Big Ten Recap: Week 7
We’re midway through the college football season for the Big Ten, and not all the schools have decided to focus solely on basketball just yet. Purdue, Iowa and Penn State put up huge victories this past weekend, while Michigan State, Michigan and Indiana put up moderately important wins as well. We’ll discuss the three big games, talk a little about the outlook for the rest of the year, and have some fun.
Come on in.
Good start. How bout that homer team of yours?
I’ve actually done this part of the article twice already, and am still not happy about it. Iowa is a very, very good team. In a mashed up college year like this, there’s an argument they could be the fourth best team in college football. There’s also an argument that they’re the 14th best team in college football. There isn’t one aspect of the team that screams “Great”, even their defense is just above average which is nothing to be ashamed of, but the other side of that coin is that they do nothing poorly. Ricky Stanzi is a quarterback who… frankly, you probably wouldn’t take him over a lot of the signal callers in the Big Ten (certainly not over Clark, Pryor, & Weber… probably not over Elliott and Forcier, and Chappell (Indiana) is in the running as well), but he makes the throws he needs to, he rarely makes stupid mistakes (he throws INTs, but not ones that have killed Iowa, yet). And the touchdown pass he threw to Tony Moeki was, honestly, one of the best throws a quarterback will make this year in college and maybe even the NFL. Given how they handled Penn State and Michigan, it’s easy to think they’ll take care of Ohio State as well, and its possible that win will push them into serious consideration for the BCS title game should Texas, Alabama and Florida all lose a game. They’re the kind of team that, frankly, those three teams are thankful there isn’t a playoff. None of those teams would want to play Iowa, and, even in a win, would come out much worse for wear for it.
The Badgers lost their opportunity for a big pay day with this loss. They didn’t play well in the second half, and we saw the downside of the Scott Tolzien era; he’s not a QB that will win you games from behind. But I wonder if the real goat of the game wasn’t Bret Bielema. He made a curious decision to put backup QB Curt Phillips in on a drive in the first half, just after the Badgers had gone up 10-0 and forced Iowa to punt. Momentum was clearly on the Badgers side, but the drive was short and they had to kick the ball away. I’m not 100% sure what the thought was; Phillips is a better runner than Tolzien, John Clay had just gone out of the game with an ankle injury and Zach Brown was already out, leaving true freshman Montee Ball and red shirt frosh Erik Smith as the running backs, or some combination of issues. Likely, Bielema wanted to put Phillips in with Smith, because the plays Smith really knew how to run were the spread option plays that he and Phillips work on in practice. Just a thought, but it really killed some momentum that the Badgers had built up.
Iowa also made some really good adjustments on O’Brien Scholfield and JJ Watt of the Badgers. The two defensive ends had their way with the Hawkeyes o-line in the first half, but were neutralized throughout the second half. Kirk Ferentz did a magnificent job making the adjustments to turn the game around. I’m not sure there’s more praise I can give than that. So we’ll move on.
Very wordy. Did you see that Purdue beat Ohio State? Excuse me, THE Ohio State?
I noticed that. It’s hard not to like what Danny Hope is doing for the Boilermakers. I thought they’d pull an upset this season, but I thought it would be along the lines of one of the mid-tier Big Ten teams (Wisconsin, Northwestern, Minnesota, etc). Most of Purdue’s troubles throughout the year have been self inflicted, turning the ball over against Northwestern to let them back in the game for example. They eliminated that (mostly) against Ohio State, and really held the Buckeye running game in check and made Terrelle Pryor make plays. Pryor didn’t make the plays, and his regression from last season to this season is just remarkable. A player with such incredible talent as Pryor should still show some improvement from game to game, year to year, etc. One will once again wonder, what would have happened had Pryor made the decision to attend Michigan and play in the Rich Rodriguez spread offense. We may never know just how good of a player Pryor could become.
Joey Elliott did everything he needed to do to win the game and put Purdue into the somewhat respectable position of not being Illinois. Purdue cut the mistakes and turnovers, and played maybe as perfect a game as they’ve played in… three years probably. For all the talk of how Pryor and Juice Williams at Illinois haven’t improved in the last few years, little is said of the improvement by Joey Elliott this season. Ralph Bolden was the offense early in the year, but Elliott’s growth over the conference season can not be ignored. Now, if we can just get him to go by “Joe”, to avoid the inevitable Joey Harrington failure, it’d be all good.
Well put. Penn State and Michigan State beat Minnesota and Northwestern respectively. What did you learn from that?
Eric Decker was held to one catch for 42 yards. If you don’t give playmakers the opportunity to make plays, you’re not going to win. The Penn State defense did a good job shadowing him and taking him away from Adam Weber, and Weber was unable to utilize his other options. There’s no shame in losing to a superior team in their building, but Minnesota did it while not looking competitive for most of the game.
The counterpoint was the effort Blair White had against Northwestern, and the ways that Kirk Cousins and Keith Nichols got him the ball. 12 catches for 186 yards and 2 touchdowns is impressive in most contexts, but especially when you’re the difference maker in the game. On the other side, Mike Kafka did what he could, but two fumbles killed momentum and drives, and the Wildcats were never really in the game once White was proving to be unstoppable.
Want to discuss Indiana?
Normally, I wouldn’t, but it was a big win for the Hoosiers against a very bad Illinois team. Ben Chappell is looking like a star in that Pistol Offense, and has made some receivers better than they probably are. If he was in… maybe any other Big Ten school, he’d be getting more notice. Yes it was Illinois, but suddenly Indiana is two wins from being bowl eligible. The schedule turns against them, as they play @Iowa, vs. Wisconsin, @Penn State, vs. Purdue. Winning two of those games would put them in a bowl, and give them a little more respect and a little edge in recruiting battles in state and a around the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes areas.
Ok then. I think you gave me the flu, by the way. Not very nice of you.
Seeing as how you’re the voice in my head, I didn’t expect you to not be affected. Let’s move on.
Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week? And Defensive Player of the Week?
35th from left is Ryan Kerrigan... 34th up from bottom right is Joey Elliott.
I’m cheating a little bit. I thought of giving Ben Chappell a bit more love, and Ricky Stanzi and the Iowa defense really pulled it together in the second half. But really, the Purdue Offense and Defense, led by Joey Elliott and Ryan Kerrigan (DE) were outstanding in beating Ohio State. I know I just discussed how big Indiana’s win is, but it does pale to this win by a rebuilding Boilermaker’s team. Elliott and Kerrigan will represent their respective units.
Really, really comical. What’s the Big Picture?
Iowa and Penn State are now bowl eligible, and fighting for the Rose Bowl berth. The Lions need a little help, as they lose the tie breaker to Iowa. Iowa is beyond controlling their own destiny; a win by the Lions over the Buckeyes probably puts them in the Rose Bowl regardless of what the outcome of the Iowa-Ohio State game is. A one loss Penn State is still in the running for the Fiesta Bowl, depending on who the representatives are in the BCS National Title Game. Wisconsin, Ohio State and Michigan need one more win to be bowl eligible, and the Spartans need two, along with Purdue, Minnesota and Northwestern. This week’s big game is Penn State at the Big House to face Michigan and Tate Forcier. The Fiesta Bowl will be watching closely. Iowa goes to Michigan State in their last real trap game before Ohio State. The rest of the conference continues round robin games, while Wisconsin takes a week off.
Raise a GlassTags: Big Ten, Big Ten + 1, college football, Flu ridden football posts, football, NCAA, Purde? Purdue!, Rob in WI
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