Big Ten Recap: Week 9

It was a wild, if not entirely competitive week last week for the Big Ten. Ohio State and Wisconsin won blowouts, and Illinois beat up Michigan in a games that wasn’t nearly as close as the 25 point spread suggested. Wild second halves made Iowa and Penn State winners in games that were close at halftime. And Minnesota had a big win against Michigan State, despite the loss of Eric Decker.

I know you’re thinking, what are you going to discuss? Well, let’s just see what a bit of stream of consciousness gets us, shall we?

If you’ll follow me…

Stream of consciousness? You must really be hard up for ideas.

I was going to have my pet guinea pig write this, but it seems that someone else beat me to it.

No making fun of Nacho. So the games were uninteresting, what would you like to discuss instead? And why not talk about the Indiana-Iowa game?

Ok, we’ll talk a little bit. Watching the game live, it made me think that Iowa wasn’t as good a team as I had come to think the last few weeks (putting myself back to where I thought they were earlier in the season). But I watched the game in fast forward again this week, and came to a few other thoughts. Do good teams find a way to win, even if they don’t play their best game? Do good teams win despite their best players having off games? Will good teams take an off week and make that the basis for not losing again?

I think, for Iowa, the answer to those questions would like to be “Yes”. Winning was the most important thing for Iowa, and that mission was accomplished, despite a very, very bad first three quarters from Ricky Stanzi. Stanzi threw 5 INTs… but also had two long touchdown passes to get Iowa back into it in the fourth quarter. But let’s not lose sight of the fact that it was the Iowa defense that did a lot of the heavy work. Because the Iowa offense scored fast in the fourth quarter, the defense was on the field, but made stops, keeping the momentum they gained from Tyler Sash’s 86 yard interception touchdown return.

Good teams win games when not having their best day. This game was example 1-A.

Discuss Minnesota and Michigan State, less the readers think you’re biased.

Michigan State is terrible at pass defense. Minnesota was without Eric Decker. Adam Weber exploded. It really was that simple. Weber had a huge game, 19/31 416 yards, 5 touchdowns, 1 interception. Without Eric Decker, the Gophers worked Duane Bennett into the passing game; in lieu of an actual running game, it was effective. Weber was also able to make TE Nick Tow-Arnett more involved in the offense with 8 catches and 2 touchdowns.

I had written off the Gophers after Decker went down. I’m not that was wise at this point. Minnesota needs to win one of their last three games to be bowl eligible; they play Illinois and South Dakota State as well as @Iowa, that scenario is now likely. The win will put them in much better bowl position.

For Michigan State, it was another game of could have/should have. The eight point loss to Minnesota was their largest deficit of the year (tying with the game against Wisconsin). If Iowa is a good team/lucky team, MSU is the team that balances the luck factor to zero. They still have games against Purdue and Western Michigan that are must wins to go to a bowl game. Their finale against Penn State might be their big game of the year though, the win against Michigan notwithstanding.

Is that all you’ve got?

It was a really, really off week for the Big Ten. Maybe the worst week of uninteresting games since they were heavy in the non-conference season. Penn State had a nice comeback in the second half against Northwestern, but the ‘Cats played without Mike Kafka. I’m as big a Big Ten apologist as there is on the interwebs, but I had a really hard time focusing on such bland football this week.

You still have space to fill. Let’s talk about the bowl slotting as of right now.

Good idea. The thing to remember is that the bowl teams aren’t directly slotted; that is, the bowl gets it’s choice based on it’s slot. For example, last year the Outback Bowl, with the fourth slot, took Iowa despite Northwestern being ahead of them in the Big Ten standings.

Here’s a couple of caveats I’m working with. Texas will be one of the teams in the BCS championship game. Florida or Alabama will both be BCS teams and the team not in the championship game will get a Sugar Bowl at large bid. TCU is the BCS Buster at large team, but Notre Dame is out of the BCS (right now, assuming a loss to Pitt). The last BCS at large is a toss up between USC and Boise State.

Iowa and Penn State will go to BCS bowls, Rose and Fiesta respectively. As I’ve repeated over and over, the Ohio State-Penn State game this weekend will be HUGE for the Big Ten, BCS and the rest of the Big Ten bowls. A Penn State win over the Buckeyes allows Iowa leeway to lose to OSU and still make the Rose Bowl while giving PSU a “glamour” win in conference and for the season. Regardless, a one loss Iowa team makes a BCS bowl.

It gets tricky from this point on. Ohio State is probably locked into, at worst, the Capital One Bowl against an SEC school. Wins against PSU and Iowa move them into the BCS picture as Big Ten Champion.

The Outback Bowl has the third choice for the Big Ten, and will likely scoop up Wisconsin, matching them up against another SEC team. Minnesota’s win probably put them in the Champs Sports Bowl against an ACC school. Michigan State and Northwestern is a toss up for the Alamo and Insight bowls, but expect Michigan State to be the preferred choice of the Alamo who pick first.

The Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl (formerly the Motor City Bowl… Jebus, I felt stupid typing that) is hoping for Michigan to be bowl eligible, adding local flavor to a minor bowl and boosting attendance. They’ll play a MAC team, projected to be Central Michigan at this point.

Purdue needs two wins to become bowl eligible, and play @Michigan, Michigan State and @Indiana. If they some how eke out two wins, and the above teams stay bowl eligible, Purdue might be looking at one of the at large bids available by conferences that won’t fill their quotas. The Pac 10 and ACC look like they won’t have enough teams to fill their spots this year, with the Armed Forces Bowl and GMAC Bowl being the likely places for a 6-6 Purdue team.

Way to build up the word count. Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week?

Adam Weber... I really liked this picture, and I don't know why.

Let’s say Adam Weber, with the most unexpected passing day of the year, given the loss of Eric Decker.

Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week?

This really was the best picture I could find of Chris Borland. I'll find some way to make it up. But, I do have that same tie.

I haven’t talked about Wisconsin at all, but Chris Borland, a freshman playing for the injured Mike Taylor, had a great first start against Purdue. Four tackles, one forced fumble, two recovered fumbles in the Badgers shutout over the Boilermakers. I hesitate to pick homers when I’m unsure, but the Big Ten Network agreed with me on this one, so I don’t feel as bad.

What’s the Big Picture?

It all revolves around Ohio State at Penn State. How important? If Penn State wins, it renders next week’s Iowa-OSU game meaningless (unless Iowa has title game aspirations, but unlikely). Penn State wins and they’re locked into a BCS game. If Ohio State wins, it makes next week’s game a de facto Big Ten Championship game, and puts Ohio State squarely in the sights of the Rose Bowl, while the Fiesta committee examines if Iowa fans will travel to Tempe after having planned for Pasadena (hint, they will). Northwestern at Iowa will be called a “trap” game by some, but to be honest, Iowa has no reason to look ahead to Ohio State. Penn State will do their dirty work, and the key focus for Iowa *SHOULD* be winning these games.

This picture doesn't do the blocked punt real justice. It was badass.

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Tags: Adam Weber? Adam Weber!, BCS, Big Ten, Big Ten + 1, Chris Borland needs better pics, college football, football, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kick Ass Blocked Punt, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, NCAA, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Rob in WI, Using Nacho for hits, Wisconsin
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