Big Ten football recap - Week #3

It was another strong week for Big Ten Football this weekend as the league went 9-2 with only Indiana and Illinois losing. The Big Ten standings now show six teams at 3-0, four teams at 2-1 and finally Illinois at the bottom of the standings at 1-2. The following is a brief recap of all of the exciting Big Ten football scores and Week #3 action.

#11 Michigan 47 - #2 Notre Dame 21

This was supposed to be the best game of the week, but the Wolverines made sure that is was not even exciting (unless you are a Michigan fan).

The Big Ten Fans pick in this game was Michigan pulling off the upset 34-27, and while they did indeed pull off the upset, Michigan made a bold statement in doing so. An early INT of Brady Quinn by Precott Burgess was returned for a TD and Michigan set the tone, but it was Chad Henne to Mario Manningham for 3 TD hookups, all in the first half, that separated the Maize and Blue from the Golden Domers. Michael Hart rushed for for 120 yards as Michigan rolled to a impressive 47-21 victory.

#16 Iowa 27 - Iowa State 17

Our preview of this game was a bit on the harsh side. True, Iowa State has had the Hawkeyes' number, but today Kirk Ferentz was able to get his team to come out on top. The Big Ten Fans pick for this game was Iowa State 24 - Iowa 20, but while that was a close pick in terms of the amount of scoring in this game, we had the wrong team on top. Iowa's strong second half, where they outscored the Cyclones 17-3, was the difference in this one as the Hawkeyes won 27-17.

Michigan State 38 - Pittsburgh 23

If you like streaky games this one was for you. After Dave Wannstedt's Pitt Panthers jumped out to a 10-0 lead, Michigan State went on a 38-0 run over the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Quarters to secure the victory. Only two late TD passes from Tyler Palko made the score respectful as MSU dominated in the 38-23 win. The Big Ten Fans pick in this game was 38-28 so that makes us look good, right? I failed to mention we had Pitt coming out on top. Oh well, that is how football picks go. One thing we didn't expect in this one was the Spartans rushing game going for 334 yards. Now that is an impressive rushing attack as both Javon Ringer and Drew Stanton rushed for over 100 yards each in the win.

Minnesota 62 - Temple 0

One of the guys on our active Big Ten message board picked Minnesota to win 59-6 in this one, and he was almost right. It was 59-0 Minnesota late in the game as they faced Division I-A's worst football program. While Big Ten Fans picked Minnesota in a 41-9 romp, I think we overestimated Temple's talent. First-year head coach Al Golden has his hands full as Temple will be joining the MAC next year, and boy do they need some help if they want to keep this program at the Division I-A level. It was 28-0 after the 1st Quarter and 45-0 at the half as Minnesota was on their way to racking up 289 rushing yards in the win.

Northwestern 14 - Eastern Michigan 6

A week after falling flat on their faces in a loss to Division I-AA New Hampshire, the Wildcats took the opening kickoff and drove down the field for an early score. Facing the lesser of the MAC's directional Michigan schools, most fans would think that the Wildcats were establishing that this would be a blowout. But the blowout was not to be as the Eagles of Eastern Michigan were able to hang in with Northwestern throughout the entire game and trailed just 7-6 in the 3rd Quarter.

The game was dominated by defense on both sides as Northwestern managed just 268 total yards to 134 for EMU. The Big Ten Fans pick for this one was 28-20 Northwestern and we did get the margin correct, we just did not count on the lack of offense.

#1 Ohio State 37 - Cincinnati 7

Big Ten Fans had a pretty solid pick here as we picked Ohio State to win 34-14. This was a game that, early on, probably left many across the nation scratching their heads. The #1 Buckeyes trailed the Bearcats 7-3 after the 1st Quarter and led just 13-7 at the half, but the celebrated Ohio State offense came alive thanks to a spark from Antonio Pittman as the Buckeyes outscored UC 24-0 in the 2nd half. Pittman finished the day with 16 carries for 154 yards and a TD, and Troy Smith found Ted Ginn, Jr. for 2 TDs in the 37-7 win.

Penn State 37 - Youngstown State 3

"The game isn’t as lopsided as it could be" we said in our Big Ten Football Week #3 preview, and we were correct. This game was very close early on; tied at 0-0 after the 1st Quarter and 3-0 well into the 2nd Quarter. But the Penn State offense was then awoken as they ended the first half up 20-0 en route to a 37-3 victory over Youngstown State. the Big Ten Fans pick was a PSU victory 28-7. Not too far off. The key in this one was senior RB Tony Hunt rushing for 143 of Penn State's 389 yards on the ground.

Purdue 38 - Ball State 28

In the Big Ten Fans Week #3 football preview our analysis of this game stated "The Cardinals can put up points, but the Boilermakers can put up more. Purdue pulls out a W: 45-35." Not a bad prediction at all as Purdue must be getting tired of being pushed by MAC schools. Last week it was the Miami RedHawks who fell to the Boliermakers 38-31 in OT. This week it was all about QB Curtis Painter who picked apart the Ball State defense for 414 yards passing and 3 TD passes. While Painter did throw a couple of picks, he was able to find 5 different receivers for 4 or more receptions and 50+ yards each.

Southern Illinois 35 - Indiana 28

Earlier this week we all learned that IU Head Coach Terry Hoeppner will miss the next 2-4 weeks of the regular season. As stated in our preview "despite missing their leader for this outing, there is no reason for the Hoosiers to not move on to 3-0." That is one heck of a true statement, but you can't help but wonder if the health of the head coach was not on the minds of the Hoosiers. We picked a 35-13 IU win and boy were we fooled (as was everyone else who isn't a Saluki). Indiana jumped out to a 14-0 1st Quarter lead, but was then outscored 35-14 the rest of the way by the I-AA SIU Salukis. The Hoosiers lost this game on the defensive side of the ball as SIU rushed for 247 yards. QB Nick Hill completed just 10 passes on the day, but 4 were for TDs.

Wisconsin 14 - San Diego State 0

The running game tells the entire story in Wisconsin's win over the Aztecs of San Diego State. Freshman RB PJ Hill, Jr. finished with 26 carries for 184 yards and a TD, and had more than twice as many yards rushing on one play as SDSU had in the entire game. The Big Ten Fans pick in this one was a Wisconsin 31-20 win, but had we anticipated San Diego State rushing for just 22 yards on the day I am sure the pick would have involved fewer points. Wisconsin QB John Stocco threw for just 85 yards, but a big passing day was not needed as Wisconsin dominated the total yardage 373-124.

Syracuse 31 - Illinois 21

Illinois is proving to be a team with a lot of problems. Last week the Illini went to Rutgers and got blown up to the tune of 33-0. Today they fell behind to Syracuse 31-7 before two late, meaningless TDs made the final score respectable. The Big Ten Fans analysis and pick said "Illinois gets the ground game going and doesn’t let up. Illini win: 27-10." The problem was that the Illini could not get the ground game going as they had just 97 yards rushing. The bright spot for Illinois was QB Juice Williams who went 9-16 for 227 yards and 2 TD in limited action.