Before the weekend began, there were two games involving Big Ten teams that were expected to be hard fought contests ultimately decided by a score or less. In the end, one of them turned out to be a tad on the surprising side, while the conference showcase game involving the two West Division leaders was completely one-sided. Ohio State continued their quest towards another conference title and the even more lucrative prize of an appearance in the College Football Playoff. Wisconsin asserted their dominance in the West in emphatic fashion with a performance for the ages by its immensely talented running back. And how about those Northwestern Wildcats, who pulled off arguably the most shocking result of the day with their comeback win in South Bend.
In addition, there was plenty of other action from around the conference that solidified bowl eligibility for a few teams, while leaving others to wonder what could’ve been had injuries at key positions not derailed their postseason hopes. We’ll take a look at all of it as we analyze the various happenings around the conference in week 12.
Big Ten Week 12 Analysis
Game Of The Week:
Ohio State 31, Minnesota 24
Certain things in life are so rare they occur only once every 50 years. In the case of Ohio State football on Saturday when they took on Minnesota, it had to do with the temperature at kickoff, which was the coldest the Buckeyes had experienced since November of 1964. It didn’t seem to bother quarterback J.T. Barrett, a Texas native who had never played in conditions as inhospitable as what he faced over the weekend.
If you thought Barrett was done putting together breakout performances after his heroics powered the Buckeyes to a statement win over Michigan State the weekend before, think again. Against the Gophers, a series of Ohio State seasonal and single-game records were exceeded by the fabulous freshman signal caller. His 86-yard touchdown run to open up the scoring in the first quarter was the longest scamper by a quarterback in the history of the program. He also rushed for 189 total yards in the win, again a record for an OSU quarterback. In the first ten games of his college career, Barrett has already broken Braxton Miller’s single-season record for total touchdowns by a Buckeye quarterback, and has five more than Johnny Manziel had in his 2012 Heisman-winning campaign.
Overall, the Buckeyes were most likely less than convincing though. Two crucial turnovers in the first half, including an interception from Barrett, kept the Gophers in the game. The OSU secondary stepped up in the second half, intercepting Minnesota quarterback Mitch Leidner twice. Limiting mistakes on special teams is still a major issue after a Jalin Marshall fumble led to a David Cobb touchdown in the fourth quarter and kept the game closer than it should’ve been. That said, Ohio State have won two straight road games against ranked teams and has the nation’s longest road winning streak at 13.
Wisconsin 59, Nebraska 24
Melvin Gordon. Need I say more after what he accomplished on Saturday in Wisconsin’s demolition of Nebraska? His 408 yards rushing was not only a single-game FBS record, but it also exceeds nearly half of all FBS schools per game yardage output…AS A TEAM. Somebody book this guy’s flight to New York for the Heisman ceremony already.
Though Gordon’s Heisman hopes received a rocket-sized boost, his counterpart in the Husker backfield Ameer Abdullah likely played himself out of contention. Abdullah had a week off to rest his sprained MCL but it seemed to have been a factor in his ineffectual performance where he had a paltry 69 yards on 18 carries and no touchdowns.
On a cold late afternoon day in Madison which gradually transitioned into a snowy evening that covered the field in a thin layer of white by game’s end, both teams rarely if ever passed the ball. The Badgers and Huskers combined for all of 108 yards through the air. Regardless of the manner in which Wisconsin won the game, they certainly have Nebraska’s number lately. In their last meeting two years ago in the Big Ten Championship, the 7-5 Badgers came in as an underdog to the 10-2 Huskers before running them out of Lucas Oil Stadium by a 70-31 score. With another convincing win, Wisconsin is now the frontrunner to return to Indianapolis this year to face Ohio State for the conference championship in a little over two weeks time.
Northwestern 43, Notre Dame 40 (OT)
The Wildcats traveled 90 miles or so east to South Bend to face a Notre Dame team on let down alert after their CFP hopes were dashed the week before with a 55-31 loss to Arizona State. Though the Irish were a large 17.5 point favorite, Northwestern wouldn’t go away the entire afternoon. Every time it looked as if Notre Dame had put the game away, the Wildcats figured out a way to get back into it. They would erase a 40-29 deficit with four minutes left in the fourth quarter to force overtime and later win in the extra period with a game-winning field goal.
The win gives Northwestern an outside shot at bowl eligibility if they can win their final two. Such a prospect seems within reach as the Wildcats take on Purdue and Illinois to finish the season, not exactly a gauntlet of a remaining schedule considering they just upended the Irish. For Notre Dame, an outside shot at reaching a New Year’s Six bowl ended with the upset defeat.
Michigan State 37, Maryland 15
The “blackout” was on at Byrd Stadium in College Park and Terps fans were hoping the raucous atmosphere would induce some poor play out of a Spartan team whose CFP bubble burst the previous week at the hands of Ohio State. It didn’t happen in any way, shape or form. Maryland ran into an angry, green buzzsaw whose vaunted defense forced four turnovers and held the Terrapin run game to all of six yards on the ground. The game was never really in doubt at any point during the second half, with MSU leading 30-7 midway through the fourth. Needless to say, Sparty bounced back.
At 8-2, the Spartans finish up the season with Rutgers in East Lansing and a road trip to Beaver Stadium to take on Penn State. Though another ten-win season under Mark Dantonio appears likely, they would need Ohio State to inexplicably go on a two-game losing streak to have any chance at making the conference championship game. Despite the loss, Maryland has already reached the six win threshold to make a bowl in their inaugural year as a Big Ten member.
Iowa 30, Illinois 14
The Hawkeyes got completely and utterly lambasted against Minnesota in week 11, so they were certainly out to right the ship at Illinois on Saturday. Mission accomplished. Iowa took advantage of the Big Ten’s worst defense, out gaining the Illini 587-235 including 304 yards on the ground in the decisive 30-14 win. Quarterback Wes Lunt returned for Illinois after missing the last six weeks with a broken fibula but was highly ineffective and was even replaced late in the game.
Iowa’s schedule to close out the season is about as unfriendly as you can get, with the West Division’s two top teams, Wisconsin and Nebraska, coming to Iowa City. I guess the fact that both games are in Kinnick Stadium makes the challenge a little less daunting. For Illinois, they currently stand at 4-6 and are in desperate need of a two-game winning streak to get bowl eligible and possibly save head coach Tim Beckman’s employment status with the program.
Rutgers 45, Indiana 23
Two of the 3:30 pm ET games in the Big Ten featured arguably three of the league’s most prolific running backs. Melvin Gordon and Ameer Abdullah featured prominently in Madison, and we already discussed the historic day Gordon had in Camp Randall Stadium. Practically a half a world away yet in the newly-minted Big Ten territory of Piscataway, NJ, Indiana’s Tevin Coleman wasn’t going to let the day go by without getting his. Coleman rushed for 307 yards, the second greatest performance by a running back in Hoosier football history, bested only by the venerable Anthony Thompson who had 377 yards on the ground in 1989.
That was about the only thing that went well for Indiana in their first ever meeting with Rutgers, who dominated the second half en route to a 45-23 victory. True freshman quarterback Zander Diamont has slowly improved since he was named starter, and the overarching theme on Saturday was the seemingly constant inability on the part of his receivers to help him out and actually catch the ball. With the win by the Scarlet Knights, both Big Ten newcomers are officially bowl eligible. In Bloomington, it will unfortunately the same old story as another season will go by without a bowl appearance as the Hoosiers dropped to 3-7.
Penn State 30, Temple 13
The Nittany Lions joined Northwestern in taking on an out-of-conference foe in week 12, though in Penn State’s case a win over Temple was greatly expected. After all, the Owls had only won three all-time against PSU in 42 meetings and hadn’t done so since a 14-0 victory way back in 1941. Christian Hackenberg continues to be a shadow of his 2013 self with an inefficient 112 yard, two interception performance. Temple had it tied 6-6 in the third, but Penn State were able to rely on their talented tandem of running backs Akeel Lynch and Bill Belton, who both had a touchdown apiece in the second half as the Nittany Lions pulled away.
When the NCAA announced that Penn State’s bowl ban had been officially lifted earlier in the season, the goal was to get that sixth win and realize bowl eligibility. It hasn’t exactly been the prettiest pathway to postseason qualification but they’ve arrived there with the win over Temple. As such, this program continues to turn the page and eventually close the book on the dark days that personified the Jerry Sandusky scandal.
Idle: Michigan, Purdue
In the final analysis, it sure looks like Wisconsin and Ohio State are headed towards an inevitable clash in Indianapolis on December 6th. The almost overwhelming consensus was that Nebraska would have been the better opponent for the Buckeyes from a CFP resumé standpoint, but I disagree. The Badgers are trending in the right direction, are coming off a massive blowout and could conceivably be undefeated given their two losses to LSU and Northwestern were by a combined ten points.
Two weeks remain in the Big Ten regular season, a period of time more than long enough for drama and unpredictability to reign supreme and turn the conference and college football in general upside down.
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