The Big 10 conference as a whole took a step back this week after a promising and fast start to the season.  It wasn't just the six losses that put a damper on Saturday for the B1G, however, it was the giant black cloud that had rain pouring down from the football gods on almost everyone in some bizarre way or another.  Michigan survived a scare against Akron at home, Wisconsin loses in gut-wrenching fashion, and one coach had to be rushed to the hospital, again! Let's check out all this weekend's recap with the good, the bad, and the downright ugly.  

The Good

Starting at the top of the conference, Ohio State took care of business on their first road trip as Kenny Guiton looked like the second coming of Braxton Miller.  The fifth year senior filled in for the injured Miller and passed for four touchdowns and zero interceptions  as they beat the California Bears 55-34 and our now 3-0. 

Northwestern had 344 yards rushing and their offense looked flawless as they beat Western Michigan by a score of 38-17.  The Wildcats put four consecutive scoring drives together in the second quarter that ripped the game open and shifted the momentum to one side.  Runningback Treyvon Green ran for 158 yards and two touchdowns as he has quietly put together quality games in back-to-back weeks filling in for the injured Venric Mark. 

We knew the Spartans could win games with their rock solid defense and stout special teams play.  What we found out on Saturday however, was they can also score points on the offensive side of the ball as well.  Struggling to find any form of identity after the first two games on offense, Connor Cook emerged from the ashes and threw four touchdowns for MIchigan State and provided the long awaited consistency for four quarters you need to see from a starting quarterback.  The Spartans will be a very dangerous team if they can do what they did against Youngstown dominating in all three phases 55-17.

After an unexpected loss to Navy last week, Indiana rebounded niceley to dominate Bowling Green 42-10.  The Hoosiers had all the momentum back on their side as they ended the game on a 35-0 run after putting up over 600 yards on offense.  Quarterback Nate Sudefeld (who made his first career start) threw for 335 yards and two touchdowns as the majority of the throws went the way of receiver Cody Latimer who had a career high of 137 yards. 

The Bad

In what was supposed to be another "warm-up game" for the Wolvierines, it turned into a bad "B" rated suspense film as lowly Akron came into Ann Arbor and gave them an early April Fools Prank.  Akron, who was payed nine-hundred thousand dollars by Michigan to get their butt-kicked turned out to give them a big run for their money.  They were winning in the second-half 24-21 until running back Fitgerald Toussant scored with 2:59 left.  Michigan then let Akron march all the way down field for what looked like the go ahead touchdown, but the Zips couldn't punch it in the end zone after four failed attempts at the two yard line.  A win is a win no matter how you slice it, but if their was ever a bad win, this was it. 

After starting out his young and promising career 2-0, highly touted recruit Christian Hackenberg ran into his first speedbump against UCF Saturday as the Nittany Lions lost on their home turf 34-31.  Penn State was forced to play catch-up early in this match as they found themselves down 18-0 to a faster Knights team.  UCF never trailed in this game as they dominated from the get-go and notched their first win against a B1G opponent in school history.

Nebraska teased the nation for one half of football fooling people into thinking they could out match Brett Hundley and the Bruins.  Up 21-3 going into the half the Cornhuskers gave up a last minute touchdown and just like that their momentum was gone.  UCLA came out in the second-half and put on a show.  Led by sophomore and Heisman candidate, Hundley threw for 294 yards and three touchdowns along with 61 yards on the ground.  Nebraska's offense has and will continue to put up points but its the defense that has and will continue to be the achilles heel.  Unable to stop anybody consistently for four quarters, the Cornhuskers are forced to light up the scoreboard every week just to have a chance.  Watching such a commanding early lead slip away like they did makes this loss against a ranked opponent sting a little deeper. 

The Ugly

With all due respect to Jerry Kill, it's time for the Gophers program to move on from him and find a coach that doesn't obtain the health risks that he has.  Jerry suffered another stroke on the sidelines this Saturday and was taken off the field in a stretcher and rushed to the hospital.  Jerry has a rare disorder that makes him prone to such seizures specifically during high pressure and intense situations that one may occur while coaching a division one team in front of fifty-thousand screaming fans; not exactly what the doctor ordered.  Jerry is a great football mind and is a hell of a coach, but right now his health is too big of a concern for him to risk more injury than he has already endured.  It's not fair to his team, the fans, or the program and I wish him all the best. 

Their simply aren't enough non-explecitive words one can use to describe what happened to the Wisconsin Badgers on Saturday night.  Let me quickly set the scene, fast forward to the final drive, Badgers down 32-30 and in enemy territory.  Instead of getting overly aggressive, they decide to set themselves for what would be a chip shot field goal to presumably win the game.  Currently on the right hash mark, quarterback Joel Stave hikes the ball, runs to his left, and makes a motion of kneeing the ball.  Instead however, he sets the ball down on the ground before hopping back up and looked very confused during the process.  Meanwhile, the officials appeared to give the impression that it was a dead ball, the clock never stopped and Wisconsin in a panic tried to spike the ball, but to their disappointment watch the clock expire instead.  Arizona State players threw their helmets up in to the air and sprinted around the field in joy as they stole a win in Sun Devil stadium.  There's no doubt the referees botched the call on this one, but to have them not take the initiative to fix it and instead run off the field makes this loss one of the ugliest and most bizarre in school history.