Week Six of the college football season is in the books, and there are only two undefeated teams in the Big Ten: Ohio State and Iowa. What did we learn this week? Indiana is bipolar, Purdue fans must hate themselves, and Illinois is legit bad.
Minnesota 35 Purdue 20
Purdue is 1-5 and has lost five straight games. Two of those games, they lost heartbreakers to Top-25-caliber teams (Notre Dame and Oregon). Then they fumbled (literally) their lead in losing to Northwestern last week. This past Saturday they opened up a 10-0 lead on the Golden Gophers, only to give up 35 points—including a pick-six and a blocked field goal for a touchdown. A Boilermakers fan is pretty high on my ‘things I would not want to be right now’ list.
#14 Penn State 52 Eastern Illinois 3
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo went to Eastern Illinois.
Michigan State 24 Illinois 14
The Fighting Illini made a quarterback-switch last week, benching Juice Williams and promoting backup Eddie McGee to the starting spot. McGee promptly went 2-11 against MSU and was benched in favor Williams in the third quarter. Got that? Illinois has the best wide receiver in the Big Ten, Regus Benn, so you would think their quarterbacks would take advantage of that and give him the ball every so often to make their numbers look respectable. Instead, not so much. The Spartans are on a hot streak though, heading into Saturday’s game vs. NU.
#9 Ohio State 31 Wisconsin 13
Let’s look at the numbers: Wisconsin had 14 more first downs than Ohio St., 184 more total yards, and they had the ball for 35 more minutes than the Buckeyes. The problem is they weren’t too productive with all that time, unless you measure productivity in how many times you give Ohio State the ball to take back for a touchdown (quarterback Scott Tolzien threw two pick sixes). I’m still not convinced the Buckeyes are the 9th best team in the land, but the Badgers look more human which is a good sign for NU.
Virginia 47 Indiana 7
So first I said Indiana sucks. Then they played surprisingly well against Michigan and I took back my harsh words. Well, they do suck. Virginia lost to William and Mary 26-14 the first week of the season and just beat the Hoosiers by 40 points. Way to represent the Big Ten, IU. I always wondered why people would say NU should leave the Big Ten but ignore Indiana’s awful football program.
#12 Iowa 30 Michigan 28
In the battle between the two most obnoxious fan bases in the Big Ten, the Hawkeyes continued to impress with an exciting victory, holding off the Wolverines. Iowa’s defense showed they are not invincible though—a good thing for the Cats. But they can also put up some points (although Michigan’s defense is pitiful). Considering the 7pm kickoff and the fact that most Hawkeye students begin tailgating at 7am, I wonder how many students remember the game. Anyway, Iowa continues to prove they are for real.
