Big Ten Roundup - Week 9 Standings & More

CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Oct 27, 2008


Big Ten conference roundup, standings, player and game of the week

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.

Conference Roundups
- ACC | Big East | Big 12 | Big Ten | C-USA | Ind.
- MAC | M-West | Pac 10 | SEC | Sun Belt | WAC


Illinois | Indiana | Iowa | Michigan | Michigan State | Minnesota
Northwestern | Ohio State | Penn State | Purdue | Wisconsin
- Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6

- Week 7 | Week 8

Big Ten Game of the Week

Penn State 13 … Ohio State 6
In a tough defensive battle, Penn State replaced Daryll Clark late in the fourth quarter with Pat Devlin, who ran for a one-yard touchdown with just over six minutes to go, with the drive sparked by a Terrelle Pryor fumble, to give the Nittany Lions the lead, and Kevin Kelly made it a seven point margin with a 35-yard field goal. Ohio State still had a chance in the final moments, but Pryor, who threw for a career-high 226 yards, was picked off in the end zone by Lydell Sargeant. The Buckeyes managed just two Aaron Pettrey field goals, but outgained the Nittany Lions 287 yards to 281.


Big Ten Player of the Week
Penn State LB Navorro Bowman made 10 tackles, a tackle for loss, broke up a pass and recovered a fumble in the win over Ohio State.

 

Conference

Overall

 

W-L

PF

PA

W-L

PF

PA

STK

Penn State

5-0

165

60

9-0

376

100

W9

Ohio State

4-1

121

61

7-2

221

120

L1

Michigan St

4-1

137

128

7-2

250

183

W1

Minnesota

3-1

81

67

7-1

226

137

W3

Nwestern

2-2

109

101

6-2

212

146

L1

Iowa

2-2

113

63

5-3

238

92

W2

Illinois

2-3

161

125

4-4

270

215

L1

Michigan

1-3

85

151

2-6

151

230

L4

Wisconsin

1-4

92

150

4-4

194

191

W1

Indiana

1-4

79

177

3-5

175

235

W1

Purdue

0-4

41

101

2-6

162

206

L5

Saturday, October 25
at Wisconsin 27 ... Illinois 17
CFN Prediction: Illinois 31-23  Ill. -1
-
Juice gets picked | UW finally breaks through
at Indiana 21 ... Northwestern 19
CFN Prediction: NU 38-24  NU -9
-
NU loses Sutton, Bacher | Chappell saves day
Minnesota 17 ... at Purdue 6
CFN Prediction: Minn. 24-20   Minn. -1
-
Gopher D rolls | Purdu
e loses Painter
Michigan State 35 ... at Michigan 21
CFN Prediction: MSU 30-23  MSU -5.5
-
Michigan | Michigan State
Penn State 13 ... at Ohio State 6
CFN Prediction: Ohio State 23-20  PSU -1.5
-
OSU conservative |
A PSU QB controversy?
Games of the Week
Aug. 30 - Cal 38 - MSU 31
Sep. 6 - NW 24 ... Duke 20
Sep 13 - Oregon 32 - Purdue 26 2OT
Sep 20 - Pur 32 - CMU 25
sep 27 - Mich 27 - UW 25
Oct 4 - OSU 20 - UW 17
0ct 11 - Minn 27 - Ill 20
Oct 18 - PSU 46 - Mich 17
Oct 25 - PSU 13 - OSU 6
Players of the Week
Aug. 30 - PJ Hill, Wisconsin
Sep. 6 - Javon Ringer, MSU
Sep 13 - Javon Ringer, MSU
Sep 20 - Javon Ringer, MSU
Sep 27 - Michigan D line & Derrick Williams, PSU
Oct 4 - Juice Williams, Ill
0ct 11 - Simoni Lawrence, Minn
Oct 18 - Shonn Greene, Iowa
Oct 25 - Novorro Bowman, PS

Conference
Roundup

Illinois … Illinois isn’t playing well and the team, at least the Ron Zook and the coaching staff, isn’t happy. The running game did next to nothing against Wisconsin, failing to find any openings and not breaking off any big runs. Juice Williams hit on a few big pass plays, but his three interceptions proved costly. Brit Miller appeared to make every play on defense, but the entire front seven did a nice job. There were some defensive breakdowns, but this loss is on the offense.
Indiana … Ben Chappell is never going to be Kellen Lewis, but he held up well under the pressure of the Northwestern pass rush and he didn’t make any big mistakes. As crazy as it might sound considering how poorly the team has played, if the Hoosiers can get by Central Michigan, all of a sudden, they need two wins to be bowl eligible. Upsetting Wisconsin is the must, with Penn State to follow, and then they need to be Purdue in Joe Tiller’s final game. Fine, so a bowl isn’t going to happen, but this win at least makes the season more interesting.
Iowa … Didn’t Play This Week
Michigan … Michigan is showing flashes and its showing some signs of potentially turning the corner, but the offensive production simply isn’t there to go a full 60 minutes. The defense didn’t help out too much against Michigan State. There were some takeaways and the pass rush was great, but without any help from the O, the D started to wear down late. The team needs to relax and not worry about a bowl game at this point. Just getting a win at Purdue next week to break the four game losing streak would be a good baby step before dealing with Minnesota.
Michigan State … Javon Ringer will be the story in the win over Michigan, once again showing he’s Heisman-worthy with a yeoman-like effort, but Brian Hoyer needs to get credit, too. Under an intense pass rush, he was sacked five times, but he held up and didn’t throw any interceptions while taking what the Wolverine defense gave him. Now the spotlight will be on with home games against Wisconsin and Purdue up next. Win those, and the Penn State game will be for the Rose Bowl.
Minnesota … Minnesota keeps on rolling thanks to its defense. Now at 7-1 following the win over a lifeless Purdue, the Gophers are definitely going to a bowl game, and now it’s a question of whether or not it’ll be on New Year’s Day. With Northwestern banged up and Michigan struggling, 9-1 is absolutely possible before going to Wisconsin. The offense needs to find a bit more pop, but if the defense continues to play this well, watch out. However, the penalties have to stop. The Gophers committed 13 for 114 yards against the Boilermakers.
Northwestern … In a disastrous game for Northwestern, the Wildcats lost to Indiana, lost RB Tyrell Sutton to a wrist injury, and for a time, QB C.J. Bacher to a hamstring problem. At six wins, the Wildcats are bowl eligible, but they were eligible last year, too. They need a seventh win to be assured of a bowl game, and it’s not going to be easy with at Minnesota, Ohio State, at Michigan and Illinois to close out. On the plus side, the pass rush was excellent with Corey Wootton remaining unblockable. However, the D didn’t force any turnovers to offset the five the O gave up.
Ohio State … Going conservative proved to be a killer. The Buckeyes needed to loosen up the Penn State defense a little bit, but didn’t. The offensive line, especially the tackles, had a nightmare of a time with Penn State’s speed, which is why Terrelle Pryor had to stay in and Todd Boeckman had to stay on the bench, but the receivers had to get more involved. That’ll be the problem for the rest of the year with Pryor trying to figure out what he’s doing. Now the Rose Bowl is all but gone, but that doesn’t mean a BCS bowl is out of the picture. Winning out impressively is a must.
Penn State … Penn State might have gotten over the hump against Ohio State and now appears to be in a great position to play for the national title, but there are still big questions about the offense. Did Daryll Clark really have a concussion, or was he pulled for Pat Devlin because he was ineffective? Devlin is going to be the No. 2, but Clark still hasn’t been able to show he can come through late with everything on the line. For now, just getting the win over the Buckeyes should be enough. But there will be a lot to talk about over the next two weeks before going to Iowa.
Purdue … Purdue is battered, bruised, and beaten. On a five-game losing streak, and with Curtis Painter suffering an injured throwing shoulder against Minnesota, things couldn’t be going too much worse. With just 226 yards of total offense and four turnovers in the loss, nothing is working right for the Big Ten’s worst team. Kory Sheets and the running game have to start doing more and they have to start controlling games to take the pressure off the mediocre passing game. With a home game against Michigan up next, if Purdue doesn’t win next week, the season really will be in the tank.
Wisconsin … The Badgers finally stopped someone’s running game. The linebackers tackled well against Illinois, holding Juice Williams to four rushing yards and the Illini attack to 88 yards on the ground, while the secondary swarmed to come up with the big interceptions needed to get back into the game. The running game was all John Clay with P.J. Hill only getting three carries, but the real offensive story was Dustin Sherer, who didn’t throw any interceptions, took a bit of a beating, and ran well. It will be interesting to see if this win is the spark to finally get the season going.


 
 
  



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