Big Ten Football week 3 review

Big Ten Football Week Three Review

Week Three Record:  11-1…Record so far….29-7

Illinois-44 Charleston Southern-0….CORRECT…The Illini seemed to give everyone the week off to get healthy…and it was a pretty good strategy…backup QB Reilly O’Toole was 26-31 for 333 and 5 TD passes…the Bucs totaled 125 yards of total offense…that game couldn’t have come at a better time for Illinois as 2-0 Louisiana Tech comes calling next week..

Minnesota-28 Western Michigan-23….CORRECT….Uh-Oh..Minnesota fan (that’s not a typo…there is only)…down goes MarQueis Gray…it looked like a pretty serious injury…and when he resurfaced after the half on crutches…well it doesn’t take Vince Lombardi to know that generally isn’t a good situation…The initial MRI showed no broken bones…the educated guess is a high ankle sprain…out probably 2-4 weeks…

Nebraska-42 Arkansas State-13….CORRECT….Corn head coach Bo Pelini was taken to a Lincoln hospital via ambulance at the half of Nebraska’s blowout W…he has checked out fine and seems to be doing well…but a scare nonetheless…my favorite type of corn, Rex Burkhead may have some trouble earning his position when he gets healthy..Ameer Abdullah tallied a career high 167 yards and 2 TD’s as Nebraska may have staked its claim to the Big Ten’s best team as of today…

Ohio State-35 California-28….CORRECT….The Buckeyes gave up over 500 yards of total offense and more surprising was the fact that Bears dominated the second half..specifically the third quarter where OSU gained just 25 yards on 14 plays and got no first downs…the item that shocked me was the usually crisp and efficient tackling of OSU was almost entirely absent…luckily they have UAB coming in next week to work out some kinks…but it doesn’t seem to be going in the right direction…yet.

Purdue-54 Eastern Michigan-16….CORRECT….I am telling you guys…be wary of Purdue..they hammered a hapless Eagle team…woo-hoo right?…they are doing it with defense…limiting EMU to 144 yards through the air and intercepting four passes..Caleb TerBush replaced Robert Marve and I think Purdue played better..A miracle coaching move worked for Brian Kelly last week and the Boilers lose to ND in South Bend by a FG…and now they just go right back to work…watch out.

Iowa-27 Northern Iowa-16….CORRECT….You know, when I get kicked off this website for writing absolute lunacy, I may just try my hand at screenwriting and document the unbelievable events that have happened to the Iowa HB’s over the last half decade…two more got injured this past weekend and walk-on FB Mark Weisman rushed for 113 yds and three TD runs…you almost have to believe that the HB position has been cursed…I will see if I can do some research and present it to you loyal readers…it is staggering….but..yea Iowa!..nice W.

Michigan-63 Massachusetts-13…CORRECT….The Wolverines got a big W and that should help…but they have a lot to work on…the offensive line needs the most attention at this point…they can’t seem to open holes in their normal spread looks…I think they are having to hold blocks too long waiting for plays to develop…they did ok when they went double TE and did some smash-mouth running according to Jim Brandstatter…but there is a lot of work to be done before next week.

Northwestern-22 Boston College-13…CORRECT….Another team to keep an eye on (notice both of these teams are in the Legends division)..Northwestern showed two new facets of the game that they are doing well with…kicking..ie PK Jeff Budzien kicked a school-record 5 FG’s…and the punt coverage team…with NW clinging to a 2 point lead with just under 3 minutes to go…NW punted to BC and downed the ball inside the 1 yard line..BC went three and out and then NW scored their only TD of the game to ice the W…this team is winning games in different ways…sign of a good team.

Penn State-34 Navy-7….CORRECT….first of all, congrats to Bill O’Brien…nice job getting your first ever college W as a head coach…and PSU looked good doing it too…but Navy does that to people…the Nittany Lions are going to have to get much better if they want to win any more football games…PSU QB Matt McGloin threw 4 TD passes…nice job Matt.

Ball State-41 Indiana-39…MISS….I bet Hoosier coach Kevin Wilson woke up screaming Saturday night (if he slept) numerous times seeing over and over the nightmare that was Cardinal QB Keith Wenning perfectly executing the Ball State offense time and time again in the second half vs his team…and especially with IU holding a single point lead as time is running out in the 4^th quarter…what a composed QB…he looked great….finishing with solid numbers…26-44 with 222 and 3 TD’s and no INT’s…

Notre Dame-20 Michigan State-3….CORRECT….I hate to say it, but I knew that Andrew Maxwell’s inexperience would hurt MSU…but I just hope for Spartan fans it is limited to this game…he has very good mechanics, a strong arm what he needs is to develop a presence in the pocket and develop some better timing with his WR’s…he has all the tools…a year from now, that kid will be one of the better QB’s in the Big Ten…

Wisconsin-16 Utah State-14….CORRECT….Where did Bret Bielema learn his clock management skills?…did anyone else see this game?..Utah State driving down the field..down 2…NO TIMEOUTS and a placekicker who has never attempted a FG in his life in college…it’s third down..they spike the ball at the 20 yard line to stop the clock, but the play clock keeps rolling…the Aggies are hurrying the FG unit on the field, they have time, but it’s getting close…and just as he is about to attempt a rushed FG attempt, Bielema calls a timeout…Why does he do this?.and this isn’t the first time he has done this..luckily, the kid came back out and missed it…but I just don’t get it..the announcers were completely stumped by this maneuver…