And then there were four.
As we approach the midway point of the season, there are still four Big Ten teams undefeated on the season. In the Big Ten East it's Ohio State, Michigan and Maryland (!!) and in the West, it's Nebraska.
Wisconsin fell from the ranks of the unbeaten with Saturday's 14-7 loss at Michigan. Iowa, well, it is just falling, period. The Hawkeyes are now 1-2 since they extended their coach and lost to Northwestern on Saturday.
Stock Up/Stock Down is back to break down another week that was in the Big Ten and discuss all things trending up and trending down around the league.
Let's dive in.
Stock Up
Ohio State's wide receivers
Everybody found out about Noah Brown during the Buckeyes' 45-24 victory against Oklahoma when the redshirt sophomore hauled in four touchdown passes. The rest of Ohio State's wide receivers, however, hadn't showcased a ton through the first three games of the season.
That all changed Saturday when Zach Smith's group got an opportunity to have the most rotation it had all year in the game against the Scarlet Knights. Parris Campbell, Terry McLaurin and Johnnie Dixon each found the end zone for the first times in their careers and if the Buckeyes can find a No. 2 threat each week opposite Brown that's a huge addition to the offense.
Ohio State's wide receiver room is deep, fast and talented and it might only just be scratching the surface of what it is capable of. I'd buy stock as quickly as possible.
Indiana
Look, I know Michigan State isn't what we've grown accustomed to over the last few years, but let's give the Hoosiers' entire team some credit here. That's an impressive win for Kevin Wilson's program.
Indiana comes to Ohio Stadium on Saturday and I'd be stunned if the Hoosiers beat the Buckeyes, but for a team that lost to Wake Forest just a week earlier, to beat Michigan State is awfully impressive.
Tommy Armstrong, Jr. — Nebraska quarterback
In his 14th season as the Cornhuskers' quarterback, Armstrong has had a solid start to the season leading Nebraska to a perfect 5-0 record to start.
Armstrong's 153.8 rating is third in the Big Ten as are his 1,151 passing yards. He has thrown nine touchdown passes this year against just two interceptions and in Saturday's 31-16 victory against Illinois, Armstrong threw for 220 yards and a score.
Don't rule out Nebraska being undefeated when it comes to Columbus on Nov. 5.
Stock Down
Kirk Ferentz — Iowa head coach
For some reason, Iowa opted to recently give Kirk Ferentz what was essentially a lifetime contract extension. Since that happened, the 44-time Big Ten Coach of the Year has gone 1-2.
One of those losses was to an FCS team while the other came Saturday at home to a Northwestern team that already has three losses this season.
If you're keeping score at home, that's not very good.
Michigan State
As mentioned above, the Spartans simply aren't as good as they have been the last few years under Mark Dantonio. I expected Michigan State to take a step back at the beginning of the year, but then it beat Notre Dame and everyone seemed to buy into the Spartans once again (myself included).
Turns out the Irish aren't as good as we thought they were either, and Michigan State has now lost back-to-back games following Saturday's overtime game at Indiana. The Spartans have a tricky game against BYU this weekend and still have Michigan and Ohio State on the schedule.
It's kind of weird seeing this kind of Michigan State team right now.
Michigan, Wisconsin Offenses
I didn't really expect a high-scoring game when the Badgers and Wolverines met Saturday, but I'm not quite sure I expected both offenses to be that poor.
Yes, Wisconsin and Michigan both have legitimate defenses, but 21 combined points just didn't get the job done for me. It was especially bad for the Badgers, who totaled just 159 yards of offense.
