It's official – the Big Ten is irrelevant. Again.
Three of the conference's marquee programs had primetime games last week, and all three embarrassed themselves in front of a national audience. First up was Michigan State, who entered the contest as the #7 team in the country, versus #3 Oregon. After finishing last season at 13-1 with impressive wins over #2 Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game and #5 Stanford in the Rose Bowl, Michigan State was a trendy pick to be a playoff team this year. Not any more. Against Oregon, Sparty did what Sparty does best – they took a lead into halftime, but then proceeded to meltdown and got blown out by the Ducks in the second half. The final score was ugly: 46-27.
Next came Michigan versus Notre Dame in the final contest of their 42-game rivalry that began all the way back in 1887. Everybody knows that Brady Hoke's team loves to talk the talk, but the Fighting Irish walked the walk all night long in a 31-0 curb stomping of the Wolverines. After the game, Michigan Man was quick to point out that the Wolverines still "own" the Irish, with a 24-17-1 overall record in the series. That's Michigan Man for you, always living in the past. I suppose that I'd want to live in the past as well if my team were mired in mediocrity (a .660 winning percentage over the past fifteen seasons). But there is some good news here – with the Notre Dame rivalry ending, Michigan now has room to schedule another directional school to fill the void.
Finally there was #8 Ohio State, the team that can never seem to get it done under the bright lights. The last time the Buckeyes "won" a game that mattered was the 2011 Sugar Bowl (that's 1,344 days ago, for those of you counting at home), but of course they had to vacate that win as part of the TatGate sanctions. Since then, the flagship program of the Big Ten is 0-4 against top-15 competition. On Saturday night the Buckeyes had a chance to redeem themselves somewhat against a chippy but previously unranked Virginia Tech team, yet once again Ohio State faltered against a quality opponent. The Buckeyes were able to make a few big plays both on offense and defense, but the Hokies pretty much dominated all night long en route to a 35-21 victory in The Horseshoe.
And if all that wasn't bad enough, Purdue lost to Central Michigan, a school from the MAC conference. Memo to Boilermakers' coach Darrell Hazell: The reason that you schedule MAC teams is to get an easy victory, not to get blown out by three touchdowns on your home field in your half-empty stadium. Purdue has Notre Dame this week – that should be a laugher.
Northwestern also dropped a game to a MAC team, but those scrappy Wildcats managed to keep it close, losing to Northern Illinois (the best program in the state, by the way) by the score of 23 to 15.
At least Nebraska was able to knock off the #6 team in the country. Sure the Huskers needed a miraculous last-second play to secure the victory, and McNeese State was the #6 team in the FCS, but that's what counts as a quality win in the Big Ten these days.
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Three of the conference's marquee programs had primetime games last week, and all three embarrassed themselves in front of a national audience. First up was Michigan State, who entered the contest as the #7 team in the country, versus #3 Oregon. After finishing last season at 13-1 with impressive wins over #2 Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game and #5 Stanford in the Rose Bowl, Michigan State was a trendy pick to be a playoff team this year. Not any more. Against Oregon, Sparty did what Sparty does best – they took a lead into halftime, but then proceeded to meltdown and got blown out by the Ducks in the second half. The final score was ugly: 46-27.
Next came Michigan versus Notre Dame in the final contest of their 42-game rivalry that began all the way back in 1887. Everybody knows that Brady Hoke's team loves to talk the talk, but the Fighting Irish walked the walk all night long in a 31-0 curb stomping of the Wolverines. After the game, Michigan Man was quick to point out that the Wolverines still "own" the Irish, with a 24-17-1 overall record in the series. That's Michigan Man for you, always living in the past. I suppose that I'd want to live in the past as well if my team were mired in mediocrity (a .660 winning percentage over the past fifteen seasons). But there is some good news here – with the Notre Dame rivalry ending, Michigan now has room to schedule another directional school to fill the void.
Finally there was #8 Ohio State, the team that can never seem to get it done under the bright lights. The last time the Buckeyes "won" a game that mattered was the 2011 Sugar Bowl (that's 1,344 days ago, for those of you counting at home), but of course they had to vacate that win as part of the TatGate sanctions. Since then, the flagship program of the Big Ten is 0-4 against top-15 competition. On Saturday night the Buckeyes had a chance to redeem themselves somewhat against a chippy but previously unranked Virginia Tech team, yet once again Ohio State faltered against a quality opponent. The Buckeyes were able to make a few big plays both on offense and defense, but the Hokies pretty much dominated all night long en route to a 35-21 victory in The Horseshoe.
And if all that wasn't bad enough, Purdue lost to Central Michigan, a school from the MAC conference. Memo to Boilermakers' coach Darrell Hazell: The reason that you schedule MAC teams is to get an easy victory, not to get blown out by three touchdowns on your home field in your half-empty stadium. Purdue has Notre Dame this week – that should be a laugher.
Northwestern also dropped a game to a MAC team, but those scrappy Wildcats managed to keep it close, losing to Northern Illinois (the best program in the state, by the way) by the score of 23 to 15.
At least Nebraska was able to knock off the #6 team in the country. Sure the Huskers needed a miraculous last-second play to secure the victory, and McNeese State was the #6 team in the FCS, but that's what counts as a quality win in the Big Ten these days.
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/buckeyeplanet
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