Big Ten Week 3 Blog

 Welcome to the maiden, bare-bones edition of my futile attempt to start a Big Ten Football blog.  Sure, we might not have a team capable of playing USC within 30 points, but that doesn't mean the league isn't worth talking or complaining about at least a little, eh? Anyhow, any feedback or comments readers have are always welcome.  I hope I don't test your patience as much as mine and Michigan diehards are being tested at the moment from our Wolverines....

Despite anything else that may have went right for the Big 10 this week, the focus of the college football world is once again on the Buckeyes.  Right or wrong, Ohio St. football will only further evolve as the punching bag of the sport, and as long as that punching bag keeps landing haymakers year in and year out against the rest of its conference mates, the league will never get respect.  The way the Buckeyes looked last night at the Coliseum, though, it looks very possible for a couple other teams to take the torch of league supremacy for the season.  If not, expect a whole lot of disrespect from the nation to come until at least August 2009. 

The weekend did garner mixed results, though, as the league essentially had 4 games against decent-quality competition to make statements:
OSU-USC
Michigan-Notre Dame
Purdue-Oregon
Wisconsin-Fresno State
While the 2 traditional powers looked bad in lopsided losses, both UW and Purdue held their own against ranked opponents, despite the heartbreaking conclusion of the Boilermaker loss.  Wisconsin played their type of game, P.J. Hill showed why he is one of the top handful of RB's in the country, and the Badgers were constantly praised for their decision to even be playing in Fresno.  It should be considered a huge test passed that should prepare them for the league schedule which starts off with Michigan, Ohio St, and Penn St.
You know yesterday's loss to Purdue killed Joe Tiller, whose program has been seeking a huge win for many years now.  I look for the Boilers to bounce back from the loss, though, and use it as a springboard to a surprisingly successful year.  Their D held the Duck offense in check for most of the day, and Curtis Painter will have the offense clicking soon enough.  Considering I saw absolutely NO ONE give Purdue a chance in this one, the coaches and fans should be optimistic that they took a possible Rose Bowl team to 2 overtimes.
As a Michigan fan who believes he probably just saw the turning point to his team's first bowlless campaign since Watergate, I really can't talk about the game at the moment.  Anybody else think Coach Rod will be having wet weather two-a-days during the bye week?

As for the second (or third, or fourth) tier of games, all of the other 7 Big Ten squads took care of business.  There were no real surprises, except to say that I was in the house as the Ragin' Cajuns nearly knocked off a sleepwalking Illinois team, and yes, it was as ugly as it seems.  Had I been plopped in the stadium from Outer Space, or at least SEC country, and known nothing about the 2 teams, I would expect La-Lafayette to win 65 times out of 100.  If it wasn't for Illini LB Brit Miller flat out taking the ball out of ULL QB Michael Desormeaux's hands and taking it for a touchdown in the 1st half, we could be talking about a shocker of an upset right now.
Also, after seeing this year's Hawkeye State battle between Iowa and ISU, I couldn't help but be reminded of Iowa's epic 6-4 victory over Penn State in 2004.  For three quarters in Iowa, it looked like that game might be matched for offensive prowess.

Anyway, I'll have more to say about the Michigan and OSU beatdowns later in the week, especially what should be a QB controversy in Columbus.  Also, I'll take a look at some of next Saturday's games and make predictions later in the week for the light Sept 20 schedule, but for now I'll cap this off with a Big Ten Big 11 Ranking:

1. Wisconsin
2. Penn State
3. Ohio State
4. Purdue
5. Illinois
6. Michigan State
7. Michigan
8. Northwestern
9. Iowa
10. Indiana
11. Minnesota