Last week's action left me wanting to see more from the Big Ten. Aside from Wisconsin-LSU, the rest of the Big Ten games were blowouts, narrow escapes against inferior teams, or upset losses. Week 2, I argued, would show what the Big Ten was capable of. Oh, did it ever.
I have never seen the Big Ten play worse than it did in Week 2. The 8-5 record doesn't even cover the devastation; everyone but Rutgers disappointed in their own way. If it's not the most damaging day of football results to the conference's reputation in the modern era, it's in the top three. Here's the postmortem.
No. 3 Oregon 46, No. 8 Michigan State 29
Heading into the season, Michigan State at Oregon was the nonconference game to top all nonconference games. With the Big Ten's reputation at stake, the Spartans lost; even so, the Spartans looked far and away like the best team in the Big Ten.
For a stretch in the second quarter, Sparty clicked on all cylinders. The defense forced punts, the offense ground down Oregon's defensive line and Connor Cook made NFL-caliber passing progressions. Michigan State climbed out of an 18-7 deficit to take a halftime lead, and then the Ducks made their surge.
Oregon overwhelmed MSU's defense, using all sorts of novel variations and countermeasures to befuddle the secondary. Michigan State's offense froze, allowing Oregon to score the last four touchdowns of the game as Mark Dantonio looked on helplessly. Michigan State will lose its plush top-10 spot, though given the state of the Big Ten it might not be for long.
No. 16 Notre Dame 31, Michigan 0
Oh yeah, this game happened too. Notre Dame destroyed Michigan, holding the Wolverines scoreless for the first time in 30 years.
Everything went Notre Dame's way. Devin Gardner had four giveaways, including a pick six at the final whistle that didn't count in the final score and resulted in him getting dinged up. Michigan running backs averaged 2.9 yards per carry. And who provided graphics to show how badly Michigan was getting demolished? The UM athletic department, of course. (Not that OSU is any better.)
At the half: Notre Dame 21, Michigan 0. pic.twitter.com/Fz3fzM4bNZ
— Michigan Football (@umichfootball) September 7, 2014
This game also marks the last game in the Michigan-Notre Dame series, and possibly the rivalry. Given the game's significance, it's hard to believe they've only played yearly since 2002 and 42 times overall. Maybe Notre Dame is happy giving up Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue for such thrilling opponents as Syracuse, Wake Forest and Virginia. Whatever their reasons, the Fighting Irish are the ACC's problem now.
No. 18 Wisconsin 37, Western Illinois 3
Wisconsin's only points for 25 minutes.
Ah, the treachery of final scores. Wisconsin was out of sorts through the entire first half, but recovered in the second half to produce a deceptively perilous final score.
The game began in a weird fashion with a safety on Western Illinois' opening kickoff return. The Badgers led 2-0 for most of the half, as neither Melvin Gordon (17 carries for 38 yards) nor Tanner McEvoy could produce. At least McEvoy recovered after halftime, completing 17 passes in a row and finishing with three touchdowns, but it was a shaky performance for Wisconsin.
Penn State 21, Akron 3
Penn State struggled to a 7-0 lead at halftime (NOTE: first half struggles is a recurring theme for Week 2), but pulled out a win in the third quarter. The most interesting part of this tedious game was Akron coach Terry Bowden, whose dyed hair made him resemble Auric Goldfinger.
An overreliance on Christian Hackenberg led to several turnovers, and even Penn State got bored when they switched things up to find a spark. After a half-dozen successful and unstoppable Wildcat runs, the PSU coaches called a halfback pass so incompetent it drew boos. At least it was a sloppy win and not...
Central Michigan 38, Purdue 17
...a sloppy loss. Ugh, Purdue. The less time spent on the Boilermakers, the better.
Illinois 42, Western Kentucky 34
For the second straight week, Illinois trailed at the half against an underdog and had to come up with a fourth quarter rally to pull out a win.
Western Kentucky led 17-14 at the break, taking advantage of an iffy first half by Illinois' Wes Lunt. Illinois did little with the ground game, forcing Lunt to carry the offensive burden with 456 passing yards. Illinois scored three times to take a 42-27 lead in the fourth quarter and survive a last-minute score by the Hilltoppers. It's not pretty, but Tim Beckman's team is 2-0.
No. 19 Nebraska 31, McNeese State 24
On an incredible last-minute touchdown reception, Ameer Abdullah rescued Nebraska from total embarrassment against McNeese State.
The Cornhuskers let McNeese State hang around far longer than they should have. Leading 14-7 in the second quarter, Tommy Armstrong Jr. threw a lazy out route that McNeese returned 98 yards for a tying score. Nebraska's offensive line couldn't give Abdullah holes, and McNeese tied it at 24 with four minutes remaining. With only 20 seconds remaining, Abdullah had a sensational tackle-breaking run after catch to spare Nebraska from ignominy.
In the absence of Braxton Miller, the "Abdullah for Big Ten MVP" bandwagon is looking pretty good.
Rutgers 38, Howard 25
Iowa made a stunning comeback.
Unlike the other five teams who played at noon, Rutgers handled its business against Howard early.
The Scarlet Knights led 31-7 at the half and were never in trouble; by throwing for four touchdown passes, Gary Nova continues to perplex. Despite the late scores and routinely porous defense, Rutgers was the most impressive of the noon teams.
Maryland 24, South Florida 17
Maryland was supposed to beat South Florida easily. Instead, the Terrapins had six giveaways and had to rely on a blocked punt in the fourth quarter to put away the Bulls.
At least the Terrapins defense came to play; they held South Florida's offense to ten points, and set up Avery Thompson's blocked punt return for touchdown to give Maryland a 21-17 lead in the fourth quarter. C.J. Brown threw for Maryland's two other scores. And lo, the Big Ten newcomers are still undefeated.
Northern Illinois 23, Northwestern 15
In spite of Northwestern's collapse against Cal in the season opener, the Wildcats were a 5 point favorite against Northern Illinois. They did little to justify the faith against NIU.
Like last week, the Wildcats were battered on the way to a substantial deficit (23-7). They managed a touchdown and conversion to make it a one-possession game, but it was too little, too late.
It's true that Northwestern was snakebitten last year and this year, but they're only without their skill position players. Northwestern was trounced on the line of scrimmage by a MAC team, an awful sign for Big Ten play.
Iowa 17, Ball State 13
Minnesota looked decent. Most didn't.
And now for what should have been the worst performance this week. Iowa, the presumed favorite in the Big Ten West, rallying late and pulling a rabbit out of a hat to beat Ball State.
Iowa's offense shot itself in the foot all day, giving up a fumble return touchdown and only putting up a field goal in the first 55 minutes. Fans were streaming out of Kinnick Stadium when Iowa punted down 10 partway through the fourth quarter. And yet the Hawkeyes managed two three-and-outs and two touchdown drives in five minutes to steal a game they had no business winning.
This will do nothing to calm the Iowa fans infuriated by the Hawkeyes' outdatedness, but there's something to be said for looking horrible and coming out all right.
Minnesota 35, Middle Tennessee 24
| School | w-l | rank | prev |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan State | 1-1 | 1 | 2 |
| Rutgers | 2-0 | 2 | 8 |
| Minnesota | 2-0 | 3 | 10 |
| Indiana | 1-0 | 4 | 6 |
| Wisconsin | 1-1 | 5 | 5 |
| Penn State | 2-0 | 6 | 9 |
| Ohio State | 1-1 | 7 | 7 |
| Maryland | 2-0 | 8 | 3 |
| Illinois | 2-0 | 9 | 13 |
| Michigan | 1-1 | 10 | 4 |
| Iowa | 2-0 | 11 | 11 |
| Nebraska | 2-0 | 12 | 1 |
| Northwestern | 0-2 | 13 | 14 |
| Purdue | 1-1 | 14 | 12 |
Once again Minnesota was outgained by an opponent, and once again it won by double digits. Minnesota built a 28-0 lead and rode out a rough second half to beat Middle Tennessee.
Unlike Iowa, Minnesota coaches know their strengths (David Cobb, their star running back, is a powerful workhorse) and weaknesses (Mitch Leidner can't pass) and craft an optimal offense around those limitations. It's going to get tiring calling the Golden Gophers opportunistic every week.
But wait! There's one more school!
Indiana 1000, Bye Week 0
The Hoosiers CRUSHED bye week. They couldn't have done any better if they were playing the College of Faith. For sitting this week out, they were one of the Big Ten's best teams by default.
That's all for this time. Stay tuned for next week when the Big Ten's Week 2 winners try to restore a shred of the conference's credibility. Iowa-Iowa State, Maryland-West Virginia, Minnesota-TCU, Illinois-Washington and the very first Big Ten game in Rutgers history ought to be worth watching. Until then, stay strong.
