Click
on each team for game recaps, thoughts,
schedules and more and scroll down for
the games, results, players of the week
and the conference roundup.
Illinois
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Indiana
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Iowa
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Michigan
|
Michigan State
|
Minnesota
Northwestern
|
Ohio State
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Penn State
|
Purdue
|
Wisconsin
Big Ten Game of
the Week
Minnesota 41
... Miami University 35 3OT
Minnesota played its third straight
overtime game going back to last season,
but this time, it finally won as Amir
Pinnix rumbled in from two yards out
after the defense held when Jamal Harris
intercepted a Daniel Raudabaugh pass.
The two teams traded touchdowns in the
first overtime, and Miami had a chance
to win it after Jason Giannini missed a
26-yard field goal in the second
overtime, but Trevor Cook missed a
33-yard field goal attempt. Adam Weber
threw four touchdown passes for the
Gophers including two two Eric Decker,
on the way to a 28-12 fourth quarter
lead, but the RedHawks roared back with
16 points in 6:31 finished off with a
36-yard Trevor Cook field goal with :11
to play to send it into overtime.
Big Ten
Player of
the Week
Penn State LB Dan Connor had 12 tackles,
2.5 tackles for loss, one sack, and
broken up pass in the win over Notre
Dame.
Conference Roundup
Illinois
…
Illinois didn't need to air it out to beat Western
Illinois, but it should've Juice Williams was back from
injury and struggled yet again with his accuracy. The
running game was fine, as expected, but this needed to
be a time for Williams to find his passing tough and get
Arrelious Benn going. Benn had a decent day and Rashad
Mendenhall ran well, and now the passing game has to be
better against Syracuse before the Illini dives into Big
Ten play.
Indiana … The Hoosiers got a decent road win
against Western Michigan by getting good offensive
balance early, but it has to be a concern that the
production stopped in the second half. The team appeared
to mentally let up after getting out to the big early
lead, but the defense kept up the pressure from several
spots to finish with eight sacks. The 11 penalties were
way too many, and the running game stumbled when it
should've been rolling to close things out, but it was
still a road win before dealing with Akron.
Iowa … Northern Illinois and Syracuse don't have
offenses (and neither does Iowa State next week), but
Iowa's defense has had something to do with that. The
defensive front overwhelmed the Orange front five, not
letting the offense breathe, while the Hawkeyes got the
game it was looking for out of QB Jake Christensen. With
the issues in the receiving corps, playmakers have to
step up in the passing game, and Tony Moeaki did that.
Everything has to come together next week before dealing
with a trip to Wisconsin.
Michigan … After the Appalachian State loss, the
general feeling was that Michigan would get it back
together, be fully focused, and come back roaring
against Oregon. There's one problem; the Wolverines
don't have any defense whatsoever. The secondary was
embarrassingly out of place all game long, and the
defensive front got run over and through by Jonathan
Stewart. It's not that Michigan isn't fast or athletic;
it's that it's not very good. The offense wasn't any
better, outside of Mike Hart, and now the pressure is on
more than ever considering the defense isn't going to do
anything.
Michigan State … The Spartans struggled with
Bowling Green QB Tyler Sheehan, who gave Minnesota fits
in the upset the week before, but the coaching staff
made the right adjustments at halftime and pounded the
ball, pounded the ball, pounded the ball. QB Brian Hoyer
did a nice job of keeping the chains moving, but it was
the running game, and the play of the defense to get
into the backfield, that helped the Spartans hold on to
the ball for 17:18 of the second half. This isn't a
world-beater of a team quite yet, but as long as there
aren't a slew of turnovers, the running game will be the
great equalizer. This Spartan ground game will be
effective against just about everyone.
Minnesota … Minnesota can exhale, but it can't be
happy after struggling with its second straight MAC
team. Miami University pushed the Gophers hard thanks to
a big fourth quarter comeback, and there has to be
serious, serious concern that the defense isn't
improving. If Florida Atlantic comes up with some big
numbers next week, then it'll truly be time to pack it
in and rebuild, but if the offense can come up with good
balance, and Adam Weber can continue to improve, the
Gophers should stay alive in plenty of shootouts.
Northwestern … One of the trademarks of
Northwestern teams under Randy Walker was the ability to
come up with heart-stopping comebacks to pull games out
of the fire. After the win over Nevada, now the Wildcats
know that they can do the same under Pat Fitzgerald. C.J.
Bacher carried the offense once Tyrell Sutton was out
with an ankle injury, and this might be the performance
that gives the offense the confidence that knows it can
move the ball at any time when down. As good as Bacher
is becoming, to have a shot at Ohio State (after playing
Duke next week), Sutton has to be healthy.
Ohio State … The defense is going to shut down a
ton of teams, and it's going to have to until the
offense gets its feet wet. Todd Boeckman struggled a
bit, but he had a good running game to help him out as
Chris Wells made up for his lousy week one with a nice
day. For now, the offense can't make the mistakes it
made against Akron with five turnovers and way too many
misfires early on. But this day belonged to the defense.
It served notice that it'll be a brick wall for most of
the year, but it only faced Youngstown State and Akron
over the first two weeks. If the run defense shuts down
Washington next week, then you'll know it's locked in
and ready for the Big Ten season.
Penn State … It's not time to get too excited after
beating FIU and a bad Notre Dame team, but the defense
is humming and Austin Scott is running well. It was if
the Nittany Lions knew the Irish couldn't score, so it
pounded, pounded, and pounded the ball some more in the
second half on the bad ND defensive front, and Scott
benefited. Considering Michigan's problems, it'll be
tempting to look ahead at the schedule and assume a 6-0
start before hosting Wisconsin, so keeping the team
grounded will be the coaching staff's biggest issue.
Purdue … Eastern Illinois was the ultimate
tune-up game. The Panther defense didn't have a prayer
of stopping the Purdue offense, and Curtis Painter made
sure of it with a fantastic day. He spread the ball
around to all of his weapons extremely well, and he did
everything right to keep the chains moving with the
offense going ten of 18 on third downs. As long as
Painter gets time, he's deadly.
Wisconsin … The Badgers didn't appear to have
much life on offense against UNLV until the final drive.
There were too many three-and-outs, too many third and
longs, and not enough protection for QB Tyler Donovan.
When push came to shove, the Badgers shoved its way to
the game-winning drive, with Tyler Donovan coming up
with the touchdown run that finally got the team
bouncing. This might serve as a wake up call, or it
might have exposed the Badgers a bit on the offensive
line. This is a fast team, but it struggled against the
small, quick Rebel defensive front. The defense was
better than it might get credit for having kept the
Rebels out of the end zone in the final three quarters.
It stiffened when it had to.
| |
Overall |
Home |
Away |
| |
W |
L |
PF |
PA |
STR |
W |
L |
W |
L |
|
Purdue |
2 |
0 |
104 |
30 |
W2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
Penn
State |
2 |
0 |
90 |
10 |
W2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Michigan State |
2 |
0 |
83 |
35 |
W2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Northwestern |
2 |
0 |
63 |
31 |
W2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Wisconsin |
2 |
0 |
62 |
34 |
W2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
Ohio
State |
2 |
0 |
58 |
8 |
W2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Iowa |
2 |
0 |
51 |
3 |
W2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
Indiana |
1 |
0 |
55 |
7 |
W2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Minnesota |
1 |
1 |
72 |
67 |
W1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
Illinois |
1 |
1 |
55 |
40 |
W1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
Michigan |
0 |
2 |
39 |
73 |
L2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
|
Saturday, September 8 |
| 12:00 PM |
at Ohio State 20
... Akron 2
CFN Prediction: OSU 45-10
OSU -28.5 |
| 12:00 PM |
at Northwestern 36 ... Nevada
31
CFN Prediction: NW 24-20 NW -5 |
| 12:00 PM |
at Michigan State
28 ... Bowling Green 17
CFN Prediction: MSU 38-20 MSU -15 |
| 12:00 PM |
at Minnesota 41 ... Miami Univ.
35 3OT
CFN Prediction: Min 31-16 Min -11 |
| 12:00 PM |
at Purdue 52
... Eastern Illinois 6
CFN Prediction: Purdue
48-17 |
| 3:30 PM |
Oregon 39 ... at Michigan
7
CFN Prediction: Mich 38-30
Mich -6 |
| 6:00 PM |
at Penn State 31
... Notre Dame 10
CFN Prediction: PSU 38-17
PSU -14.5 |
| 7:00 PM |
at Illinois 21 ... Western
Illinois 0
CFN Prediction: Ill 38-13 |
| 8:00 PM |
Indiana
37 ... at Western Michigan 27
CFN Prediction: IU 31-30
WMU -3 |
| 8:05 PM |
at Iowa 35 ... Syracuse 0
CFN Prediction: Iowa 31-7 Iowa -22 |
| 10:00 PM |
Wisconsin 20
... at UNLV 13
CFN Prediction: UW 40-17 UW -24 |
Past
Big Ten
Games of the
Week
Sept. 1 - Appalachian State 34 ... Michigan 32
Sept. 8 -
Minnesota 41 ... Miami Univ.
35 3OT
Past Big Ten Players of the Week
Sept. 1 - Wisconsin WR Luke Swan
Sept. 8 - Penn State LB Dan Connor