Indiana and Michigan picked up nice wins while Wisconsin and Illinois dropped the ball
As the Buckeyes relaxed with a bye week before heading to Washington to kick off the conference schedule, the Big Ten moved forward with some big games to help start deciding where all the teams fit in the big picture.
Here are some grades for the teams that excelled, and for the teams that fell short — and some fell very short.
A: Indiana
After starting the season with a lackluster win over Old Dominion, the Hoosiers raised some concerns early about this year’s team and the second season under Curt Cignetti.
Suffice to say, those concerns are long gone.
Indiana beat Illinois 63-10, and Fernando Mendoza capitulated into the Heisman conversation, according to some sports books. It was as impressive as any win this season, and Indiana is a real playoff contender.
B: Oregon
Oregon State is a bad team and Oregon beating them 41-7 isn’t wildly impressive, but Oregon has looked impressive all season so far and Dante Moore looks like the five-star recruit that was promised. Now, we will learn a lot of what we need to know about the Ducks as the travel to Beaver Stadium to take on Penn State this week.
That is an obvious must-watch.
C: Iowa
Iowa beat Rutgers 38-28 on Friday night, and while it was a good win, the defense looked shaky at times and they still only threw for 12 completions and 186 yards.
They did run for 160 yards and four touchdowns, but if Iowa wants to be a true contender, they need to be more two dimensional on offense and tighten up the defense.
D: Wisconsin
There is really not much to say about the Wisconsin Badgers and Luke Fickell. They would have gotten an F if Illinois did not lose by 53 points.
The Badgers lost to Maryland 27-10, and when you look at the rest of the schedule, 2-10 or 3-9 is very much a possibility. Things are bad in Madison right now, and I don’t know how they get turned around anytime soon.
F: Illinois
The game between Indiana and Illinois always felt like one that could separate the contenders from the pretenders, and it did exactly that.
Indiana jumped into the contender and College Football Playoff conversation, while Illinois is on the outside looking in. And now, defensive back Xavier Scott, who is one of the best in the conference, is going to miss most of if not all of the season.
They need to bounce back this week at home against USC, who is now also ranked.
Category: General Sports
