Quick thoughts and takes on every Week 11 Big Ten game.
Purdue 24, Northwestern 22
All the breaks and all of the positives Northwestern enjoyed last year are all coming back in its face full force. It couldn’t come up with a two-point conversion and was up 22-21 in the fourth, and it left the door open for Purdue to kick it in with the JD Dellinger walk-off field goal. The Cats are still bringing the effort, though.
The kid came through. Purdue’s Aidan O’Connell might be the third-string quarterback, but he was solid, hitting 34-of-50 passes for 271 yards and two touchdowns. He threw two picks, but he got the win.
Northwestern’s offense finally found something that worked. Kyric McGowan ran for 146 yards and a touchdown, and Aidan Smith threw two touchdown passes and ran a bit. The O stalled in the second half, but at least it scored.
Purdue is still alive for a bowl game. It has to beat Wisconsin and Indiana, but at least it’s still fighting and it’s season pulled up out of the nosedive. Northwestern has a light scrimmage against UMass next week for its second win of the season, and then it gets Minnesota and at Illinois.
Ohio State 73, Maryland 14
Well that whole Chase Young thing didn’t seem to matter. The Buckeyes came out and played with the No. 1 team swagger going up 42-0 at halftime on a Maryland team that has absolutely nothing. The Terps were outgained 705 yards to 139.
Justin Fields completed 16-of-25 passes for 200 yards and three scores, and he ran for 28 yards and a touchdown. The ground game rumbled for 383 yards and six touchdowns, and everything was flawless. It’s Maryland, and everyone’s getting fat on this team, but if you’re ultra-focused and pushing for a national title, that’s how you play.
Ohio State’s game against Penn State still means everything. There’s a layup against Rutgers next week, and even with the loss to Minnesota, the Nittany Lions can still take everything away from the Buckeyes with a win. As long as Penn State doesn’t lose another game, it’s in the College Football Playoff.
Maryland is now ensured of a losing season. It has Nebraska and at Michigan State to go, but it has now lost its last three games by a combined score of 163 to 31.
NEXT: Minnesota 31, Penn State 26
Minnesota 31, Penn State 26
Who would’ve guessed that both passing teams were going to go off. Penn State’s Sean Clifford threw for 340 yards and a touchdown, but he threw three picks. KJ Hamler caught seven passes for 119 yards, Pat Freiermuth was the ultimate safety valve with 101 yards on seven carries, and the Journey Brown went off with a few big runs to add some rushing punch, but …
Tanner Morgan had a DAY. He hit 18-of-20 passes for 339 yards and three touchdowns … with no picks. Rashod Bateman caught seven passes for 203 yards and a touchdown – coming up with big third down play after big third down play – and the ground game just enough to not be totally shut down dead. The 121 rushing yards weren’t strong enough, but Morgan came through.
The Gophers were dominating at times in the first half, but they ended up losing the time of possession battle, they didn’t get that running game going, and they committed more penalties than Penn State. But they threw well, and they were a +2 in turnover margin.
And now it’s time for Minnesota to dream big. It still has to go to Iowa next week, and it has to go to Northwestern and deal with Wisconsin, but split between the Hawkeyes and Badgers, and beat the Wildcats, and it’s off to the Big Ten Championship. Get there at 11-1 – at worst – and the puck is on their stick with a chance to go to the College Football Playoff.
Penn State is fine. Win out, go to the College Football Playoff. That doesn’t mean it’s going to happen, but beat Indiana, somehow get by Ohio State on the road, blow past Rutgers, and it’s at 11-1 in the Big Ten Championship. It would’ve been nice to get to the Ohio State game unbeaten – 11-1 with a road loss to the Buckeyes might have still gotten them in – but the Nittany Lions are still alive.
NEXT: Illinois 37, Michigan State 34; Wisconsin 24, Iowa 22
Illinois 37, Michigan State 34
There are meltdowns, and there’s what Michigan State did against Illinois. The Spartans gave up 27 points in the fourth quarter, losing on a five-yard Brandon Peters touchdown pass to Daniel Barker in the final seconds.
The Illini were down by 31, Peters went off – he finished with 369 yards and three scores – and he made up for the lack of a consistent running game. Illinois was held to 36 yards on the ground, but Peters couldn’t be stopped.
So what was the problem for MSU? Turnovers. Brian Lewerke threw three picks, and there were four giveaways in all. The Spartans held on to the ball for almost 38 minutes, cranked up 526 yards, and in the end, the secondary couldn’t hold up. It couldn’t handle Josh Imatorbehebhe, who caught four passes for 178 yards and two scores.
Illinois did this against Wisconsin, too. It was outplayed in several ways, it should’ve dropped the game, but the door was open, and it kicked it in helped out by capitalizing on every opportunity.
Bowl eligible? Illinois got to six wins without having to go deep into November. It has to go to Iowa in two weeks, and it closes with Northwestern, but it’s all gravy. The Illini will get the swag bag.
Michigan State will have to battle to go bowling. It’ll do it – it closes with Rutgers and Maryland – but on a four-game losing streak it has to come up with something special in a hurry against Michigan to have something positive out of this season. Lose, and and that’s six losses in the last eight games.
Wisconsin 24, Iowa 22
Wisconsin closed, but it had a hard time doing it. It couldn’t close against Illinois, and it lost. It struggled to close against Iowa, and it survived, as the Hawkeyes got thumped on a two-point conversion attempt that would’ve tied the game. This is still one of the best defenses in the country, but the Badgers allowed 16 fourth quarter points.
Jonathan Taylor was Jonathan Taylor. After two underwhelming games, he ripped through the tremendous Iowa defense for 250 yards on 31 carries. Jack Coan threw for 173 yards and two scores with a pick, but he didn’t have to push too hard to come up with big plays – he didn’t keep things moving late. It was the Taylor show, and the D hung on.
Iowa couldn’t run, but Nate Stanley threw for 208 yards and two scores – 75 of them came on one play to Tyrone Tracy – and he kept on fighting in a tough game. And then he got blasted at the goal line on the final two-point try.
Wisconsin is still in the hunt for the Big Ten title, but it needs some help. It needs to win at Nebraska and beat Purdue, and then it has to win at Minnesota. It needs a Gopher loss along the way, too – and that’s where Iowa comes in. The Hawkeyes get the Gophers next week, and close out against Illinois and at Nebraska. They’re not dead in the Big Ten title chase, but they need a miracle to get back in it.
