12 Thoughts on the Big Ten Football, Week 2

So the second week of Big Ten football is in the books.  There were some surprises, some upsets, some heartbreaks, and some exciting games. 

I've got a few thoughts on the action: 12 of them to be precise.

1. #2 Ohio State 36 - #17 Miami (FL) 24: Finally!

The last couple of years, the Buckeyes had a home-and-home with USC and didn't fare so well in those match-ups.  Much like their poor showing in BCS bowls over the last five years, Ohio State has had trouble with early tough matches.

Not so much this time.

Terrelle Pryor was up to his usual shenanigans, completing 12 of 27 passes for 233 yards and a touchdown.  He also scorched the Hurricane for 113 yards on 20 carries and another touchdown.  If it wasn't for that Robinson guy in Michigan, Pryor would have made yet another fantastic statement that he deserves to carry home the Heisman. 

Brandon Saine had a nonexistent day, picking up only 7 yards on 12 carries (0.6 ypc).  You read that right...seven.  But, Daniel Herron picked up 66 yards on 14 carries (4.7 ypc) and scored a touchdown.

Arguably the bigger story though, was the defense.  Ohio State picked off four Jacory Harris passes and didn't allow a single Hurricane carrier to find the end zone.  In fact, other than Lamar Miller's 88 yard kick return and Travis Benjamin's 79 punt return for scores, the Buckeyes held the Hurricane's to only one Matt Bosher field goal (51 yards) and one Jacory Harris TD throw (to Chase Ford).  Take away those two special teams gaffes and Ohio State would have won this thing 36-10. 

Pretty impressive!

2. #11 Wisconsin 27 - San Jose State 14: meh...

Wisconsin led this game 17-0 at halftime.  They surrendered a touchdown in the third quarter after picking up another field goal.  Leading 20-7, they went punch for punch in the fourth, picking up a TD and surrendering one as well—after the game was firmly in hand.

It's not like Wisconsin was ever in danger of losing this thing.  Bielema took his foot off the gas and allowed his team to cruise to victory.  I can respect that.  I don't always like it, but I can respect it.

John Clay picked up 137 yards on 23 carries (6.0 ypc) and scored twice.  All in a day's work.

Scott Tolzien is still a little wobbly though.  He completed 15 of 22 passes for 191 yards and a score, but also tossed an interception.  It's not always a terrible thing to toss an INT when you've got the game well in hand, but this makes two interceptions he's thrown to only one touchdown.  That's not the kind of start Tolzien wants with much tougher competition coming soon to a stadium near you.

3. Michigan State 30 - Florida Atlantic 17: I can live with this

Edwin Baker was the man of the hour, picking up 183 yards on just 15 carries (12.2 ypc) and scored a TD.  That's some impressive ball running!  LeVeon Bell wasn't terrible either, picking up 49 yards on 10 carries (4.9 ypc) and also scored once. 

Kirk Cousins was less than spectacular again this week.  He completed just 9 of 17 passes for only 142 yards, one score and one interception.  In the end, it really didn't matter with the ground game working so well, but that's something that needs to be remedied soon.

I'm not completely sold on this team yet.  The ground game is good and there's talent all over the field.  I certainly can't argue with a 13 point victory, but it could have been better in a lot of aspects too.

Time is running out for the Spartans to get everything clicking.  The competition starts getting exponentially better starting next week...

4. Purdue 31 - Western Illinois 21: Who is this Purdue?!

Dan Dierking picked up 102 yards on only 14 carries (7.3 ypc) and scored twice.  On top of that, Al-Terek McBurse ran for 81 yards on only 5 carries (16.2 ypc) and also scored a touchdown.

Robert Marve continues to struggle under center, a little.  His efficiency wasn't terrible.  He completed 23 of 34 attempts (67.6 percent) for 171 yards and scored a touchdown, but also tossed an interception. 

With this kind of production, I think I would stop trying to throw so much and just let my runners do the work.  They're obviously having more success than Marve is anyway.

I'm just not used to seeing this from Purdue.  Generally, they have a high-flying pass attack with barely a hint of a run game.  So far this season, their rush attack has been solid while their pass game has been mediocre.  Who are these guys??

5. #22 Michigan 28 - Notre Dame 24: Should we just hand Robinson the Heisman now?

First of all, you read that right.  Michigan has cracked the top 25 in the USAToday Coaches Poll.  Congrats Wolverines, you have one man to thank for that.

Folks, Denard Robinson is De MAN!  Now, I'm no particular fan of Michigan football.  They've cost me more heartache over the years than any two teams combined.  Still, even I can't ignore talent when it's so blatantly obvious.

Robinson completed 24 of 40 passes for 244 yards and a touchdown.  Not bad, but once again, his true worth showed on what he was also able to do on the ground.  Carrying the ball, Robinson picked up 258 yards on 28 carries (9.2 ypc) and scored two more touchdowns.

Let's put this into perspective for a second.  In just two weeks, Robinson has completed nearly 70% of his passes (69.4%) for 430 yards and scored two touchdowns, but has run for 455 yards (7.98 ypc) and scored three touchdowns.  He's almost half way to the 1000 yards rushing mark and it's only been two games.  He's the leading rusher in the nation, ahead of second place Kendall Hunter by 41 yards and averages almost 230 yards rushing per game.  Oh yeah, and he's a quarterback...

Terrelle Pryor may have thought he was going to battle an Alabaman for the Heisman, but now he's got to chase Mr. Robinson - and it doesn't look like he'll catch him.

6. Illinois 35 - Southern Illinois 3: Nice rebound, but it's only SIU.

Fighting Illini fans have a little something to cheer about.  Their team didn't just win; they won big.

Nate Scheelhaase completed 14 of 18 passes for 229 yards and two touchdowns.  That's a far cry better than he looked last week, but then again, last week he was facing Missouri. 

Mikel Leshoure also had a good day, picking up 115 yards on 15 carries (7.7 ypc) and also scored twice.  Jason Ford added to the fun with a touchdown and 34 yards on 12 carries (2.8 ypc).

The defense did their job keeping SIU out of the end zone and keeping the runners under wraps.

The thing is - and not to dump water all over the Illini - but this was Southern Illinois.  Let's see if this will translate to anything worth mentioning when they get into conference play.

7. Northwestern 37 - Illinois State 3: Nice, but it's only Illinois State

Okay, so I'm getting a little redundant.  It's just hard to get excited about these games when you've got OSU beating Miami, Michigan beating Notre Dame, Iowa beating Iowa State, and Penn State facing Alabama at Tuscaloosa.  Somehow, Northwestern beating the snot out of Illinois State just doesn't get the blood pumping.  Know what I mean?

Dan Persa was efficient, completing 19 of 23 passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns. 

Arby Fields picked up 96 yards on 22 carries (4.4 ypc) and a touchdown.

The defense surrendered only a field goal and picked up three interceptions. 

It was a good day...but it was Illinois State.  Snooooze...

8. Minnesota 38 - South Dakota 41: What the ?!?!

Okay...we've seen FCS teams knock of FBS teams before.  Certainly, Michigan can sympathise and just last year Iowa nearly had one of these moments.  But South Dakota?  Really??

I'm wondering, did Minnesota think they played in the ACC?  Did they mistake themselves for Virginia Tech?!  Okay, that might have been uncalled for.

Adam Weber actually played fairly well, completing 21 of 31 passes for 258 yards and three touchdowns, without an interception.  Duane Bennett also did well, picking up 104 yards on 18 carries (5.8 ypc) and scored two touchdowns.  Three different receivers scored for the Golden Gophers.

The defense however, couldn't stop SD at all.  They picked up two interceptions, but gave up three passing touchdowns and three rushing touchdowns. 

But this is the very same South Dakota team that was crushed by Central Florida 38-7 just a week ago. 

If this is an indicator of things to come for Minnesota, it's going to be a very long year.  This was one of those games that we all just expected they'd win.  With the schedule they have this year, that's a game they needed to win.

9. #10 Iowa 35 - Iowa State 7: So, I was wrong...

First, how does a team like Iowa dismantle a team like Iowa State by 28 points and drop a position in the Coaches Poll?  That doesn't make much sense to me.  Evidently someone's hating on the Hawkeyes.

Anyway, I really thought this would be a closer game.  Sure, the Hawks beat up on State to the tune of 35-3 last year, but that one was understandable.  After all, Iowa was coming off an 8-4 season; was missing Shonn Greene, Mitch King, and Matt Kroul; and wasn't expected to do much more than 7-5.  The Cyclones could have just underestimated the power of Adrian Clayborn, Tyler Sash, Ricky Stanzi, and the freshmen running backs that Iowa employed. 

This year, there were no excuses.  The Hawks were ranked No. 9 in the preseason poll, had rolled over Eastern Illinois, and had shown that they were the real deal.  Given what Paul Rhodes is doing in Ames, I honestly thought the Cyclones would hang with the Hawkeyes.

I predicted this game to be within a touchdown.  I was wrong...I can admit it.  Actually, I gladly admit it!

Stanzi wasn't bad, completing 11 of 18 passes for 204 yards and two touchdowns.  Once again, he avoided throwing an interception (that's two-in-a-row...we call that a streak!). 

Once again, Adam Robinson was the man of the hour.  He rushed for 156 yards on just 14 carries (11.1 ypc) and scored a touchdown.  Jewel Hampton got in on the action, picking up 84 yards on 20 carries (4.2 ypc) and also scored a touchdown.

The defense held serve, shutting out Iowa State for three quarters and most of the fourth.  They also picked off three Austin Arnaud passes, revisiting the nightmare from a year ago.  The back-ups finally surrendered a score, but it wasn't easy.

Nice, dominant win for Iowa, over an Iowa State team that fairly handily beat Northern Illinois last week.  It's a shame it's reflected negatively in the poll.

10. #20 Penn State 3 - #1 Alabama 24: Hey, Receivers Coach!  You're fired!

I think that's about what I'd be saying if I were Joe Paterno. 

This is one of those games where the stats don't accurately reflect what really happened.  It was 17-0 at the half, but those were 17 hard-fought points by 'Bama.  If you weren't a raving Tide fan, you'd have seen that Penn State's defense did a fairly decent job of keeping their team in the game.  You just can't keep a team like Alabama from scoring every now and then.  You need your offense to do their part too.

True freshman Robert Bolden didn't do so horribly for his first big game experience.  He was 13 of 29 for only 144 yards and two interceptions (no touchdowns, obviously), but those picks can't all be blamed on him.  He made some bad decisions.  He's a freshman, you have to expect that.

What hurt though, was that late in the game, Bolden was doing well at standing in the pocket and delivering solid passes that would have resulted in first downs (and possibly touchdowns).  But, his receivers dropped the ball.  Literally.  I don't have (nor do I really know where to find) the statistics on how many dropped passes there were, but the ones that stick out in my mind were the ones that would have kept Penn State from having to punt the ball away and would have kept their drive alive.  Even one is too many, but there were far more than one. 

Don't get me wrong—I picked Alabama to win the game, and I think that they would have regardless.  They just have too much talent and they were playing in their home stadium. 

Still, catch a few of those key passes and Penn State could have made this a classic instead of a ho-hum drumming at the hands of the defending National Champs.

By the way, Evan Royster is still basically MIA.  He only picked up 32 yards on 9 carries (3.6 ypc) and didn't find the end zone.  Whatever the deal is with him, Joe Paterno needs to find a running back that can help take some of the pressure off his true freshman quarterback or the Nittany Lions are in for a rough year.

Well, maybe not too rough, but there are still some mighty tough opponents ahead on their schedule.  Something needs to be done, and quickly.

11. Indiana - bye: This might have been a good week to sit out!

Watching Minnesota fold to South Dakota; Virginia Tech get embarrassed by James Madison; Georgia Tech drop to Kansas; and West Virginia needing a last second miracle to get past Marshall; Indiana has to be thinking "Hey, it doesn't really matter what we do, we're not the only ones who suck!"

Okay, maybe that wasn't called for either.  Still, they're probably looking at what happened over the weekend and feeling a lot better about themselves than they did before.

12. There are now five teams in the Top 25 of the Coaches Poll

Penn State took a hefty hit, dropping to #20 from #14 after that loss to Alabama.  It's a harsh knock, but a realistic one.  They likely wouldn't have dropped so far if it had been a closer game.  Those are the breaks and at least they're still on the list.

Iowa dropped a position to #10 despite an impressive victory over Iowa State.  Again, I don't understand this one, but they're still in the top ten, so there's no reason to get upset over it.  If they get a nice win over #18 Arizona on the road next week, they'll likely move back up a spot or three.

Wisconsin holds pat at No. 11.  Their win wasn't impressive enough to warrant a raise in the poll and evidently it wasn't detrimental enough to drop them either.  That's a good thing.  They remain just outside the top ten.  Don't look for them to crack it though, until they face Michigan State three weeks from now.  If they win convincingly enough over Arizona State this week, it could be possible, but would likely need a top ten team to falter also.  Holding that position isn't a bad place to be.

Of course Ohio State stays at #2 and holds four first-place votes.  Had Penn State put up a little better finish against Alabama, the Buckeyes might have moved into the top spot, but they're still in the driver's seat for a shot at the National Title.  The old rule will likely apply until the BCS standings come out: #1 stays there until they're beat. 

Michigan joins the fray at #20 thanks to Denard Robinson and the Wolverine win over Notre Dame.  It's yet to be seen if Notre Dame is a quality enough opponent to warrant Michigan's rise, but I'm happy they're there.  So far, they've been impressive, and until proven otherwise, they're a top 20 team.  Their defense has been night-and-day better than last year and Robinson has single-handedly made this offense scary good.

The SEC still has six teams represented in the poll, but the Big Ten is gaining ground.  They're well represented.

That's it from here.  Until next time: HAPPY BOWL HUNTING!