Big Ten Football Week 5 Review
Week 5 record: 4-2….Record so far….40-12……76.9%
Northwestern-44 Indiana-29….CORRECT….I was wondering when we would see the Kain Colter show in Evanston…he did a lot of this last year…but nothing like this…the current back-up QB goes 1 for 3 passing with an INT but carried the ball 14 times for 161 yards and scored 4 TD’s…then he caught 9 passes for another 131 yards…Kyle Prater watch…0 receptions this week..
Penn State-35 Illinois-7….MISS….well….looks like I picked the wrong week to begin having faith in the Illini at home…Illinois looked awful..they turned the ball over 3 times…more importantly…the Nittany Lions looked impressive…their defense is one of the better units in the conference and they could create a Buckeye-like mess in the Leaders Division (that type of mess is one that doesn’t qualify for playing for the Big Ten title) but how much credit should PSU receive for beating a team going in the wrong direction?…we shall see…
Iowa-31 Minnesota-13….MISS….well…looks like I picked the wrong week to have faith in the Golden Gophers (chalk that up in the “Things I thought I’d never say” category)..Where has this opportunistic Hawkeye defense been all year?…picking off three Max Shortell passes, one for a TD in the 4th…and how about Big Ten Player of the Year candidate and HB raffle contest winner Mark Weisman…the Iowa walk-on had 177 yards rushing on the game..the vast majority of those in the first half…all he’s done is gain 507 yards and scored 7 TD’s in the last three games…
Purdue-51 Marshall-41….CORRECT….let’s see..what are the most impressive numbers from this game?….Herd QB Rakeem Cato threw 68 passes completing 45 of them for 439 yards and 5 TD’s..three of those to a player named Gator…another Marshall WR, Tommy Shuler…had 19 catches for 200 yards…but ultimately…Cato threw three INT’s and the Boilers turned them all into TD’s…that turned out to be the difference…who knew it would be on the defensive side of the ball..
Ohio State-17 Michigan State-16….CORRECT….you had to figure that the Buckeyes defense wasn’t going to be last in the conference all year….and there is nothing like playing the Spartans in East Lansing to fix Ohio States D..they have now won five straight at the Smoke Stack…I hope Urban likes his back up QB though…because the pounding that Braxton Miller took on Saturday is only a sample of what is coming down the road if he doesn’t find some other weapons…he took a big ‘ole beating from a tough Spartan defense…
Nebraska-30 Wisconsin-27….CORRECT….what a second half by Corn QB Taylor Martinez…now he has improved his passing…he looks more assertive..more convinced in his passing if one can look more convinced throwing a ball…his delivery looks a little faster..I am not sure if he is more accurate, I think he is just making better decisions…he finished 17 of 29 for 181 and 2 TD passes..he also had 13 carries for 107 yards and a 38 yard TD run…this looks like a pretty good team, but one that is certainly susceptible to offensive lapses…they also look somewhat vulnerable to defensive breakdowns…but they are better than last year…we’ll see how it plays out.
Related articles
Game Preview: Michigan at Purdue
Penn State wins Big Ten opener
Michigan State loses to Ohio State
About Chad Godfrey
Colter’s stats from the Indiana game are crazy. It will be interesting to see how NU does when they finally play a decent team.
Big win for Nebraska.
Solid effort Chad. Really enjoy reading these each week.