B1G Football Roundup: Thrills, Meh, and Heartbreak

Wisconsin beats Troy 28-3

With Cory Clement out yet another game for the Badgers, Taiwan Deal and Dare Ogunbowale filled in and racked up 159 yards and one touchdown. The Badgers had two defensive players ejected, and there was a delay due to a fire alarm going off. Weird, since Purdue wasn't in the building, but whatever. And, I hate the Badgers almost as much as I hate Iowa, so...

Purdue dropped by Virginia Tech 51-24

Buckeyes survive an ugly game and Northern Illinois 20-13

I believe the stat that was shown during the broadcast was that a team from the MAC has beaten a Big Ten opponent in each of the last nine seasons. With five turnovers, Ohio State sure looked like they wanted to add another year to that streak. The Northern Illinois defense intercepted Cardale Jones twice and J.T. Barrett once, while also getting good push up the middle. On the other side of the ball, the NIU offensive line was generating positive yardage for Joel Bouagnon, who finished with 78 yards rushing. The Buckeyes' Ezekiel Elliott ran for 108 yards, zero TDs, and found himself stuffed on a 3rd-and-short. But they survive and will remain the No. 1 team in the country. "Poor" Ohio State.

Nerd Bowl: Northwestern 19 - Duke 10

One of the best names in college football, Solomon Vault, took the first kickoff of the second half 98 yards and put the Wildcats up 9-7. But it was the defense that kept Northwestern in this game and put them in the position to win. It's also their defense that has the 'Cats sitting at 17 & 19 in the AP and Coaches' Polls respectively. Hey, Stephen Hawking, how do you feel about fellow nerds being ranked so highly?

Illinois returns to being Illinois, falls to North Carolina 48-14

The Illini started the game by driving 73 yards on 11 plays...and then turned the ball over on downs after Wes Lunt failed to complete a 4th-and-1 pass at the North Carolina 2-yard line. So close, Illinois...

No. 4 Michigan State shoots down Air Force 35-21

Aaron Burbridge; 8 receptions for 156 yards and 3 TDs.

Aaron Burbridge had a huge day (8 rec., 156 yds, 3 TD) for @MSU_Football, but no play was more impressive than this. http://t.co/dfiBdykUdW

— Brent Yarina (@BTNBrentYarina) September 19, 2015

It was such a great play, Mark Dantonio smiled. See...

Minnesota sqeaks by Kent State 10-7

The Gophers held tightly to a 10-0 lead going into the half, but Kent State was able to pick up a Minnesota fumble and return it for their lone touchdown on the day. There were a total of 17 punts between the two teams, for a total of 678 yards.

Maryland didn't lose to Bowling Green this week

Penn State takes over as the best worst team in the East, beats Rutgers 28-3

Saquon Barkley was a beast for the Nittany Lions, rushing for 195 yards and 2 TDs. Christian Hackenberg was a pedestrian, but effective, 10 of 19 for 141 yards in the first match-up between Big Ten teams this season. Let's go to a Rutgers fan to get his reaction...

Thanks, Jimmy.

Indiana 38, Western Kentucky 35; Hoosiers now 3-0

UAB transfer running back Jordan Howard has made quite an impact on the Hoosiers offense, hasn't he? The young man rushed for 203 yards to keep the chains moving, while QB Nate Sudfeld threw for 355 yards and 3 touchdowns. Don't look now, but the Hoosiers are a happy team on fire!

Iowa steals a 27-24 win over Pitt with FG as time expires

Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi had the Panthers defense playing pretty well, but not well enough to prevent Iowa from positioning themselves for the winning kick. The Hawkeyes held a 17-7 lead at the half, but slowly let the Panthers back into it with a blocked punt for TD and a 75-yard drive for the tying score. But it all came down to the leg of Iowa's Marshall Koehn and 57 yards.

Hurricanes had the game in hand, lost it, and then won it 36-33 in OT

After being down 33-10, the Cornhuskers scored 23 unanswered points on the arm of Tommy Armstrong, Jr. But just when it looked like things were hopeless for Miami...

Nebraska thought they were super cool until Armstrong threw one of the worst interceptions ever, and then the heroic effort just flamed out.

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The Big Ten went 9-3 (not counting the conference match-up between Rutgers and Penn State), which is pretty darn good. The competition wasn't the best, but neither was it the worst. Nebraska was oh-so-close to winning, and Ohio State was just as close to losing; the difference between winning and losing can be pretty slim sometimes.

(As usual, gifs were provided by reactiongifs.com. I have a special thank you to Fritzi at moviessilently.com for allowing me to use some of her fantastic silent film gifs, too)