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The Big Ten didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard in Week 8. Granted, Ohio State is on a bye week and Penn State and Michigan haven’t played yet, but through two rounds of games there have been multiple low-scoring contests. Some may call this good defense, but by now we should all know this is typical Big Ten October football.
In one of the early games, the Hawkeyes traveled to Evanston to take on the Wildcats. Iowa had a solid start to the season, beating Iowa State and then taking Penn State down to the final play of the game, but they’ve stumbled lately.
This matchup was no exception.
Each team only managed 10 points in regulation before Northwestern scored a touchdown to open the overtime period — enough to hold on for the victory. The fact that this is a highlight tells you all you need to know about this game:
Northwestern 17, Iowa 10 (F/OT)
Meanwhile, in New Jersey, Rutgers is now officially on a winning streak (never thought I’d see the day)! After knocking off Illinois last week, the Scarlet Knights welcomed Purdue to town and outlasted the Boilermakers in another sluggish contest.
It wasn’t exactly pretty — Rutgers only needed to score twice to win — but a win’s a win when you’re coming off a 10-loss season a year ago. Purdue tried to tie it late with a two-point conversion, but they should have know better than to try to throw it against this dominant Scarlet Knights secondary:
Over in Madison, the Badgers, alas, scored some points! Wisconsin played like it was trying to earn its No. 5 national ranking in its typically methodical style, rushing and passing for over 200 yards each while pounding the Terrapins. It’s a bad sign for the road team when this is how your day starts:
The 3:30 games continued the low-scoring trend for the day. Heading into the fourth quarter, Minnesota led Illinois, 10-7, and Indiana led Michigan State, 6-3. In East Lansing, it was about stout defense and inexperienced offenses unable to take advantage of opportunities when they appeared. In Minneapolis, turnovers certainly played a factor, with the Gophers coughing it up three times and the Illini giving it away once.