It's going to be a wild and wacky final three weeks of college football.
The end of the regular season is almost upon us, and almost nothing is settled both in the Big Ten and around the country.
Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State are all still vying for that Big Ten East berth in the conference championship game while Wisconsin controls its own destiny in the West. All four seemingly still have a shot at the College Football Playoff, too.
The Wolverines suffered their first loss of the season Saturday, falling 14-13 at Iowa. The Nittany Lions came from behind to win a road game at Indiana. The Buckeyes and Badgers both rolled.
We're here to break down another week in the Big Ten with Stock Up/Stock down, so lets' just right into it.
Stock Up
Ohio State's explosive offense
It turns out the demise of the Buckeyes' offense may have been premature. Ohio State hung 62 points on Maryland — the same total it scored against Nebraska one week earlier — and racked up 581 yards of total offense.
J.T. Barrett accounted for four touchdowns, Curtis Samuel scored three times and the Buckeyes made plenty of big plays in their destruction of the Terrapins. Nebraska and Maryland certainly don't have the same caliber of defenses that Wisconsin and Penn State do, but these are important steps for the Ohio State offense with Michigan's top-ranked defense looming in two weeks.
Tommy Armstrong — Nebraska quarterback
Armstrong left the Ohio State game two weeks ago with what looked to be a very serious injury. But after returning to the stadium shortly after he went down, it thankfully looked like things weren't as bad as they seemed live.
Armstrong played Saturday in Nebraska's 24-17 win over Minnesota, so that was certainly the case. Armstrong was also named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week as he recorded 278 yards of total offense and accounted for three touchdowns against the Gophers.
Stock Down
Michigan's offense
The Wolverines' defense is legit, but the offense has looked vulnerable at times and questions still remained in some minds at some of the skill positions.
In Saturday's loss to Iowa, the Michigan offense was exposed a bit. The Wolverines only put up 13 total points and barely got to the 200-yard mark of total offense.
Things got even worse Monday with the report of quarterback Wilton Speight being out for the year due to a broken collarbone.
Chris Ash — Rutgers head coach
I try not to pile on Rutgers or Ash a ton here because it's a very difficult situation he walked into in Piscataway ahead of this season, but a 49-0 loss to a Michigan State team that was previously winless in the Big Ten is a really bad look for the state of the program.
In the three games against Ohio State, Michigan and the Spartans this year, Rutgers was outscored 185-0.
