Week Five had several good games including obviously the most memorable one with the Gophers winning the Jug at home for the first since since 1977. Ohio State dominated Iowa, Maryland looked good for about 25 minutes and then remembered they were Maryland and gave up 32 consecutive points. and it might be Northwestern is for real. This week has an interesting game out west between UCLA and Oregon, and a clash of unbeatens in Lincoln—so we can see if Nebraska is for real or just hasn’t played anyone.
Oh yeah…and to see if Minnesota can avoid the most Gopher thing ever after a pair of huge wins and NOT lay an egg in West Lafayette.
#1 Indiana Hoosiers 5-0 (1)
Win 47-15 @ Rutgers
To absolutely no surprise the Hoosiers had zero trouble with Rutgers cruising to an easy 32-point win. They will face arguably their toughest opponent on Saturday in a battle of 5-0 teams when they head to Nebraska. Lincoln will be hopping for this battle, and Indiana is favored by just 7 points for the Big Noon showdown. Will Indiana take control and pull away, or will Nebraska keep things interesting like Northwestern?
#2 Ohio State Buckeyes 4-1 (2)
Win 31-14 @ Iowa
The Buckeyes went into Iowa City and showed they are one of the best offenses in the nation, Another casual 11 catches for 206 yards and a pair of TDs for Jerimiah Smith who should win the Heisman. He’s that dominant. Julien Sayin was good once more going 20-27 for 324 yards and three TDs. The Buckeye defense made Hank Brown look like the old Hank Brown and Iowa ran 21 times for 39 yards. Domination. They now host Maryland as 34.5 point favorites, and frankly that line is way too low. Buckeyes should win by 50.
#3 Oregon Ducks 3-1 (3)
BYE
With the teams right below the Ducks falling, Oregon remains at #3 on their bye week. Oregon used their bye week to try and get Dante Moore healthy and ready to return to action this week. He returned to practice on Monday, but we will need to wait until Wednesday night to see where he is on the injury report for the Ducks’ game vs UCLA on Saturday. Oregon is an 11.5 point favorite which would seem to think Vegas things he will play, but we shall see how the next few days play out.
#4 USC Trojans 5-1 (6)
Win 25-21 vs Washington
USC doesn’t really deserve to be at #4. Their win over Washington was not impressive. But who else would you put here? Not Iowa, Not Michigan, Nebraska hasn’t played anybody, UCLA the same. Even at 5-0 they both are not really deserving of that spot. So the Trojans are in the four hole. USC now has to fly cross-country and face a reeling Penn State team in the White Out on Saturday night. You would think the Trojans should be able to handle the Nittany Lions, but this has all the markings of a classic trap game. In fact Penn State is FAVORED by 1.5 points. So Vegas thinks its a trap too. So we shall see who is in this spot next week.
#5 Nebraska Cornhuskers 5-0 (5)
Win 48-23 vs Maryland
Is Nebraska good? I have no idea. They are 5-0, but the best time they have defeated so far is Michigan State? That sure is not saying much. They fell behind to Maryland at home 23-14 before scoring 34 straight points to end the game. Impressive finish but awful start. I can guarantee if they start slow on Saturday against Indiana, they ain’t coming back from that deficit. Vegas thinks Nebraska will keep it close. I’m wary of that and if I was betting would hammer the Indiana -7. But I’m not so…
#6 Iowa Hawkeyes 4-1 (4)
Loss 31-14 vs Ohio State
No real shame in losing to the Buckeyes. They are a damn good team. Iowa is Iowa, good but not great. Solid but not amazing. In theory a team that should compete for a Florida bowl game, but should not in reality have any real chance at the CFP. They make the trip out to Seattle for a prime time Friday night affair in Seattle. Washington needs a win badly. They don’t want to lose two in a row at home to teams from the Midwest. he Huskies are favored by 3 points in what should be a low scoring affair. But this definitely could be the best game of the weekend.
#7 Minnesota Golden Gophers 4-1 (10)
Win 20-14 vs Michigan
The Little Brown Jug once again resides in Minneapolis. For the first time since 1977 the Jug is not on a plane back to Ann Arbor after making the trip to the Twin Cities. That’s an impressive win even if we really are still not sure what Michigan is. Are the Gophers the 7th best team in the conference? Maybe? Should they be ranked ahead of an undefeated UCLA team? Well the Gophers likely would be undefeated with that schedule as well. So things can easily flip after this week, but for now Minnesota is up at #7. But they need to show up and really show up this week in West Lafayette. Minnesota can not get harbored by Purdue. They can not afford to do that to their fan base. If this team really wants to live up to expectations it needs to win Saturday night—no excuses. They Gophers currently are 2.5 point favorites but expect that number to fluctuate quite a bit before kick Saturday night.
#8 UCLA Bruins 4-0 (9)
BYE
UCLA gets a one spot bounce on their bye week as one of just three remaining undefeated teams, but again they have yet to play anyone. The win over Cal that was impressive to start is now looking worse and worse as the Bears falter. San Diego State—Big whoop. Dominating Maryland—yes but again….Maryland. Their most impressive win was outscoring Purdue in a late night shootout 52-38 in the Rose Bowl. So we shall see just how good they really are when they need to head to Eugene to face Oregon this week. Ducks are 11.5 point favorites and are the better team….we think.
#9 Northwestern Wildcats 4-1 (13)
Win 34-13 vs Penn State
An impressive start for Northwestern who actually look like they are good. Their lone loss was barely to Indiana, and they absolutely dominated Penn State in opening up new Ryan Field on Friday night. With Ball State, Michigan State and Rutgers the next three weeks, we could easily be looking at 7-1 and ranked Northwestern by Halloween. The Cats are 36.5 point favorites over the Cardinals this Saturday.
#10 Wisconsin Badgers 4-1 (12)
Win 31-3 vs Michigan State
A year after an absolutely brutal schedule the Badgers are now reaping the benefits of a week one as they move to 4-1 after a crushing of Michigan State. Colton Joseph was not good through the air throwing just 9-20 for 145 yards, but ended up throwing three TDs. 46 yards came on one TD to former Gopher Malachi Coleman. He then ran for 141 yards and a TD. The Spartans must be just that bad. We will soon see just where the Badgers are. They have a bye this week but then get UCLA USC and Iowa in back to back to back weeks. Thats 4-1 could be 4-4 real fast.
#11 Washington Huskies 3-2 (11)
Loss 25-21 @ USC
Washington probably should have won at USC last Saturday but just made too many mistakes. The offense looked much better than it did against Minnesota—which is not hard against the atrocious USC defense, but the D cold not make enough stops. The Huskies have what really is a must win Friday night when Iowa comes to Seattle for a night game in the Dog Pound. They are favored—but can they perform well enough to do it.
#12 Michigan Wolverines (3-2) (5)
Loss 20-14 @ Minnesota
I just can’t figure out this Michigan team. Are they this bad? Probably not. Are they as good as they looked against Oklahoma? Probably not. But something is not clicking for the Wolverines. Bryce Underwood was dominated by the Gopher defense on Saturday. Could a change at QB help? They get a bye week to figure things out before Penn State and Indiana the next two weeks. If they don’t they will be looking at the wrong side of .500.
#13 Penn State Nittany Lions 3-2 (7)
Loss 34-13 @ Northwestern
Did Wisconsin break Penn State? The Nittany Lion were about five minutes form being 4-0 and now have lost their first two Big Ten games. Northwestern absolutely dominated PSU as Rocco Becht was not good again. Penn States running game was non existent too. They now get to host their annual White Out which should give them a boost, and face a USC defense that is pure garbage, but the Trojans can score. The 54.5 over/under might be too low for this one.
#14 Purdue Boilermakers 3-2 (17)
Win 24-17 @ Illinois
Purdue has an offense, there is no doubt about that. Ryan Browne was efficient in defeating the Illini going 18-27 for 255 yards and a TD. The running game was not great, but it will be interesting to see how much motivation Fame Ijeboi has in a revenge game against his former team on Saturday. The Purdue D is ot great, but if they can force Drake Lindsay into stupid mistakes, they easily could pull off the upset.
#15 Illinois Fighting Illini 2-3 (14)
Loss 24-17 vs Purdue
Illinois is a team with no direction so far this season. They don’t do anything particularly well. Katin Houser is up and down and did not play great going 21-37 for 225 yards, 2 TDs and a pick against Purdue. But it’s wasn’t awful either. Their run game is ok, their defense is ok. The team is just, ok. They head to East Lansing to face a Michigan State team where OK might be good enough on Saturday. The Illini are favored by 2.5. But if they don’t get better than OK, November is going to be a world of hurt for Brett Bielema and his team.
#16 Michigan State Spartans 2-3 (15)
Loss 31-3 @ Wisconsin
The Spartans are banged up in Pat Fitzgerald’s first year. They have massive holes on both the OL and DL due to injuries have a quarterback who is not great, and their defense is average at best. They keep games somewhat close, but have no real chance at winning against quality opponents. Luckily for them, their opponent Saturday is also just mid at best. Who will win the mid-off between the Spartans and Illini? If Michigan State doesn’t want a ton of sorrow they better because the schedule gets real tough real fast after this one.
#17 Rutgers Scarlet Knights 1-4 (17)
Loss 47-15 vs Indiana
Yeah, no surprise Indiana took the Scarlet Knights to the woodshed last week. They even held KJ Duff in check with just four catches for 78 yards. Rutgers ran the ball 35 times and got just 59 yards. That’s….almost impossible. Rutgers gets a bye this week, so at least they can’t lose, and they they face Maryland—-but its five games in a row of pain after that.
#18 Maryland Terrapins 2-3 (18)
Loss 48-23 @ Nebraska
How can a team playing this poorly go up in an incredibly tough venue 24-13 and then…..poof. Well when you throw a pick 6, and then go 3 and out in 52 seconds, and then let your opponent go 8 plays 80 yards in 1:44….that will do it. Nebraska broke Maryland’s spirits and it was crash and burn from there. And then you get to follow it up with a trip to Columbus this week? Jeremiah Smith might for for 250 and 4. Good luck Terps.
