Early Big Ten Reaction: The East is very strong, Jonathan Taylor is a star

OK, initial thought about the conference: Week 2 has had some moments, sure, but the hype from the opening weekend has sure worn off and teams are starting to settle in to their seasons.

What happened? Maryland and Wisconsin won yawners, Northwestern got smoked in the Academia Bowl against Duke, and boy did we have a wild one in Ames. As for Nebraska... well, we won’t talk about that one.

Iowa and Iowa State went back and forth all afternoon, and in the end it took overtime to sort it out. That’s when Iowa did this:

W: Iowa wins wild over Iowa State, 44-41 (OT)

W: Wisconsin pummels FAU, 31-14

You may have missed it watching Michigan’s stellar performance early in the afternoon, but Wisconsin seemed to find itself a serious running back. Freshman Jonathan Taylor rushed for 223 yards and three scores today, doing stuff like this all game:

Meanwhile, out east, Maryland looked great against the Towson Tigers in a 46-point rout - okay, I know, it’s Towson, but credit where credit’s due. Maryland is 2-0.

And how about Michigan State? There were some nerves about this one today after Western Michigan gave USC a serious game last weekend. In case you missed it, the Spartans rolled out all-white unis for the matchup with the Broncos:

The nerves settled quickly though, as MSU got off to a quick start thanks to the blazing speed of Brian Lewerke (seriously, Western couldn’t catch him for 61 yards):

W: Michigan State gets by Western, 28-14

Penn State — they’re still really good.

And Indiana? Apparently that toughness and talent they showed (for three quarters) last week against the Buckeyes was no fluke:

This should be a fun conference to watch in 2017 — especially once they all start playing one another.