After five weeks of Big Ten play, only one team remains unbeaten within the conference. Ohio State has won its first five B1G contests in addition to four out of conference games to put the Buckeyes at 9-0 on the season.
After a slow start, OSU cruised to a 35-23 victory against Penn State in Happy Valley. We all got a chance to watch the Buckeyes defeat the Nittany Lions, but let’s take a look at what else happened last weekend around the Big Ten.
In the other big game, Nebraska defeated Michigan 23-9. Wolverines’ quarterback Denard Robinson was knocked out of the game in the second quarter and was unable to return to help his team. He watched his replacement, Russell Bellomy, throw three interceptions and the Huskers outscored the Wolverines 16-3 in the second half. With the win, Nebraska is now in the driver’s seat to represent the Legends Division in the B1G Championship.
Just when it seemed like Wisconsin had its season figured out, the Badgers suffered a 16-13 overtime loss to Michigan State at home. After Wisconsin kicked a field goal on its possession in overtime, MSU quarterback Andrew Maxwell threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Bennie Fowler to earn the victory.
Northwestern earned its seventh win of the season as the Wildcats defeated Iowa 28-17. Northwestern has two tough road games in the next two weeks–against Michigan and Michigan State. If the Wildcats can win both of those games, they should win ten games on the year as they finish with Illinois. That’s not something anybody predicted at the start of the season.
After almost upsetting Ohio State last weekend, a few were wondering what Purdue would do for an encore? Well, it appears the crushing defeat to the Buckeyes will stick with the Boilermakers for the remainder of the season as they fell to Minnesota 44-28.
Illinois, like Purdue, remains winless in Big Ten play as the Illini fell to Indiana 31-17. Illinois won’t get its first conference win next week either as it takes on Ohio State.
Just like we all predicted, with four weeks left in the conference season, Indiana controls its own destiny to make the B1G Championship Game. Football is a crazy game, indeed.
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