Week 10 Big Ten Preview

Welcome to November, everyone, where we’re not sure anyone in the conference is good even with top 5 Indiana, though #8 UCLA looks really, really good. Thanks to Wake Forest going nuts it looks like Purdue will close the season with possibly four games against Playoff teams (Indiana, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, and UCLA). That the Boilers looked at least decent against Wake and UCLA is encouraging.

This week we have a lot of even matchups. Purdue needs a win over Maryland to maintain any faint hopes of a bowl game. Iowa and Northwestern are nearly dead even. Ohio State and Oregon were the preseason No. 1 and No. 2, but they very much are not right now and the loser is probably eliminated from the playoff. Even Penn State at Washington is a matchup of disappointing teams.

It should be a fun week.

Friday

Nebraska (5-3, 2-3) at Illinois (5-3, 3-2) 8pm, FOX

I will never forget that the first points in an FBS game in a full stadium after COVID came from a safety when a Nebraska punt returner threw an illegal forward pass in the end zone on a punt return. That’s the kind of weird stuff that happens to Nebraska, like playing an almost perfect game defensively last week before giving up two touchdowns in less than 30 seconds vs. Washington. This game has the possibility for hilarity, especially in the way Nebraska loses. Illinois 24, Nebraska 21

Saturday

#8 UCLA (8-0, 5-0) at Minnesota (5-3, 3-2) B1G NUDE SATURDAY

Minnesota loves to play ugly, filthy football and UCLA is one of the best rushing teams in the nation. This game could be done in like 2 hours with only 10 total passing attempts. The Gophers are also a hard team to figure out. They took the defending national champs to overtime on their own field (and probably should have won), but also lost by four touchdowns at Purdue. UCLA 17, Minnesota 10

Maryland (2-6, 0-5) at Purdue (3-5, 2-3) 12:30pm, BTN

This needs to be a week where the Purdue defense gets back on track. It struggled badly the last two weeks against poor offenses, and now it gets a Maryland team that is bad all around. Purdue needs this game to regain momentum. With the narrow loss to Wake Forest and wins over Illinois and Minnesota Purdue is clearly better this year, and that means it is time to win a game it absolutely should win. Purdue 41, Maryland 21

#23 Oregon (5-3, 3-2) at #12 Ohio State (6-2, 4-1) 3:30pm, CBS

Welcome to a loser leaves town match for the playoff, with the added bonus that the loser will claim the title of “Most disappointing team in the country”. Both offenses have been disappointing and they are now on backup QBs due to injury. That means anything can happen. It is still Ohio State at home though, and to me, that is enough. Ohio State 24, Oregon 17

Penn State (4-4, 1-4) at Washington 5-3, 2-3) 3:30pm, Fox Sports 1

Both of these teams used Purdue as their get right game, so it will be interesting to see what happens next. Overall I think Washington has been better, but they have struggled at home in losses to Minnesota and Iowa. Penn State is also awfully one-dimensional right now, and that one dimension, the ground game, was only really good against Purdue. Washington 27, Penn State 17

Rutgers (2-6, 1-4) at Wisconsin (5-3, 3-2) 4:15pm, BTN

Any road to a bowl game for Purdue requires a home win over Wisconsin in two weeks, and it will be interesting to see which Wisconsin team shows up. Will it be the one that dominated USC or the one that did pretty much nothing except get fresh air and exercise against Iowa? We probably won’t learn a lot against a bad Rutgers team. Wisconsin 30, Rutgers 13

#19 Iowa (6-2, 3-2) at Northwestern (6-2, 3-2) 7:30pm, Fox

The score will be 16-10. It is just a matter of who has the 16. I think it will be Northwestern. Northwestern 16, Iowa 10

Michigan State (2-6, 0-5) at Michigan (5*-3, 2-3) 7:30pm on the ‘cock

Sure, most eyes will be on a marquee Miami at Notre Dame matchup happening at the same time, but this is your true sickos game These two are among the worst offensive teams in the country, let alone the Big Ten. There is a real chance there will be more punts than points, especially since Michigan State has the “better” offense against a Michigan defense that is very, very good. First team to 10 wins. Michigan 13, Michigan State 9