With a 45-14 loss late last night against Arizona State, Illinois concluded the Big Ten's lousy day, as the conference finished 6-6 and 1-6 against major conference opponents (and Notre Dame). Sadly, the day could have been worse.
Iowa fell to in-state rival Iowa State at home, 9-6. It was the Cyclones' first win in Iowa City in 10 years. Thirteenth ranked Wisconsin was upset in Corvallis by Oregon State, 10-7. Purdue lost on the road to Notre Dame by the final score of 20-17. Penn State dropped to 0-2 with a 17-16 loss on the road against Virginia. Sixteenth ranked Nebraska fell to UCLA 36-30 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, as the Bruins racked up over 650 yards of offense against the anything-but-Blackshirt defense of the Cornhuskers. As I already mentioned, Illinois is trailing Arizona State in Tempe at the half by the score of 28-7.
The Big Ten now only has five unbeatens and two of those are Indiana and Minnesota, whom took care of Division I-AA teams this past weekend in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The other three are Michigan State, who beat up on Central Michigan, Northwestern, who came back to beat Vanderbilt, 23-13 and Ohio State, who defeated Central Florida, 31-16. The only other victory by the conference was anything but impressive. -Air Force was one touchdown drive away from beating Michigan, eventually falling to the Wolverines in Ann Arbor by the final score of 31-25.
The Big Ten has not impressed me so far this season. Even in week 1, Wisconsin and Iowa needed late scores to sneak past Northern Iowa and Northern Illinois. Michigan State almost fell at home to Boise State. Northwestern needed a late score to defeat Syracuse. Michigan was dominated by Alabama. Penn State fell to Ohio.
To this point, the teams that have looked the best to me are (in random order): Michigan State, Ohio State, Michigan and Nebraska, with Purdue and Northwestern vying to play the role of sleeper. Due to a team infraction, Ohio State is ineligible to play in the conference championship game or a bowl game this year. Michigan got clobbered by Alabama in their first game and needed a late stop against Air Force on Saturday to prevent themselves from starting 0-2 on the year. Nebraska looked pretty impressive offensively in their opening week win versus Southern Mississippi before falling to UCLA last night. Both these teams look fairly similar to one another - explosive on offense, led by dual-threat quarterbacks in Denard Robinson for Michigan and Taylor Martinez for Nebraska. The quarterbacks are very quick, but inconsistent with throwing the football. The defenses make me immediately think of two words - high school. Michigan State appears to be solid defensively and in the running game, led by tailback Le'Veon Bell. Their passing game is a question mark, however. Ohio State has looked fairly solid on both sides of the ball in their first two games, but quarterback Braxton Miller has been running the ball far too much. He may go without many big hits in the Buckeyes' fairly soft non-conference games, but will be more prone to getting nicked up once the Buckeyes head into conference play. The Ohio State tailbacks will need to help Miller some in the ground game to prevent him from getting hurt.
While the ACC and Big East appear to be anything but stellar once again, the Big Ten looks like they may be vying for the Razzy-like crown worn at season's end by the worst major conference in college football. The Big XII, Pac-12 and SEC, at this point in the season, appear to be leaps and bounds better than the three before-mentioned. It's still very early, but the Big Ten will need to fare very well in their remaining non-conference games and especially in their bowl games to make up for its lackluster start to the season.
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/scoreboard?confId=5&seasonYear=2012&seasonType=2&weekNumber=2
Iowa fell to in-state rival Iowa State at home, 9-6. It was the Cyclones' first win in Iowa City in 10 years. Thirteenth ranked Wisconsin was upset in Corvallis by Oregon State, 10-7. Purdue lost on the road to Notre Dame by the final score of 20-17. Penn State dropped to 0-2 with a 17-16 loss on the road against Virginia. Sixteenth ranked Nebraska fell to UCLA 36-30 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, as the Bruins racked up over 650 yards of offense against the anything-but-Blackshirt defense of the Cornhuskers. As I already mentioned, Illinois is trailing Arizona State in Tempe at the half by the score of 28-7.
The Big Ten now only has five unbeatens and two of those are Indiana and Minnesota, whom took care of Division I-AA teams this past weekend in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The other three are Michigan State, who beat up on Central Michigan, Northwestern, who came back to beat Vanderbilt, 23-13 and Ohio State, who defeated Central Florida, 31-16. The only other victory by the conference was anything but impressive. -Air Force was one touchdown drive away from beating Michigan, eventually falling to the Wolverines in Ann Arbor by the final score of 31-25.
The Big Ten has not impressed me so far this season. Even in week 1, Wisconsin and Iowa needed late scores to sneak past Northern Iowa and Northern Illinois. Michigan State almost fell at home to Boise State. Northwestern needed a late score to defeat Syracuse. Michigan was dominated by Alabama. Penn State fell to Ohio.
To this point, the teams that have looked the best to me are (in random order): Michigan State, Ohio State, Michigan and Nebraska, with Purdue and Northwestern vying to play the role of sleeper. Due to a team infraction, Ohio State is ineligible to play in the conference championship game or a bowl game this year. Michigan got clobbered by Alabama in their first game and needed a late stop against Air Force on Saturday to prevent themselves from starting 0-2 on the year. Nebraska looked pretty impressive offensively in their opening week win versus Southern Mississippi before falling to UCLA last night. Both these teams look fairly similar to one another - explosive on offense, led by dual-threat quarterbacks in Denard Robinson for Michigan and Taylor Martinez for Nebraska. The quarterbacks are very quick, but inconsistent with throwing the football. The defenses make me immediately think of two words - high school. Michigan State appears to be solid defensively and in the running game, led by tailback Le'Veon Bell. Their passing game is a question mark, however. Ohio State has looked fairly solid on both sides of the ball in their first two games, but quarterback Braxton Miller has been running the ball far too much. He may go without many big hits in the Buckeyes' fairly soft non-conference games, but will be more prone to getting nicked up once the Buckeyes head into conference play. The Ohio State tailbacks will need to help Miller some in the ground game to prevent him from getting hurt.
While the ACC and Big East appear to be anything but stellar once again, the Big Ten looks like they may be vying for the Razzy-like crown worn at season's end by the worst major conference in college football. The Big XII, Pac-12 and SEC, at this point in the season, appear to be leaps and bounds better than the three before-mentioned. It's still very early, but the Big Ten will need to fare very well in their remaining non-conference games and especially in their bowl games to make up for its lackluster start to the season.
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/scoreboard?confId=5&seasonYear=2012&seasonType=2&weekNumber=2
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