Penn State, Minnesota, and Iowa are winless. MSU beat the Harbaugh’s! Not possible? Possible. It’s the Big Ten!
Oh, my! Who saw last week coming?! We didn’t. Proof is our 3-3 record. We need to do better this week … and so do a lot of Big Ten teams.
Only six (not seven) games were played last week during this conference-only season. That’s because Wisconsin was in sickbay and couldn’t play Nebraska. Worse yet (so it seems), Bucky spread the virus to the Illini, the team it had played the previous week.
Wisconsin, which is still in a bad way, won’t take the field Saturday against Purdue. But things seem under control in Champaign. At press time (Wednesday), the Illinois-Minnesota game is a go.
It adds up to another 6-game slate this Saturday. And 10 of those 12 teams have work to do.
–Four teams–PSU in the East and Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota out West–haven’t won a game.
—Rutgers, Michigan State, and Maryland have to prove they are more than ‘one-win wonders.’
—Indiana (in the East) and Northwestern (in the West) need to show they are legitimate division contenders.
–And then there’s Michigan, where the world ain’t right. Jim Harbaugh hasn’t positioned “The Leaders and Best’ (as UM likes to call itself) to be (how do they say it?) ‘The Leaders and Best.’ It’s 11 o’clock p.m. in Ann Arbor and the clock will strike midnight soon. Will Jim be around? He will, but only if he starts delivering–and delivering starts this week on the road against the 2-0 Hoosiers. It’s our Game of the Week.
Ranking the Conference, After Week 2
1-Ohio State (continues to be as good as expected)
2-Indiana (did what it had to do in Piscataway)
3-Wisconsin (highly ranked on theory, but needs to get on the field)
4-Northwestern (workmanlike performance in Iowa City)
5-Penn State (not as inept as 0-2 looks–IU and OSU were tough draws)
6-Michigan State (got a shocking victory in Ann Arbor on the strength of gameplan and execution)
7-Michigan (Blue’s potential is getting stale–either win or be relegated as nationally irrelevant)
8-Rutgers (great road win in East Lansing, but then shot itself in the foot at home)
9-Purdue (sneaking by the Illini raises questions)
10-Minnesota (future prospects blunted by a sieve-like defense)
11-Maryland (a home win, yes, but ….)
12-Iowa (opening at 0-2 … can’t happen! … but opening 0-3?)
13-Nebraska (once a national power, NU is a Big 10 outlier)
14-Illinois (Lovie needed to come out of the shoot fast, but walked out instead)
Week 3 Games
Minnesota at Illinois (opened UM -9, Wed., -7): The Illini dug into the depth chart last week by going with 4th-string QB, Coran Taylor. But don’t expect the soph from Peoria to be 4th anymore. He went 17-29 for nearly 300 yards and cashed-in two 4th Q touchdowns in a comeback against Purdue that fell just short. Meanwhile, the ‘Row Your Boat’ lesson in Minneapolis this week involves tutors helping the Gophers spell D E F E N S E. Yes, this team dines at an all-you-can-eat offensive buffet, but it must learn that giving up more points than it scores is a recipe for D I A S T E R. Still, though, it’s Illinois this week. So we’ll go with the Gophers to win in what looks like a shootout.
Michigan State at Iowa (opened Iowa -9, Wed., -7): Can the Spartans avoid a letdown after last week’s emotional win against Michigan? ‘Letdown’ isn’t in Iowa vocabulary–at least not yet–having started the season 0-2 for the first time since 2000. This series brings back memories of many great games, the most recent being the 2015 Big Ten Championship game when MSU executed ‘The Drive‘ (a 22-play, nine-minute drive) to win. Look for another slugfest this week between a stout MSU front 7 and an angry bunch of birds. Pat thinks Iowa won’t go 0-3, but Frank isn’t so sure. The difference-maker is whether Tucker and Co. can put together and execute a game plan based on Iowa’s weaknesses–just as the Spartans did last Saturday against the Wolves. Split vote on this one.
Maryland at Penn State (opened PSU -21, Wed., -25): High blood pressure is rampant in State College these days. But losses to IU and OSU shouldn’t cause undue distress. Look forward instead. This week’s assignment is slowing down Maryland QB Taulia Tagovailoa. The key is ball-control offense, reducing the number of Terrapin touches. We think that will happen, and that makes the Lions our choice.
Nebraska at Northwestern (opened NU -3, Wed., -4): For NU, last week’s game against Iowa certainly didn’t end as it started. The purple team spotted Iowa 17 points before methodically battling back to win. Try as they might, the Hawkeyes couldn’t muster a decent 4th Q drive, eventually falling short by a point. Not playing was on Nebraska’s schedule last week, meaning that they now have fresh legs and a strong desire to play and (we might add) win. While Coach Fitz has assembled another strong Northwestern team (NU can’t seem to do that in basketball), Nebraska has stockpiled a lot of talent. Too much for NU, says Pat, but Frank thinks the Wildcats smell a division crown with the Badgers in sight (on Nov 21). Split vote on this one.
Rutgers at Ohio State (opened OSU -37, Wed., -38): After seeing the way Ohio State handled Penn State, is there a team in this conference that can compete with the Buckeyes? If there is, it’s not likely to be Rutgers. OSU keeps rolling.
GAME OF THE WEEK: Michigan at Indiana (opened UM -2, Wed., -3): Not since the Antwaan Randle El days of the late 1990s has Indiana football been this much fun to watch. This year, QB Michael Penix Jr. is All-Big Ten caliber, and he’s surrounded by a core of skilled athletes. But is it time for IU’s bubble to burst? Yes, we think because…. The Wolverines come to town with their backs against the wall, angry as all get-out after squandering a big win in Minneapolis by losing to the 3-TD underdog Spartans. Michigan is our pick.
