Ranking Best Big Ten Football Matchups of Week 3
The Big Ten's marquee nonconference week in football is finally here.
After a relatively quiet two-week stretch that featured Wisconsin's big upset over LSU and little else, the Big Ten is set to take center stage with a host of nationally televised prime-time games this Saturday.
The conference has started out hot, following its impressive 12-2 opening week with a 10-4 showing last weekend. But Ohio State, Michigan State and Nebraska have the opportunity to dramatically boost the Big Ten's standing if they can win their huge Week 3 matchups.
With most of the teams starting league play next week, this will be the Big Ten's best and last chance to prove it deserves to be mentioned alongside the SEC as one of the country's premier conferences.
No. 5: North Dakota State at Iowa
1 of 5
The casual fan may look at Iowa's matchup with FCS opponent North Dakota State as a gimme of sorts—a final tuneup before league play begins the following week.
If the Hawkeyes enter Kinnick Stadium with a similar attitude, they'll likely find themselves on the wrong side of an upset.
That's because North Dakota State isn't a typical FCS pushover. The Bison have won college football's FCS national championship in each of the last five seasons—think Alabama-like dominance, only somehow more consistent—and are a perfect 5-0 against FBS teams since 2010, with wins over Colorado State, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State and Minnesota.
North Dakota State came into the season a near-unanimous preseason No. 1 team in the FCS polls, and it has proved strong under pressure through two weeks with back-to-back overtime wins.
Can the Bison push the Hawkeyes to the brink?
That'll be a tall order, as Iowa has looked impressive with a pair of victories over Miami (Ohio) and Iowa State with an average margin of victory of 31.5 points. But if history is any indication, Kirk Ferentz's squad will have its hands full when it kicks off against the Bison on Saturday at noon ET.
No. 4: Colorado at Michigan
2 of 5
Michigan and Colorado have met on the gridiron four times, but most fans only remember one.
It was 1994, and the Buffaloes trailed the Wolverines 26-21 with six seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Colorado was on its own 36-yard line and needed 64 yards in one play to overcome the seemingly insurmountable deficit.
Buffaloes quarterback Kordell Stewart danced in the pocket, planted and launched the ball nearly 75 yards through the air to the goal line, where it was tipped, bobbled and caught by Michael Westbrook to give Colorado an improbable 27-26 victory.
Dubbed the "Miracle in Michigan," Stewart's pass to Westbrook would go down as one of the most iconic plays in college football history. And on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET in the Big House, Colorado will try to recreate that magic when it faces off against Michigan.
The Buffaloes will need that magic (and more) to leave Michigan Stadium with another victory. Despite enormous wins over Colorado State and Idaho State by an average of 43 points, Colorado checks in as a 20-point underdog to the Wolverines, according to Odds Shark.
Michigan will attack the Buffaloes defense with a red-hot Wilton Speight, who's thrown for seven touchdowns through two weeks, but it'll have to get its run game going after gaining just 119 yards on 41 carries against an overmatched UCF team last week.
No. 3: Oregon at Nebraska
3 of 5
Nebraska has looked impressive offensively, scoring 43 and 52 points in big wins over Fresno State and Wyoming to open the season. Behind the strong play of quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr., the Cornhuskers boast the country's No. 17 scoring offense heading into Week 3.
Mike Riley's squad will need to be even better this Saturday, when it hosts No. 22 Oregon.
Nebraska hit its stride at the end of the 2015 season, when it upset UCLA 37-29 in the Foster Farms Bowl. But the Cornhuskers have an opportunity to continue that momentum by beating another Pac-12 heavyweight, and this time, they'll have home-field advantage to fall back on.
Oregon will combat that with its own high-flying offense spearheaded by quarterback by Dakota Prukop. Through two games, Prukop has completed 68.9 percent of his passes for 602 yards and six touchdowns with no interceptions.
The Ducks have averaged 48.5 points so far this season, but they've surrendered an average of 27 points and 390 yards to a pair of overmatched opponents in UC Davis and Virginia. Nebraska will have to score points to keep pace, but by the end of the night, it could be Oregon's defense struggling to keep up.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
No. 2: Michigan State at Notre Dame
4 of 5
Michigan State has emerged as one of the Big Ten's titans under Mark Dantonio, winning the conference championship in two of the last three seasons. The program looked to be peaking last fall, when it upset undefeated Ohio State and advanced to the College Football Playoff, but Alabama halted the Spartans' momentum with a 38-0 shellacking in the Cotton Bowl on New Year's Eve.
Dantonio spent the entire offseason working to prevent a regression, which inspired the team's 2016 slogan, "Back2Back." Michigan State has ambitions of winning the Big Ten and getting another crack at the playoff, but the road back to the prestigious final four goes through South Bend, Indiana, and a prime-time game against Notre Dame.
The Spartans are coming off a rare early-season bye week, which they likely needed after a lethargic 28-13 win over FCS foe Furman. Notre Dame bounced back from a Week 1 loss to Texas with a 39-10 pasting of Nevada.
The Irish and the Spartans will re-engage in a series that produced some wild finishes before a two-year hiatus from 2014 to 2015. Notre Dame has taken the last three matchups, but the 2010 game that featured Michigan State's gutsy fake field goal in overtime may have been what vaulted the Spartans into their current status as a consistent championship contender.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET, and NBC will broadcast the game nationally.
No. 1: Ohio State at Oklahoma
5 of 5
This was supposed to be the nonconference showdown of the year—not just in the Big Ten, but across the board.
Oklahoma entered the season ranked No. 3 in the AP poll, while Ohio State checked in at No. 6. And while the Buckeyes have breezed through two warm-up games against Bowling Green and Tulsa, the Sooners slipped up against a good Houston team in the season opener.
That loss shifted the paradigm for this matchup. During the summer, Oklahoma was pegged as high as a nine-point favorite over Ohio State, but a week ahead of the matchup, the Sooners are listed at 2.5-point underdogs, according to Odds Shark.
Whether it's favored or not, Oklahoma has the enormous benefit of home-field advantage for this prime-time showdown. That will provide its usual perks, but it will also make this extra challenging for the young Buckeyes. Ohio State is still breaking in 16 new full-time starters, all of whom will be making the first road starts of their careers in one of the most highly anticipated games of the entire season.
Can veteran quarterback J.T. Barrett lead his young group to victory in a hostile environment? If he can, the Buckeyes would enter league play as the Big Ten's strongest playoff contender.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
