If you're a sports fan, Saturday had everything and anything you could possibly want; satisfying your every desire like a $14.99 'all you can eat' buffet. Grab your plate and start with some of college football's finest games of the year like the Wolverines setting multiple school records in a shoot out with the Hoosiers, Ole Miss stunning LSU with a last second field goal, and Auburn beating up Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M. That would have been enough for a nice lunch but there was more. Tennessee upsetting 11th ranked South Carolina, Missouri staying perfect after a win against Florida, and Stanford smothering Brett Hundley and the 9th ranked UCLA Bruins.
By now your shirt buttons are tight to the skin and your adjusting your belt loop for the second time. Like any good buffet there was more than just the usual pickings tho like some championship baseball as the Red Sox advanced to the World Series as well as a full plate of hockey as they get full speed into their season. With four empty dirty plates in front of you it's time to pull out the white flag until somebody mentions dessert. Your eyes reach the verge of popping out of the sockets as you have a silent conversation with your stomach to politely ask if you can squeeze one more dish in. As you get back up to the buffet line though you see two delicious options; a full slate of pay-per-view UFC fights and a three seed versus five seed match up of Florida State and Clemson. Those UFC fights were some of the best I have seen in a long time with everything from brutal knockouts to five round battles, hats off to the chef. The Seminoles chose to man handle the Tigers all night by a score of 51-14 leaving us with the impression that they certainly don't need any sugar, they're sweet enough.
By the end of the day I felt like the kid struggling to keep up with his classmates as they ran the yearly mile run around the track, exhausted, out of breath, and searching for my imaginary inhaler. A few days later, now fully healed and energized, let's look back specifically at the Big Ten action as we review all five games that took place.
Purdue 0 Michigan State 14
The Spartans got the victory but not in the fashion that most though they would. After quarterback Connor Cook had seemed to "break out" over the last couple of games he was back to his old ways looking inaccurate and had his offense sputtering for most of the game. The Spartans didn't even make it past the Boilmakers 32 yard line until the fourth quarter as they scored their first offensive touchdown late in the game and needed a trick play to do it. After opening the game up with a defensive touchdown by Denicos Allen's scoop and score Cook was asked to be a game manager as they took a conservative approach for most of the game which was surprising after Purdue had been blown out by Nebraska and Wisconsin the two games prior.
Nonetheless, Michigan State left with a victory thanks to the nation's top ranked defense yet again shutting out Purdue with zero points. They move to 6-1 and remain undefeated in Big Ten play at 3-0. They stay at the top of the Legends division but realize they have plenty of work to do as they enter the thick of their schedule soon. The Boilmakers kept it close but kicker Paul Griggs missed two crucial field goals and they lost all momentum after that. They drop to 1-6 and are still searching for their first in conference win losing all three thus far.
Minnesota 20 Northwestern 17
The Gophers drove home with a huge upset road win over the know reeling Wildcats. The Gophers won this game by forcing three key turnovers and turned them into 10 points as they limited themselves to zero turnovers. Combined with mistake free football they kept their game plan simple. Quarterback Phillip Nelson was an efficient 8-of-11 for 112 yards passing as running back David Cobb rushed for 102 yards on 20 carries. James Manuel had a 24 yard interception return for a score in the third quarter that put the Gophers up 14-7. The defense stepped up in a big way and shut the Wildcats down on a promising drive in the fourth quarter holding them to just a field goal deep in Gophers territory. Minnesota snapped a two game losing streak and 5-2 picking up their first Big Ten win (1-2). Even more noteworthy was they are now 1-0 with head coach Jerry Kill not on the sidelines as he battles back from his own personal injury.
After starting out 4-0 Northwestern has lost their third game in a row all to Big Ten foes. It's worth mentions the Wildcats were without arguably their best two players in quarterback Kain Colter and running back Venric Mark. They hope both players will be ready for next weeks game as they travel to Iowa. The Gophers host Nebraska.
Iowa 24 Ohio State 34
The Hawkeyes kept this interesting and actually went into the locker room at half time up a touchdown leading 24-17. Quarterback Jake Ruddock helped his offense dominate the first half looking very sharp and focused through out the day. Ruddock went 19-of-34 throwing for 245 yards and three touchdowns. But after being shut down for most of the first half running back Carlos Hyde came out and showed why he is one of the nations best turning himself into a workhorse running for 106 yards and two touchdowns in the second half. He ended the game with a total of 149 yards as Braxton Miller was 22-of-27 for 222 yards and two touchdowns.
Miller also ran for over 100 yards on the ground while throwing zero interceptions. The game was truly a tale of two halves. After Iowa took control in the first half, Urban Meyer gave a not so familiar "we're losing right now" speech and rallied his troops. Ohio State out gained Iowa 306 yards to 153 while owning the clock by 23:05-6:55 in the final two quarters. The Buckeyes move to 7-0 and extended their win streak to a FBS-best 19 straight. Iowa drops to 4-3 with a record of 1-2 in the conference.
Wisconsin 56 Illinois 32
Ground and Pound. That's Wisconsin's motto and game plan every week until someone can figure out how to stop it. One of the nations best (Melvin Gordon) continued his impressive play rushing for 142 yards and three touchdowns on the day. Back up James White (who could start on almost any other team) chipped in 98 yards on 20 carries and found the end zone twice on the night. Gordon helped the Badgers gain a 21-0 first quarter lead as he now has 1,012 yards on the season. Illinois head coach Tim Beckman blamed his defense for the pour team performance saying his team didn't tackle well in space.
His offense had trouble clicking as well as the running game which was averaging 178 yards per game only produced 72 yards on 29 carries even with Wisconsin's best defensive player linebacker Chris Borland out with a hamstring injury. Illinois did rally back to make it 28-17 at half time but could never muster enough stops on defense to have a chance. Quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase threw for 249 yards but had zero touchdowns. Wisconsin moves to 5-2 with a 3-1 record in the Big Ten and Illinois drops to 3-3 with a 0-2 record in the conference.
Indiana 47 Michigan 63
An absolute barn burning shootout in Ann Arbor took place Saturday evening between these two teams. Michigan set multiple school records as their offense gained 751 yards on the day. As good as the offense was, their defense was just as bad and kept the Hoosiers in the game until the very end. Losing two fumbles in the second half, the Hoosiers had a chance to win at Michigan for the first time since 1967. Quarterback Tre Roberson took a 15 yard keeper for the score that pulled the Hoosiers within two points 42-40 in the fourth quarter. On the ensuing drive at Indiana's two yard line Devin Gardner fumbled the ball giving possession and momentum back to the team in red. Roberson, however, had taken himself out of the game due to a hand cramp which put Nate Sudfeld under center a a critical time in the game.
Sudfeld under threw his team mate and gave the ball right back on an interception. The Wolverines nabbed another pick from the Hoosiers with two minutes left to seal the deal by a score of 63-47. How does one score 63 points you ask? Well, running back Fitzgerald Toussiant had 151 yards rushing with four touchdowns while receiver Jeremy Gallon caught 14 balls for 369 yards and two touchdowns. Yep. Not a typo. 3-6-9 yards! Gallon broke not only Michigan's receiving record but also the Big Ten receiving record for most yards in a game.
That performance also put him second all time in FBS history leaving him 36 yards short of the record held by Troy Brown back in 1998. The Wolverines inability to stop the Hoosiers has to be a worry for head coach Brady Hoke but the bottom line is they have won 19 straight games at home the longest streak by a BCS conference team and have won 18 in a row against Indiana. That win improves them to 6-1 as they get a week of rest before playing in state rival Michigan State November second. The Hoosiers drop to 3-4 and also get a much needed week of rest before hosting the Gophers two Saturdays from now.