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
|
Indiana
|
Iowa
|
Michigan
|
Michigan State
|
Minnesota
Northwestern
|
Ohio State
|
Penn State
|
Purdue
|
Wisconsin
Big Ten Game of
the Week
Northwestern 49 ... Minnesota 48 2OT
In the second overtime, Northwestern got a six-yard touchdown
run from Brandon Roberson, but Minnesota answered with a three-yard
Adam Weber touchdown run. The Gophers chose to go for two, but the
play never had a chance as Weber's pass attempt fell incomplete.
Minnesota was up 35-14 late in the third quarter, thanks to two of
Ernie Wheelwright's three touchdown catches and a nine-yard Amir
Pinnix touchdown run. And then C.J. Bacher got hot, and Northwestern
scored the final 21 points of regulation, with Eric Peterman
catching a four-yard touchdown pass with eight seconds to play. In
the first overtime, Wheeleright caught a 21-yard touchdown pass, but
Northwestern answered with a five-yard Ross Lane touchdown run. The
two teams combined for 1,169 yards of total offense.
Big Ten
Player of
the Week
Northwestern QB C.J. Bacher completed 41 of 58 passes for 470 yards
and four touchdowns, and ran seven times for 21 yards and a score
Conference Roundup
Illinois
…
Every once in a while, the Illini running game is going
to get stuffed, and someone will have to throw it. Just
when it looked like Eddie McGee would be the better
answer at quarterback of Juice Williams, he throws a
lousy pass at the end to let Iowa seal the win. That
shouldn't take away from him getting more and more
playing time. Juice threw well against the Hawkeyes, but
McGee also showed off what he could do, yet again, with
his arm and his legs. The offense can't be afraid to
start taking more shots down the field.
Indiana … Austin Thomas made 22 tackles, but that
was the only thing notable about the IU defense against
Michigan State. The line got blown off the ball and
didn't get enough pressure on Brian Hoyer, even with
three sacks. It's not like Kellen Lewis and the offense
was bad, but the line gave up five sacks and there were
only nine first downs. The offense simply didn't get
enough chances because the D couldn't get MSU off the
field. The lines will have to play much better over the
next two weeks against Penn State and Wisconsin.
Iowa … The Iowa defensive front seven had itself
a whale of a game against the Illinois offense. The
Illini looked frustrated and never got on track because
the option was always sniffed out by the Hawkeye
linebackers, particularly Mike Humphal. The offense
wasn't anything special, but Jake Christensen came up
with a tremendous game to keep the chains moving,
converting on ten of 17 third down chances and holding
on to the ball for 34:26. Was this the game that's going
to turn everything around? Maybe, but the offense will
have to start doing even more to keep up with Purdue
next week.
Michigan … Now that's the Michigan offense we've
all been waiting for. Against Purdue, the attack was
balanced, explosive, and opportunistic with Mike Hart
running well and Chad Henne playing like Chad Henne
again. This was how it was supposed to be from the
start, helped by the play of the offensive line. Henne
got all the time he wanted to throw, and Hart had plenty
of room to move through the Boilermaker D. Now it's up
Carlos Brown, and others, to start taking even more of
the workload from Hart, who had problems with an ankle
injury. If the Wolverines can roll up Illinois in
Champaign next week, then you know things are back to
normal.
Michigan State … This isn't the same MSU team.
Usually, it would follow up two losses with another
meltdown, but the defense was night-and-day better
against Indiana than it was against Northwestern, and
the offense pitched a near-perfect game. Javon Ringer
and the running game will likely get all the attention,
but Brian Hoyer was magnificent, missing just three of
23 passes. Now it a chance to really make a statement
against number one Ohio State, and if the offense plays
like it did this week, it could come up with the
stunner.
Minnesota … Minnesota is unable to put together a
full sixty minutes. It had Northwestern beaten and
beaten badly. With a 21-point lead and less than 20
minutes to play, this was where the Gopher running game
should've taken over and closed things out. Oh yeah, the
Minnesota defense. The secondary, outside of Dominique
Barber, simply isn't coming up with any production,
while the front seven has been non-existent. As ugly as
this season has been, things could get a whole lot
uglier next week if the Gophs don't beat a good North
Dakota State team.
Northwestern … Northwestern was amazing in the
comeback against Minnesota, but it played with fire in
yet another shootout. C.J. Bacher has gotten red hot at
the right time, and now it appears this is going to be
the norm. If the offense isn't blowing up, the Wildcats
will have problems. The defense simply isn't getting any
production from the linebackers, but it stiffened up
when it absolutely had to late against the Gophers. Now
there's real hope for a bowl game with Eastern Michigan
coming up next. Win that, and it's just one win and bowl
eligibility.
Ohio State … OSU did exactly what you're supposed
to do with an inferior opponent. The running game might
not have gotten rolling against Kent State, but more
importantly, Todd Boeckman and the passing game was
flawless. It was even strong when Rob Schoenhoft came
in. Everyone knows Brian Robiskie is a playmaker, but
this week, it was Brian Hartline who came up with the
home runs early to end it. Once again, the defense was
dominant, but this was an easy KSU offensive attack for
a team like the Buckeyes to deal with.
Penn State … Penn State finally got its first big
win of the year. The Wisconsin blowout was exactly how
the team is supposed to be playing, with Anthony Morelli
sharp, and finding the open man with ease, Rodney Kinlaw
running through big holes, and the linebacking corps
dominating. Dan Connor and Sean Lee were tremendous,
each cranking out 12 tackles and a sack as the never let
the Badgers breathe. This was a circle the wagons game,
considering all that went on off the field this week.
Now the consistency has to be there with a
tougher-than-it-looks date at Indiana.
Purdue … There's no shame in losing to both Ohio
State and Michigan, but to get blown out so badly so
early, and to need late scores to make the two games
look closer than they really were, isn't a plus. Fine,
so Purdue is going to be one of those teams that beats
the ones it's supposed to and can't handle the better
teams. Considering Penn State is the only game left that
the Boilermakers shouldn't be able to deal with, that's
not all that bad. Now there has to be a big turnaround
next week against Iowa, and it has to start with the
running game. Kory Sheets hasn't been able to get going
over the last two weeks, and the offense has broken
down.
Wisconsin … Wisconsin has fallen into a bad
pattern it has to get out of in a big hurry. The lines
are getting their buts kicked, so there's no running
game and no interior defense to stop the run. Thanks to
injuries, the receiving corps is thin and young, yet the
offense no relies on Tyler Donovan bombing away. While
that's fine at times, there has to be a balance.
Wisconsin is only Wisconsin when it's pounding the ball,
and right now this doesn't appear to be a team that's
able to inflict it's will on anyone with a pulse.
| |
Conference |
Overall |
Home |
Away |
| |
W |
L |
PF |
PA |
W |
L |
PF |
PA |
STR |
W |
L |
W |
L |
|
Ohio
State |
3 |
0 |
111 |
21 |
7 |
0 |
250 |
46 |
W7 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
|
Michigan |
3 |
0 |
90 |
46 |
5 |
2 |
200 |
141 |
W5 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
|
Illinois |
3 |
1 |
91 |
70 |
5 |
2 |
187 |
130 |
L1 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
|
Indiana |
2 |
2 |
119 |
119 |
5 |
2 |
252 |
177 |
L1 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
|
Penn
State |
2 |
2 |
94 |
55 |
5 |
2 |
229 |
89 |
W2 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
Wisconsin |
2 |
2 |
87 |
116 |
5 |
2 |
194 |
181 |
L2 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
|
Northwestern |
2 |
2 |
120 |
175 |
4 |
3 |
197 |
226 |
W2 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
|
Michigan State |
1 |
2 |
127 |
112 |
5 |
2 |
258 |
174 |
W1 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
Purdue |
1 |
2 |
73 |
102 |
5 |
2 |
255 |
173 |
L2 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
|
Iowa |
1 |
3 |
50 |
88 |
3 |
4 |
114 |
106 |
W1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
|
Minnesota |
0 |
4 |
106 |
164 |
1 |
6 |
217 |
273 |
L5 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
|
Saturday, October 13 |
| 12:00 PM |
at Ohio State 48 ... Kent State
3
CFN Prediction: OSU 37-3 OSU -30.5 |
| 12:00 PM |
at Iowa 10 ... Illinois 6
CFN Prediction: Illinois 27-10 Ill. -3.5 |
| 12:00 PM |
at Northwestern 49 ... Minnesota
48 2OT
CFN Prediction:
Northwestern 38-30 NU -7 |
| 12:00 PM |
at Michigan 48 ... Purdue 21
CFN Prediction: Michigan
34-27 UM -5.5 |
| 3:30 PM |
at Penn State 38 ... Wisconsin
7
CFN Prediction: UW 20-16
PSU -6.5 |
| 7:00 PM |
at Michigan State 52 ... Indiana
27
CFN Prediction: MSU 27-23 MSU -5 |
Past
Big Ten
Games of the
Week
Sept. 1 - Appalachian State 34 ... Michigan 32
Sept. 8 -
Minnesota 41 ... Miami Univ.
35 3OT
Sept. 15 - Duke 20 ... at
Northwestern 14
Sept. 22 -
Michigan
14 ... Penn State 9
Sept. 29 - Wisconsin 37 ...
Michigan State 34
Oct. 6 -
Northwestern
48 ... at Michigan State 41 OT
Oct. 13 -
Northwestern 49 ... Minnesota
48 2OT
Past Big Ten Players of the Week
Sept. 1 - Wisconsin WR Luke Swan
Sept. 8 - Penn State LB Dan Connor
Sept. 15 - Wisconsin RB P.J. Hill
Sept. 22 - Michigan RB Mike Hart
Sept. 29 - Indiana QB Kellen Lewis
Oct. 6 - Northwestern QB C.J. Bacher
Oct. 13 - Northwestern QB C.J. Bacher
