Oh boy! Ladies and gentlemen, what a week it was. Five ranked teams fell in Week 6, including two top-10 teams. The two teams in the top 10 who lost were both to unranked opponents, plus they were the No.
1 and No. 2 teams in the preseason AP Poll. The team that started as No. 2 fell to a winless opponent. Big Ten shenanigans happened again with Penn State going down. Other than that, it was a pretty solid week in the conference. Here’s what happened in the Big Ten in Week 6:
Bye Weeks:
No. 8 Indiana, Iowa, No. 2 Oregon, Rutgers, USC
I don’t normally write about the bye weeks, but Week 6 was a huge win for No. 8 Indiana and has some implications for No. 2 Oregon. The Ducks are affected in a more negative way as they beat Penn State last week, but it was in Happy Valley and the Nittany Lions were ranked No. 3. Winning on the road against the white-out crowd is not easy. For the Hoosiers, the opportunity they have in Week 7 could change practically everything. Even a loss to Oregon might not be that bad, but a win for Indiana could cement them in that top tier of the Big Ten for the foreseeable future. The money the Hoosiers have from making the playoffs a year ago is really coming in handy, and the winner of that game could very well be No. 1 in the country in the Week 8 AP Poll.
Saturday
Wisconsin 10 @ No. 20 Michigan 24
Bryce Underwood, Justice Haynes and Donoven McCulley. Those three were the reason Michigan won this game fairly easily. It was tied 7-7 after the first quarter, but Michigan would score 17 unanswered to go up 24-7. A late Wisconsin field goal just made the bleeding look a little better, as the Wolverines have been steady since losing to now No. 6 Oklahoma in Norman.
No. 22 Illinois 43 @ Purdue 27
Purdue is much improved this year compared to last. Ryan Browne will continue to get better and the Boilermakers could pull off a sneaky big upset later in the year. Illinois just overpowered them. Luke Altmyer threw for 390 yards and a touchdown on 19-of-22 passing. Ca’Lil Valentine carried the ball 22 times for 95 yards and a touchdown, while Kaden Feagin punched it in twice on 10 carries for only 16 yards. Hank Beatty continues to emerge as a top-tier wide receiver in the Big Ten. He caught five passes for 186 yards and a touchdown. If not for two Purdue fumbles from Michael Jackson III, this could have been a different story.
No. 7 Penn State 37 @ UCLA 42
Wow. Wow. Wow. WHAT! Winless UCLA just took down Penn State. The Nittany Lions, coming off an overtime loss to Oregon, fell flat and lost their second game of the season. It’s not like the loss was to Ohio State or Indiana…it was to winless UCLA. WINLESS UCLA. Nico Iamaleava got into a groove, throwing for 166 yards and two touchdowns, while leading all players on the ground with 128 yards and three rushing touchdowns on 16 carries. If Penn State loses another game, its playoff chances could be nonexistent (or it already is at that point). Simply put, this loss was bad enough to drop the Nittany Lions from No. 7 in the Week 6 AP poll to unranked in the Week 7 AP Poll. Penn State’s top players haven’t been able to get it done when it matters most, but a home game next week against Northwestern could be the time to get back into the groove.
Washington 24 @ Maryland 20
This was a game that people might have turned off at halftime. Maryland was up 13-0 before taking a 20-0 lead with a touchdown drive to open the third quarter. Washington would kick a field goal in the third to make it 20-3 headed into the fourth quarter. With his back against the wall, Demond Williams Jr. led his Huskies to three fourth-quarter touchdown drives, the shortest of which was 74 yards. Williams threw for 275 yards and two touchdowns, while Jonah Coleman ran in what would end up being the game-winner. Denzel Boston and Dezmen Roebuck each caught touchdown passes as well. For Maryland, true freshman Malik Washington was solid, throwing for 200 yards and a touchdown. It wasn’t enough, though, as the Terrapins couldn’t score in the last 26 minutes of the game.
UL Monroe @ Northwestern 42
The last non-conference game of the season for Northwestern was also the first-ever matchup with a Sun Belt squad for the Wildcats. Preston Stone had his best game as a Wildcat yet and Caleb Komolafe continued his success from last week. Find more coverage of this game on the rest of the InsideNU site!
Michigan State 27 @ Nebraska 38
It certainly wasn’t Dylan Raiola’s best game, but Michigan State quarterback Aidan Chiles had arguably his worst game of the season, going 9-for-23 with two interceptions and just 85 yards thrown. Nebraska has just one loss on the season by just three points, and the remaining schedule doesn’t look too daunting. The Cornhuskers are cruising under the radar and just might be a surprise team when it comes to who finishes towards the top of the Big Ten.
Minnesota 3 @ No. 1 Ohio State 42
Ohio State is allowing 5.0 points per game. I don’t know if there’s anything else to say. Maybe that Jeremiah Smith is in the top five in Heisman odds right now. There’s a pretty big game coming up for the Buckeyes though, as they travel to take on now No. 17 Illinois.
