Big Ten Week 3 Recap: Eating Crow and Good Teams Gone Bad

If you are not familiar with the phrase "eating crow", it means "having been proved wrong after taking a strong position."

I admit that I took a strong position in predicting Michigan State would beat Notre Dame, 28-14, and my congratulations go out to head coach Brian Kelly, his staff, the players and the Fighting Irish fans. They walloped the Spartans, 28-13, in a decisive win in South Bend.

Almost as embarrassing is THE University of Miami (Florida) beating Ohio State and Army beating Northwestern. I predicted a clean sweep of victories for the Big Ten and ended up being 9-3, which leaves me with a 30-6 record after three weeks of football. At least Minnesota and Indiana won their first games of the season.

Iowa's James Vandenberg Leads Highlights

You are the Iowa quarterback.  You are playing Pittsburgh on your home field and you're trailing by 17 points in the 4th quarter.  What do you do?

Junior James Vandenberg's answer:  lead your team to three touchdowns in the last 10 minutes of the game to win, 31-27.

Vandenberg threw for 399 yards and three touchdowns.  He scored Iowa's first touchdown on a one-yard run and threw one interception.

Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson had another impressive week running the football.  He had 26 carries for 198 yards and one rushing touchdown. Of the seven passes he completed, two were caught for touchdowns as the Wolverines routed neighbor Eastern Michigan, 31-3, at home.

Minnesota not only won their first game of the year but also had head coach Jerry Kill on the sidelines to witness their 29-23 win over Miami (Ohio).  Kill suffered a seizure during the Gophers' September 10th game.

Doctors cleared the coach to participate in last Saturday's game, and he watched Minnesota quarterback Marqueis Gray throw for 163 yards and run for 171 yards.  The Gophers also blocked a punt and recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchdown.

Spartans, Buckeyes and Wildcats Lose, Oh My!

Running back Lamar Miller (in the picture) of Miami not only held onto the football but also carried it 26 times for 184 yards against Ohio State.

The Buckeyes arrived in Florida hoping to play a solid game offensively and defensively. Miami's first offensive play was a 54-yard run by Miller, which set the tone for the game.

Ohio State used both Joe Bauserman and Braxton Miller at quarterback, but they were a combined 4-for-18 with 35 yards passing.  Miami walked away with a decisive 24-6 win.

The 15th-ranked Michigan State Spartans got stuffed on the run and had to resort to throwing the ball to compete with Notre Dame.  It was no contest.

As if it couldn't get any worse in the 28-13 loss to the Fighting Irish, the Spartans also lost their starting center and one of their offensive tackles due to injuries.

Look, it's another running quarterback.  Army's Trent Steelman ran for three touchdowns in their 21-14 win over Northwestern.

Steelman lost one fumble and completed just one pass, but it didn't seem to upset the Black Knights from West Point.  Army managed to keep the Wildcat offense in check except for two touchdown catches by Northwestern wide receiver Jeremy Ebert.

Purdue Cruises, Penn State Bruises and Indiana Wins

After two nail-biters in the first two weeks of the season, Purdue's offense overwhelmed Southeast Missouri in a 59-0 win in West Lafayette, Indiana.

The game featured the return of Boilermaker quarterback Robert Marve (see picture). He missed almost the entire 2010 season with a torn ACL.

Purdue led 17-0 when Marve entered the game in the second quarter.  He led the Boilermakers to three touchdowns in three possessions.  Marve was 7-of-8 passing for 91 yards and threw one touchdown pass.

Starting Boilermaker quarterback Caleb TerBush also played well.  He completed 14-of-17 passes for 143 yards.

In a hard-fought trench-like battle, Penn State beat Temple 14-10. With less than three minutes left in the game, Nittany Lion running back Michael Zordich scored on a one-yard run.

Temple has lost 29 straight games to Penn State. 

Indiana quarterback Edward Wright-Baker may be getting comfortable running new head coach Kevin Wilson's offense.  Wright-Baker ran for three touchdowns and threw two touchdown passes as the Hoosiers beat South Carolina State 38-21.

Wisconsin, Nebraska and Illinois Roll to 3-0

Wisconsin utilized a potent offense (see the picture) to overwhelm Northern Illinois, 49-7, at Chicago's Soldier Field.  Running backs Montee Ball and James White rushed for 91 yards each, and quarterback Russell Wilson threw for 347 yards and three touchdowns.

Nebraska quarterback Tyler Martinez and running back Rex Burkhead led a rushing attack that amassed 309 yards rushing against Washington in a 51-38 win in Lincoln.  Martinez also threw two touchdown passes.

Illinois' defense was the difference in their 17-14 win over Arizona State.  The Fighting Illini sacked Sun Devils Brock Osweiler six times and forced him to throw two interceptions.

It's a good thing my wife bought me a gallon of chocolate ice cream.  I need something to calm my stomach after eating crow.