Michigan 63 - Indiana 47
I'm pretty sure that I could begin and end the roundup of this game with, "WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" We knew that Indiana was going to score some points, but 47?! Where did you go, defense? Michigan has just been exposed on that side of the ball. I don't want to take anything away from Devin Gardner's 503 yards passing or Jeremy Gallon's 369 yards receiving; all of that is great...more, please. However, more defense would be good, too. Anthony looks at what we can take from the game here. The end of the weekend also saw the first BCS rankings come out, and Michigan shows up at No. 22. Next up for Michigan: at Michigan State (11/2...thankfully).
Say what you will about Michigan's defense, at least they didn't give up 63. That was some terrible D, Indiana, and I thank you for it. On the other side, though, Tre Roberson came into the game in relief of Nate Sudfeld, who looked something less than confident, and threw for an admirable 288 yards and three touchdowns. Roberson rushed for another 50 yards and a TD, while Tevin Coleman added 78 yards and a TD. Kofi Hughes and Cody Latimer were huge on the receiving side of things, going for 138 and 96 yards, respectively, and combining for two touchdowns. For all of the positives that Indiana showed, it was still a heartbreaking performance. Next up for the Hoosiers: Minnesota (11/2).
Minnesota 20 - Northwestern 17
Philip Nelson went 8/11 for 112 yards, which sounds "Meh" (and it is), but it was enough to hold off the Wildcats. The real man of the day for the Gophers as Ra'Shede Hageman, who was batting down passes or picking them off all day. Beast. David Cobb also had a very good day, running the ball for 103 yards. The Daily Gopher has a short recap of the game here, and it includes a comment about one of the worst PI calls in the history of football. Next for Minnesota: Nebraska.
Sippin' On Purple detailed five reasons to hate Minnesota, but none of those reasons were because of a perceived threat of a loss to the Gophers. Hmm, maybe one of them should have been. Sure, Wildcat fan, your team didn't have it's two most dynamic players on the field (Kain Colter and Venric Mark), but Minnesota shouldn't have to apologize for beating the players you did have out there. Is it their fault that Trevor Siemian wasn't good and threw a pick-six and rushed for -13 yards? Nope. Back to Mark; what's the deal with him? He's not on the depth chart for Iowa. Rodger Sherman covers your disillusionment in Evanston here. Your team was poised for a conference title, you played like crap on Saturday, now you're 0-3 in the league. Good luck getting to a bowl game. Next up for Northwestern: Iowa.
Michigan State 14 - Purdue 0
My god! I mean, really?! Chris Vannini wrote an article about Sparty partly rocking. I'm sorry, which part of Saturday's game rocked? Purdue was allowing 39 points per game heading into your match-up with them...and you dropped a total of 14! One offensive touchdown against one of the worst defensive teams in the B1G. A defensive TD is something to be proud of, but against Purdue, there should have been at least one more. Connor Cook's performance was dismal, completing only thirteen passes for 103 yards. That being said, MSU is 3-0 in the B1G, but just how comfortable is that lead? Next up for State: at Illinois.
Something has to be said for the defense that Purdue played. Yes, Michigan State's offense is bad, but not scoring your first offensive points until the fourth quarter is downright atrocious. Let's not forget that this game was in East Lansing, too. Good job on the Boilers for being able to go into a hostile environment and almost bore the Spartans into a loss. Danny Etling was only marginally better than Cook, passing for 160 yards, but one interception. Build on this, Purdue, and maybe you'll get to a bowl game...next year. Next for the Boilers: Ohio State (11/2).
Ohio State 34 - Iowa 24
Once again, the Ohio State Buckeyes have shown their vulnerability. Sooner or later, these types of performances are going to catch up to them, right? Iowa's running game wasn't really there, but the Buckeyes allowed Jake Rudock to throw for 245 yards and three TDs. Checking over at LGHL, I see that there really isn't much over there for recaps; I think they're secretly embarrassed. There's one here, along with their usual stock market report. For the Buckeyes, Braxton Miller was the man in the air and on the ground, combining for a total of 324 yards, while Carlos Hyde added another 149 on the ground. This team has problems, but they continue to find ways to win. Next for OSU: Penn State.
Black Heart Gold Pants thinks about how nice it would be to have players like Ohio State, but there is some solace in the fact that they held a lead at the half. And, other than the loss, there really isn't that much to feel bad about if you're an Iowa fan. Next for the Hawkeyes: Northwestern.
Wisconsin 56 - Illinois 32
Bucky jumped out to a 21-point lead in the first quarter, but then allowed the margin to shrink to 28-17 by the end of the first half. Joel Stave had a boring 189 yard performance on the day, while the Wisconsin rushing attack did their usual (294 yards). B5Q talks about how they feel on the Monday after, and there are still some concerns with this team. Next up for Wisconsin: at Iowa (11/2).
For Illinois, Bill Cubit has been the answer for the offense, but Tim Banks has been a liability for the defense. There isn't a whole lot that anyone has been able to do about UW's rushing game, but the issue is the fact that Illinois' defense hasn't shown any improvement. Asking Nathan Scheelhaase to carry the offense is one thing, but also asking him to carry the defense's failures is a little too much. He helped keep them in the game, and that's all you can ask. Scheelhaase had 249 yards passing; 105 of those yards were to Steve Hull. That's not lack of offensive effort; that's an offensive lack of defensive effort for the Illini. Given the fact that they were getting blown out in the first quarter, it is impressive that they didn't give up. Next for Illinois: Michigan State.