Big Ten Review: Week 7

With Illinois’ disappointing loss now 48 hours in the rear view mirror, here’s a rundown of what happened in the rest of the conference this week:

Game of the Week:

Northwestern 49, Minnesota 48 – The Gophers probably lead the nation in “games of the week” for a team that is now 1-6. Separated by just 2 first downs (N28, M26), 9 total yards (N589, M580) and one point, the Wildcats and Gophers played to the death in a 97-point battle that knocked Minnesota from bowl eligibility and kept Northwestern’s fledging hopes alive. Northwestern scored regulation’s last 21 points, including a 4 yard pass from C.J. Bacher to Eric Peterman with 8 seconds remaining. After Minnesota’s touchdown in the second OT, the Gophers went for two, but Adam Weber’s pass fell incomplete, the ‘Cats averted the upset. Minnesota continues to be the nation’s biggest Can’t Change the Channel team. By my count, starting with the beginning of the fourth quarter, the scoreboard in Gophers games this year reads: Minnesota 99, Opponents 90. That’s an average of 15.6 – 15 after the third quarter gun, although I may be wrong – the big numbers are making my brain dizzy.

Best of the Rest:

Uh, none of the other four games were closer than 25 points.

Ho Hum:

Michigan State 52, Indiana 27 – The Spartans made a statement with a pounding of Indiana that will be a key piece of the mid-tier Big Ten puzzle by year’s end. MSU absolutely bloodied the Hoosiers, using their killer tandem of RBs, Javon Ringer and Jehuu Caulcrick, to rack up 368 yards on the ground. Ringer is emerging as a bonafide Big Ten superstar, with four straight games of 144 yards or more. Brian Hoyer also had an extremely efficient day under center, going 20-23 for 190 yards and a score. On the Indiana side, this was a lame duck effort. 22 yards rushing? 9 first downs? 1 3^rd down conversion? 18 minutes of possession? Yikes.

Boooooooooooring:

Michigan 48, Purdue 21 – Ladies and gentlemen, the Purdue Boilermakers! In two weeks, Purdue has seen this season go the way of so many others, with a 5-0 start all for naught after getting ripped by two physical teams in Michigan and OSU. The spread throwing game got some yards, but Purdue’s inability to run on the Michigan D (39 yards on 25 tries) stopped it from moving the chains, and sealed the Boilers’ fate. Mike Hart got dinged, but did cross the 100-yard plateau again and kept himself right on track for an invite to the Downtown Athletic Club as a Heisman finalist. This game was 48-7 with ten minutes to go; who knows how long it will take Purdue to get back on track after seeing so much promise squandered yet again.

Ohio State 48, Kent State 3 – The Bucks did what we expected them to, forcing 8 punts and surrendering 3 points, maintaining their season status quo (65 punts forced, 48 points given up). OSU is now the nation’s top ranked team, and you can’t convince me its unwarranted. Sure, last year’s title game is whispering caution in the back of my head, but this OSU bunch is outscoring opponents by 35.7-6.6 ppg, and even though almost no one they’ve played can stop anybody, Purdue, Minnesota, Northwestern and even Kent State can score a few points. No one but Washington has gotten more than a touchdown, and the Huskies got their second score with under a minute to go.

Penn State 38, Wisconsin 7 – Boy, the Badgers have fallen fast and hard, going from possessing the nation’s longest win streak to a Big Ten also ran in just two weeks. The Badgers got a fairly inflated 12 wins in 2006, but this year’s squad is different; they don’t get big stops, and they give up way too many ground yards. Penn State churned out a balanced-as-heck 216 passing yards against 221 rushing yards and the offense showed no signs of missing Austin Scott, with Rodney Kinlaw rushing for 115 behind a nice outing by the offensive line. P.J. Hill never really got on track for Wisconsin, and Tyler Donovan certainly couldn’t carry the load by himself, tossing two costly picks.