Around the B1G: Week 4 Edition

As I sat there on Saturday in my mom’s basement as the best blogger/writer this side of the Sons of Schmidt, it really was difficult to figure out if the Big Ten conference is any good. Sure, there are four teams in the Top 10, but there is like 60% of the Top-10 filled by NON-B1G teams! That certainly can’t be any good.

In all honesty, the top half of the B1G doesn’t quite make up for how average the rest of the conference has been so far. For every Purdue stomping of a mighty SEC team…you have a Nebraska losing to a MAC school. There really is no consistency for teams 5 through 14 right now. That is really where the B1G needs to step up as the year plays out.

We know Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, and Michigan are good teams. Teams like Iowa, Michigan State, Indiana and Maryland are the ones who will decide whether the conference is one of the best or just another SEC-type of conference. In that regards, this weekend is huge as Michigan State takes on Notre Dame and Iowa takes on Penn State. How both of those B1G East teams play will tell us all how good they really are.

As for this past weekend, the conference as a whole went 9-2, which is pretty respectable, but all of those wins were expected outside of Purdue beating Missouri. Let’s take a look at how each team fared over the past week.

Illinois (2-1 overall, 0-0 conference)

Last Week: Loss vs (21) South Florida, 47-23. Illinois kept it within striking distance during most of the first half before USF was able to rattle off 21 unanswered points in about 10 minutes of game time between the second and third quarter. Freshman Jeff George Jr. and sophomore Chayce Crouch combined for 287 yards passing, but three costly interceptions really hurt the Illini’s chances. Heading into their bye week, freshman running back Mike Epstein is averaging 5.5 yards per carry and 74 yards rushing per game. It will be interesting to see if the Illini rely more on him while the QB play continues to be unimpressive.

This Week: Bye Week

This Week in Recruiting:  Illinois did not receive a commitment last week. They sit at 15 members in the 2018 class with a 247Sports Composite average of 83.47.

Indiana (1-1 overall, 0-1 conference)

Last Week: Bye week. The Hoosiers were supposed to take on Florida International but the game was cancelled due to the effects of Hurricane Irma. The Hoosiers look to fine tune their offense against a Georgia Southern team who lost to New Hampshire two weeks ago. It will be interesting to see how Richard Lagow plays in this game after looking like Aaron Rodgers against Ohio State and then being benched the following week against Virginia. Through two games, the Hoosiers are only averaging 1.88 yards per carry, so they definitely need to work on that against Georgia Southern with Penn State coming up the following weekend.

This Week: vs Georgia Southern

This Week in Recruiting: Indiana did not receive a commitment last week. They sit at 15 members in the 2018 class with a 247Sports Composite average of 84.14.

Iowa (3-0 overall, 0-0 conference)

Last Week: Win vs North Texas, 31-14. Iowa really struggled to get going in this game until four minutes left in the third quarter. Trailing by four points, sophomore Nate Stanley hit fellow sophomore Noah Fant for a 23-yard TD pass, which would be the start of a 21-0 run by the Hawkeyes. The Iowa running game was pretty dominant, rushing for 238 yards even without senior Akrum Wadley. The all-everything running back was benched for a few series after he high stepped into the end zone, which negated a 74-yard catch-and-run. He would only get a few more touches the rest of the game before leaving the game with an injury. Senior transfer James Butler and freshmen Toren Young and Ivory Kelly-Martin stepped in during Wadley’s absence to combine for 226 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns.

This Week: vs Penn State

This Week in Recruiting: Iowa did not receive a commitment last week. They sit at 13 members in the 2018 class with a 247Sports Composite average of 85.02.

Maryland (2-0 overall, 0-0 conference)

Last Week: Bye week. With the bye, the Terrapins had another week to figure out how to tailor the offense to freshman Kasim Hill as he steps into the starting quarterback role. Waiting for them is a UCF team that is also coming off of a bye after their game against Georgia Tech was cancelled last weekend. Junior Ty Johnson is having an incredible season at running back for Maryland as he is averaging over 15 yards per carry through 2 games and has 256 yards on the season.

This Week: vs UCF

This Week in Recruiting: Maryland did not receive a commitment last week. They sit at 20 members in the 2018 class with a 247Sports Composite average of 86.56.

(8) Michigan (3-0 overall, 0-0 conference)

Last Week: Win vs Air Force, 29-13. The Michigan front seven continues to be a force to be reckoned with as they only allowed 168 yards rushing to the potent Falcon rushing attack. The Wolverine defense combined for 9 tackles-for-loss and were led by seniors Chase Winovich and Mike McCray who each had 2 tackles-for-loss. As great as the defense has looked, the offense is far from that and it could be getting worse as the Wolverines lost freshman WR Tarik Black, who fractured his foot and is expected to miss the rest of the season.

This Week: vs Purdue

This Week in Recruiting: Michigan did not receive a commitment last week. They sit at 13 members in the 2018 class with a 247Sports Composite average of 90.04.

Michigan State (2-0 overall, 0-0 conference)

Last Week: Bye Week. I know people hate early bye weeks but I think Michigan State had a good spot for this one. They are sitting at 2-0 after a hard-fought win against Western Michigan and face a three-game stretch of Notre Dame, Iowa, and at Michigan. These next three weeks will decide what direction MSU’s season goes. Sophomore QB Brian Lewerke has been the heart of the offense for the Spartans through two games with 411 passing yards, 150 rushing yards, and 6 total TD’s. The running back duo of L.J. Scott (Jr.) and Gerald Holmes (Sr.) was expected to provide a formidable 1-2 punch, but have only combined for 200 yards and one touchdown through two games. The Spartans will need more from them over the next three weeks if they want to come out of this stretch with any momentum.

This Week: vs Notre Dame

This Week in Recruiting: The Spartans did not receive a commitment last week. They sit at 15 members in the 2018 class with a 247Sports Composite average of 85.66.

Minnesota (3-0 overall, 0-0 conference)

Last Week: Win vs Middle Tennessee, 34-3. It took about a quarter and a half to get started, but the Golden Gopher offense was able to score 31 unanswered points once they did. The normal steady force for the Minnesota offense is their tandem at RB, juniors Shannon Brooks and Rodney Smith. Brooks missed the entire game due to injury and Smith only played the first half after getting hurt. Senior Kobe McCrary stepped in and had 107 yards rushing on 23 carries and 3 touchdowns. From what I’ve read, neither Brooks nor Smith are expected to miss an extended amount of time and should be ready for Maryland after the bye week.

This Week: Bye Week

This Week in Recruiting: The Golden Gophers did not receive a commitment last week. They sit at 23 boat rowers in the 2018 class with a 247Sports Composite average of 84.17.

Nebraska (1-2 overall, 0-0 conference)

Last Week: Loss vs Northern Illinois, 42-35. The Great Tanner Lee preseason hype will forever confuse me. I know the cool thing to do nowadays is to rail on how bad Lee is but I like to consider myself a trend setter. I was railing on him before the season even started when everyone thought he was going to dominate at Nebraska. Once again, Lee struggled throwing the ball as he threw 3 interceptions…including two pick-sixes in the first quarter, putting the Cornhuskers down 14-0. On the season, Lee now has 7 interceptions through three games. We’ll see if he continues his giving ways as they host a Rutgers secondary that had 3 interceptions last weekend.

This Week: vs Rutgers

This Week in Recruiting: The Cornhuskers did not receive a commitment last week. They sit at 10 members in the 2018 class with a 247Sports Composite average of 89.41.

Northwestern (2-1 overall, 0-0 conference)

Last Week: Win vs Bowling Green, 49-7. I know, I know, it was only Bowling Green, but Northwestern needed a game like this. One where the offense was able to score some points and build the confidence for everyone around junior QB Clayton Thorson and senior RB Justin Jackson. Both Thorson and Jackson had their best games of the season, as Thorson threw for 370 yards and 2 TDs, and Jackson ran for 121 yards and 3 TDs. Northwestern gets a nicely-timed bye week with Wisconsin and Penn State coming up over the next two games.

This Week: Bye Week

This Week in Recruiting: The Wildcats did not receive a commitment last week. They sit at 15 members in the 2018 class with a 247Sports Composite average of 85.52.

(4) Penn State (3-0 overall, 0-0 conference)

Last Week: Win vs Georgia State, 56-0. The Nittany Lions had their final non-conference game as they prepare to head to the always dangerous Kinnick Stadium. Junior QB Trace McSorley threw for 409 yards and had 5 total TDs. Future Heisman-winning RB Saquon Barkley had 189 combined yards (47 rushing/142 receiving) and 1 touchdown on the day. With Iowa on deck, the Nittany Lion rush defense needs to improve as they have given up 150+ yards rushing in the past two games.

This Week: at Iowa

This Week in Recruiting: The Nittany Lions did not receive a commitment last week. They sit at 23 members in the 2018 class with a 247Sports Composite average of 90.66.

Purdue (2-1 overall, 0-0 conference)

Last Week: Win vs Missouri, 35-3. I get it, the Boilermakers haven’t shown a pulse in quite a while, but let’s not pretend like Missouri is a good team. The week prior, the Tigers were whooped by South Carolina, who is essentially the Purdue of the SEC. Don’t get me wrong, they are much improved. I’ve said it a bunch of times, I think junior QB David Blough is a pretty good player. Sophomore Tario Fuller (261 yds, 6.07 ypc) has really came on as a feature back for the offense, but let’s not pretend like Michigan is not going to win by 30 points on Saturday. I know the media is building this up to be a great game, but let me Debbie Downer this thing for a second…it isn’t going to be a good game and Michigan is going to win easily.

This Week: vs Michigan

This Week in Recruiting: The Boilermakers did not receive a commitment last week. They sit at 22 members in the 2018 class with a 247Sports Composite average of 82.45.

Rutgers (1-2 overall, 0-0 conference)

Last Week: Win vs Morgan State, 65-0. Credit where credit is due, Rutgers won’t have many chances to run up the score this year. My hats off to them for running with the opportunity to drop 65 on a team. The Scarlet Knight defense held Morgan State to 80 rushing yards on 37 carries. Freshman running back Raheem Blackshear took advantage of the blowout to lead the team with 102 rushing yards and 2 TDs in his first significant action.              

This Week: at Nebraska

This Week in Recruiting: Rutgers did not receive a commitment last week. They sit at 20 members in the 2018 class with a 247Sports Composite average of 83.25.

(9) Wisconsin (3-0 overall, 0-0 conference)

Last Week: Win vs BYU, 40-6. In the preseason, many thought it would be difficult for the Badgers to come out of Provo with a win. Wisconsin took offense to that and easily won by 34 behind the rushing attack of freshman sensation Jonathan Taylor. The talented Badger running back ran for 128 yards (7.1 ypc) and 1 TD on the day. He and Dobbins will be fun to watch over the next couple of years. The already talented freshmen duo currently sit at numbers 1 and 2 on the B1G rushing list.

With Taylor playing so well, sophomore QB Alex Hornibrook has had a little pressure taken off and has put together an impressive start to the season. Through three games, Hornibrook has eight TDs, only one interception, and is throwing for 234 yards per game. The Badgers are a real threat out in the B1G West.

This Week: Bye Week

This Week in Recruiting: The Badgers did not receive a commitment last week. They sit at 18 members in the 2018 class with a 247Sports Composite average of 85.29.

B1G Standings