Quick thoughts and takes on every Week 12 Big Ten game.
Wisconsin 37, Nebraska 21
Adrian Martinez was fantastic. He was fast, decisive, and he looked like the star for the Husker offense everyone is hoping he’ll be. He threw for 220 yards and a score, ran for 89 yards and a touchdown, Dedrick Mills ran for 188 yards and a score, and Nebraska gained almost 500 yards …
And Nebraska lost by 16.
Wisconsin got shoved around too much, struggled against the Nebraska running game, and gave up too many big plays, but Jonathan Taylor ran for 204 yards and two scores, QB Jack Coan was fine, Aron Cruickshank retuned a kick for a score, and the D came through when absolutely needed.
The Badgers need to win out and get a loss from Minnesota before they play on November 30th. Nebraska has to beat both Maryland on the road and against Iowa to go bowling.
Northwestern 45, UMass 6
Leave it to Northwestern to be the only team that couldn’t hang a gajillion points on the worst defense in college football. One of the scores came on a blocked field goal.
This was the game to have a whole lot of fun with the passing game. Aidan Smith completed 7-of-13 passes for 76 yards with two interceptions. Wheeeeee!
Evan Hull?! The freshman had four carries all year for 15 yards, and he ripped through the Minutemen for 220 yards and four scores on 24 carries. The Wildcats ran for 335 yards and five scores.
It’s going to take something amazing for the Wildcats to win another game with Minnesota and at Illinois to close. 2-10 would be the worst season since going 2-9 in 1993.
NEXT: Michigan 44, Michigan State 10; Penn State 34, Indiana 27
Michigan 44, Michigan State 10
What happened to the Michigan State defense? The offense has been a problem all year, and the defense loaded up to stall the Michigan running game, but there weren’t any answers for a sharp Shea Patterson.
It’s not like he had all day to throw. Patterson had to move a little bit, and MSU was able to get into the backfield once in a while – it came up with four sacks – but he still threw for 384 yards and four scores. He got the O out of bad situations, and he was throwing darts at times. Ronnie Bell caught nine passes for 150 yards for a receiving corps that came up with deep play after deep play.
Michigan State went on a strong scoring drive in the first quarter to take a 7-0 lead. It managed one 35-yard field goal the rest of the way. Michigan’s offense took full control, owned third downs, came up with third down stops, and won a big, big game.
That’s a rivalry game. It’s not going to be counted as a big game win for Jim Harbaugh, but it absolutely was one.
Michigan still has a real shot at a New Year’s Six game. It has to beat Indiana on the road next week, and then it gets Ohio State at home. Pull that off, and there’s a chance at the Rose Bowl. More realistically, Michigan will close the regular season 9-3 with a shot at a tenth-win in the bowl.
Michigan State is on a five-game losing streak, but it has at Rutgers and Maryland to close, it needs to win both games to go bowling. Yay.
Penn State 34, Indiana 27
It wasn’t a perfect day for Penn State, but it was the answer the team needed after last week’s loss to Minnesota. Sean Clifford only completed 11-of-23 passes for 179 yards with a score, but he ran for 55 yards and two touchdowns. There was just enough explosion – Journey Brown ran for 100 yards and a score – to survive.
Indiana is probably past moral victories at this point, but it was a good loss on the road against a team that needed the win. Peyton Ramsey threw for 371 yards – Penn State’s secondary has been roasted over the last few weeks – but the running game didn’t go anywhere. It was a good effort with no real pressure considering the team is already bowl eligible.
Now Indiana can try to screw up Michigan. If it plays like this in the secondary, and if Ramsey can come close to being 31-of-41 again, there’s a chance to pull it off before closing out at Purdue.
And now it’s Game On for Penn State. It survived Indiana, and now it has the showdown at Ohio State for the East title – the regular season finale is against Rutgers. The Nittany Lions aren’t playing well enough at the moment to beat the Buckeyes – Clifford has to be a whole lot sharper, and again, the secondary has to be better – but they’ve got their shot. Win that, beat Rutgers, beat Wisconsin or Minnesota … College Football Playoff. It’s that easy.
COMING: Ohio State 56, Rutgers 21; Iowa, 23, Minnesota 19
Iowa, 23, Minnesota 19
EVERYONE … Minnesota didn’t just get knocked out of the College Football Playoff. Nothing changes. It’s going to beat Northwestern next week, and then it’ll come down to the Wisconsin game in Minneapolis for a chance to go to the Big Ten Championship. Go 12-1 – with a win over Ohio State/Penn State winner – with a B1G title … IN. Absolutely.
Minnesota’s running game never got going. It finished with 68 yards and couldn’t establish any consistency. Tanner Morgan continued his fantastic season with a 25-of-36 day for 368 yards and a score. He’s still bombing away.
Iowa didn’t do anything special offensively, but Nate Stanley was effective, he didn’t make any mistakes, and Tyler Goodson ran for 94 yards and a score. The O stalled, though, in the second half, coming up with just a field goal.
Minnesota outgained Iowa 431 to 290, controlled the clock, and played better in the second half. It wasn’t able to do enough in the first half and dug too deep a hole against this great Hawkeye D.
There wasn’t too much of a concern, but Iowa got bowl eligibility now out of the way. It gets Illinois and at Nebraska to close with a ten-win season – with a bowl win – still on the table.
Ohio State 56, Rutgers 21
Ohio State could’ve put 80 on the board, but didn’t. The Tua Tagovailoa injury earlier in the day put a bit of a spotlight on the Ohio State coaching staff to see when it would take out Justin Fields in this light scrimmage. Right after halftime, Field was done after completing 15-of-19 passes for 305 yards and four scores, and he ran for 30 yards.
Chris Chugunov? 5-of-14 for 61 yards and two scores. The Buckeyes need to keep Fields in bubble wrap.
Rutgers wasn’t totally embarrassing. It had a few second half drives after the Buckeyes called off the dogs, Isaih Pacheco had a few nice runs, and Johnny Langan ran for a score and thew for another. There was no reason for the Buckeyes to do anything more than get to the Penn State game as healthy as possible.
Rutgers ends the brutal season with Michigan State and Penn State. Scoring 21 on Ohio State will be the highlight.
