Ohio State was the final Big Ten team to finish play on Saturday, but their 35-21 loss to unranked ACC foe Virginia Tech pretty much personified the fortunes of the conference as soon as the noon games kicked off. What began with two of the league’s struggling teams, Purdue and Northwestern, dropping decisions to MAC schools Central Michigan and Northern Illinois quickly metastasized into a national discussion on whether or not the conference’s top teams have already played themselves out of College Football Playoff contention two weeks in.
Conference Carnage: Buckeyes and Big Ten Have Weekend to Forget
When the dust settled, all three teams involved in high profile nationally televised games, including the Buckeyes, Michigan and Michigan State, found themselves on the wrong end of the final score. The Spartans’ vaunted defense who never gave up more than 28 points in a single game last year conceded nearly 50 to the always fast and fiery Oregon Ducks. The Hokies executed a masterful game plan on both sides of the ball that exploited virtually every Buckeye weakness. Last, and in this case probably least, the Wolverines were goose-egged in South Bend by a much improved Notre Dame squad and looked like a side that might struggle to get bowl eligible, let alone make noise in the Big Ten.
Even the wins the conference had over the weekend were anything but impressive. Nebraska was tied with McNeese State (yes, that McNeese State…as if you’ve ever heard of them) with under a minute left in the game and needed one of the plays of the season by running back Ameer Abdullah to escape. Iowa trailed Ball State all day and were somehow able to reel off two touchdowns in the final minutes of the game when the Cardinals suddenly forgot how to play defense. Maryland turned the ball over six times against a South Florida team that won all of two games last season and needed to recover a blocked punt in the end zone to get the victory.
In Columbus, it became alarmingly apparent over the course of the night that ‘work in progress’ is an adequate description of certain Buckeye units. The offensive line made life miserable for quarterback J.T. Barrett, seemingly overwhelmed at times by the blitz schemes Hokie defensive coordinator Bud Foster threw at them. You have to give Barrett a bit of credit in the sense that he demonstrated exceptional mobility in the pocket and was able to rush for 70 yards on 24 carries. That said, the constant pressure he had to deal with precipitated bad throws and crucial mistakes which was reflected in his 31% completion percentage and three interceptions that included the dagger pick six that sealed the deal for the visitors from Blacksburg.
While watching Bradley Roby make the game-deciding pass breakup for the Denver Broncos in Sunday night’s NFL game, I couldn’t help but think to myself that the coaching staff probably wished he was still in an Ohio State uniform. The secondary had its share of issues with Virginia Tech signal caller Michael Brewer, himself making his second career start. Though they did force two picks, they also gave up two 10 yard touchdown passes, including the pass that gave the Hokies the lead for good. Brewer was aided in part by solid play calling that relied heavily on sweeps and short routes in large part to counter the Buckeyes pass rush.
The kicking game was another source of frustration, as placekicker Sean Neurnberger missed two second quarter field goals of 40 and 27 yards respectively. It could’ve taken a lot of pressure off the offense on that final drive of the game if the score was 28-27 as opposed to 28-21. Instead of needing to go on a 71 yard touchdown drive, Barrett would’ve only needed to gain no more than 40 to 45 yards to put the kicker in a position to win the game in dramatic fashion. In one possession games, leaving points on the board will almost always come back to haunt you.
How teams in a given league perform against programs from other conferences, especially the big boys, is a significant contributor to that league’s overall perception, especially in a new era when your overall body of work is given much more scrutiny. What transpired during week two of the 2014 season was not what the Big Ten needed at all in terms of enhancing their own perception which continues to take a beating year in and year out due to its continued inability to get over the hump as regards the national championship conversation.
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