnerable when opposing offenses roll the pocket, we’ll see if the rest of the Big Ten takes note of this.

In a karmic return for the conference providing the first wins of the season for Notre Dame and Army, two Big Ten teams managed to earn their first victories of the season.  In the feel good story of the week, and possibly the year, new Minnesota coach Jerry Kill returned to the sideline after suffering a seizure toward the end of last week’s game.  Kill was rewarded with his first win at Minnesota as the Golden Gophers edged Miami (Ohio) 29-23.  Minnesota quarterback Maqueis Gray showed off his dual threat nature as he threw for 161 yards and added 171 more on the ground.  The Minnesota defense struggled though, allowing over 400 yards, but the Golden Gopher special teams came up huge, blocking a punt in the endzone and recovering it for a touchdown.

Another new coach earned his first win as Kevin Wilson saw his Indiana Hoosiers defeat South Carolina State 38-21.  This win should improve the moral in Bloomington but it will likely be a long time before another victory as the Hoosiers don’t face another I-AA opponent this year.

Three Big Ten teams earned blowout victories this week as Purdue found its offense in time to put together a 59-0 shellacking of Southeast Missouri State.  Michigan beat Ypsilanti High School, I mean Eastern Michigan, 31-3 as Denard Robinson accounted for 3 touchdowns and 293 yards of offense, Wolverine fans will ignore the fact that only 95 of those yards came through the air and that Shoelace was only 7 of 18 passing against what has been one of the worst teams in college football in the last decade.  The Eagles could have made this a more interesting game as they drove into Michigan territory on their first 5 possessions but only came away with 3 points.  Wisconsin cruised to a 49-7 victory over Northern Illinois behind an impressive performance by Russell Wilson who was 23 of 32 through the air for 347 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception.  At this point the Badgers look to easily be the best team in the conference.

Illinois provided the highlight of the weekend for the conference as they upset then number 22 Arizona State 17-14.  The Illini defense was surprisingly good, holding the Sun Devils to 362 yards which was over 100 yards less than ASU had gained in either of its other games this season.  The Illini offense was less impressive, gaining only 240 yards and going 38 minutes without scoring.  Illinois could be a dark horse in the race for the Big Ten title thanks to their defense but will need to get a better performance out of its offense if it wants that dream to come true.