Quick thoughts and takes on every Week 8 Big Ten game.
Ohio State 52, Northwestern 3
The Ohio State speed and talent were on full display. Northwestern might have grown the grass up high – one of the funny week-long rumors – but that didn’t make JK Dobbins and Master Teague any slower. The Buckeyes ran or 279 yards and two scores – averaging 7.5 yards per carry – and Justin Fields didn’t have to take off too often. Fields was brilliant hitting 18-of-23 passes for 194 yards and four scores, partially because he had all day to work.
Ohio State is Ohio State. It might be the best team in college football, but it took two to tango in this. Northwestern is just really, really bad. Even against the terrific Buckeye secondary, the Wildcats should’ve been a whole lot better than 6-of-21 for 42 yards and two picks through the air. Aidan Smith didn’t have any open targets to throw to and had to force everything.
At 1-5, that about does it for the Northwestern bowl hopes. It has to win five of its last six games: Iowa, at Indiana, Purdue, UMass, Minnesota, at Illinois. That’s not happening.
Now Ohio State has to refocus. It might have been fired up about Wisconsin, but it can’t let down even a little bit after what happened in Champaign. The Buckeyes keep on rolling as they keep playing and looking like the best team in college football in all phases. There are just no flaws.
Illinois 24, Wisconsin 23
And THAT’S how Wisconsin loses. The Badgers had the ball for almost 41 minutes, but three turnovers were killers. A Jonathan Taylor fumble on what should’ve been a game-sealing drive, a bad interception thrown from Jack Coan on what then should’ve been a game-sealing drive, and the secondary gets exposed a bit on the deep ball. The Badgers did what they were supposed to do for most of the game, kicked a field goal to go up nine when it was 4th-and-goal from the one, and seemed like the amazing defense could stop freaking Illinois. Nope.
Illinois was beating the Badgers on the lines. QB Brandon Peters only hit nine passes, but he connected deep, the running game got the big dashes when needed, and Jonathan Taylor was contained just enough – allowing just 132 yards and a score on 28 carries. It stayed alive, stayed alive, stayed alive and it came through with the drive it needed to have late for the game-winning field goal. That was no given that the offense was getting into field goal range after getting the ball back late with the pick.
Illinois lost to Eastern Michigan at home, was on a four-game losing streak, only beat Akron and UConn, and even with this, it’s still going to have to fight to get three more wins with at Purdue, Rutgers, at Michigan State, at Iowa, Northwestern to go. However, if the team plays like this – and continues to be great on the lines – it can absolutely get there.
Does this end Wisconsin’s College Football Playoff chances? No, but it’s going to take some help – and a LOT of big wins. To make it happen, the Badgers have to finish 12-1 with a Big Ten Championship, and that would mean beating Ohio State in Columbus, probably doing it again in the Big Ten Championship, beating Minnesota in Minneapolis, Nebraska in Nebraska, taking out Iowa, and then bringing up those dominant wins over Michigan and Michigan State. A 12-1 Big Ten champion is PROBABLY in, but again, it’s going to take some other big teams to fall.
NEXT: Iowa 26, Purdue 20; Indiana 34, Maryland 28; Minnesota 42, Rutgers 7; Penn State 28, Michigan 21
Iowa 26, Purdue 20
It was a wee more of a fight at the end than it should’ve been, but Iowa got just enough steady production to survive. It wasn’t the big breakout performance by the offense that it should’ve been – Nate Stanley didn’t throw a touchdown pass and gave up a pick – and the running game stalled way too often, but the final score was better than the game. The defense did its job.
Jack Plummer kept on bombing. He threw 50 times for 327 yards and two touchdowns, David Bell caught 13 passes or 197 yards and a score, and the Boilermakers kept on fighting even without Rondale Moore and with an overmatched defense. The offensive line did a nice job of holding up against the Iowa line – the Hawkeyes don’t and can’t rush the passer – but the running game went nowhere.
That’s about it for Purdue. At 2-5, it has to go 4-1 against Illinois, Nebraska, at Northwestern, at Wisconsin and Indiana to go bowling. That’s not going to happen. Iowa at least got past the rough losses to Michigan and Penn State, but the offense has to be a whole lot better over the back half. It’s still in the Big Ten West title chase with Wisconsin and Minnesota still to play. The Hawkeyes go to Northwestern next week.
Indiana 34, Maryland 28
Indiana survived with QB Michael Penix getting hurt and Peyton Ramsey coming in, but it did a whole lot of things beyond that to make the game interesting. The Hoosiers couldn’t stop getting flagged – hit 11 times – and it struggled against the Maryland offense for stretches, but it was a Big Ten road win. Indiana figured out how to win.
Ramsey was brilliant in relief, completing 20-of-27 passes for 193 yards and a score, and Stevie Scott ran for 108 yards and two scores. The offensive line did a fantastic job against the Terp defensive front as the Hoosier controlled the clock and the game.
Tyrrell Pigrome was okay. He didn’t run much, but he threw for 210 yards and two scores to go along with Javon Leake’s 158 yards and two touchdowns. Maryland was able to keep up the pace, but it was never able to come up with consecutive drives to take over the game.
Now the Terps are in big, big trouble at 3-4 with at Minnesota up next and Michigan, at Ohio State, Nebraska and at Michigan State to follow. Indiana is at 5-2 with winnable games against Nebraska, Northwestern and Purdue still to play. This time around, there’s no excuse, Hoosiers. Get bowling.
NEXT: Minnesota 42, Rutgers 7; Penn State 28, Michigan 21
Minnesota 42, Rutgers 7
Minnesota did exactly what it was supposed to do. It took a little while to truly breathe easily, and the running game didn’t rumble like it did in the previous few games, but Rodney Smith ran for 111 yards and two scores, and Tanner Morgan had a solid 245-yard, two touchdown day. Tyler Johnson went off for 130 yards and a score on six catches.
Rutgers at least came up with more than the one passing yard it netted last week against Maryland – it got 48. The ground game wasn’t totally miserable – there was one nice dash and 141 yards overall – but there’s just nothing happening right now with the attack. The effort is there, but the team doesn’t have the guys. It gets Liberty up next – that’s the last likely chance to be slightly competitive, much less win one.
Minnesota gets one more relative layup – Maryland comes to Minneapolis next week – and then it’s the Penn State showdown. This is hardly a perfect team, but there’s still a big 0 in the loss column in the middle of October. Now, with Wisconsin losing to Illinois, this really gets fun when it comes to dreaming about being in the hunt for the West.
Penn State 28, Michigan 21
The Nittany Lions held on, and they’re still unbeaten. They did what they needed to early on to get up, they did what they needed to late to be in a position to hold on, and they did what they needed to when all the momentum was on the other side of the field. The offense that struggled a bit in the bigger games against he better teams opened it up, and just when it seemed like everything was about to cave in … boom. Sean Clifford hit KJ Hamler for the 53-yard pass that turned out to be the game-winner.
Michigan outgained Penn State by almost 140 yards, it held the ball for almost 38 minutes, and it took full control of the game as the second half wore on. But in the nasty conditions against a jacked up Nittany Lion team in front of a jacked up crowd, it took way too much to fight back.
The Wolverines found a running game, with Zach Charbonnet taking off for 81 tough yards and two scores, Shea Patterson overcame getting beaten up to hang around an keep fighting, and it turned into a great game with tremendous heart on both sides, but …
Ronnie Bell had a great night – four catches for 71 yards – but the fourth down drop in the end zone will unfortunately overshadow everything else. It was a bad break and a missed opportunity, but he played a big role in getting the team to that point.
Micah Parsons continues to show why he’s one of the best young defensive players in college football. The Nittany Lions do-it-all star came up with 14 tackles and seemingly got in on everything. The pass rush overall didn’t close enough on Patterson, but it made him work for everything – he never got comfortable.
Michigan has to shake this off in a big, big hurry with Notre Dame coming to town next week. This was okay – it was a tough loss in a brutal environment against a fantastic team. But to lose a third game this year against a top team – and at home – will be crushing fodder for the Harbaugh haters. There’s still plenty of time to get right back in the Big Ten title chase by winning out – obviously a WHOLE lot easier said than done – but …
Penn State still has to go to Michigan State, Minnesota and Ohio State. The team is still a work in progress – it has to be more consistent for a full 60 minutes – but it got by the win at Iowa, and it got by Michigan in a fight. It’s 7-0, and it’s right there in the mix for the Big Ten East title. More than that, this is a fantastic young team that James Franklin is building. This seems like just the beginning for this group that keeps getting better and better.
