By Stephen Vilardo, SuperWest Sports
If your favorite school is winless in the Big Ten, you are not alone. A third of the league is currently 0-for-the-win column in conference action.
That number will decrease this week by at least two as we have a pair of games featuring teams looking for their first wins. Rutgers visits Maryland while Michigan hosts Penn State, and someone has to win those games.
The former, not so shocking, but the latter?
On the other end of the standings, we have four teams that are unbeaten; that number will be halved by Sunday morning as Ohio State heads to Indiana while Wisconsin travels to the Rose Bowl for an unbeaten conference showdown with UCLA.
Again, the latter of those two games has to raise a couple of eyebrows from the preseason with both those teams unbeaten.
Speaking of shockers, who would have guessed the winless team in the Washington at Purdue game would be UW?
As mentioned, UCLA hosts Wisconsin while Washington kicks off the conference slate Friday night with the trip to Purdue. Oregon looks to get back on track with a visit from Nebraska for some Big Ten after dark action. USC has their bye this week.
Here is our look at this week’s Big Ten action.
Washington Huskies at Purdue Boilermakers
Friday, October 16
5:00 PM PT, FOX
(Dan Hellie and Robert Smith)
Just a few weeks ago, the Huskies still could have had dreams of the college football playoff. Of course, if you watched them play for the first three weeks, you probably would have seen that those dreams were just that, dreams.
This team had flaws since Game One, but now they are looking at a potential must-win road trip to Purdue just to keep their bowl hopes alive. Sure, they only need three more wins, but a loss this week and just getting six wins could be a tall order.
So, with a banged-up Demond Williams Jr. unlikely to play due to the rib injury sustained last week, the Huskies have a last-gasp opportunity against a Purdue team that is suddenly playing some good football.
But Williams being out may not be the worst thing in the world, at least this week.
I am not ready to say Elijah Brown is better than Williams, but Brown did perform well against Iowa after entering the game, although the game was really never in doubt while he was in there.
Brown could, however, offer the spark that gets the Huskies going in the right direction and still be fresh enough to catch the Boilermakers off guard this week.
The bigger issue in the most recent setback for UW was the defensive performance against Iowa with a backup QB.
If Jeremy Hecklinski can have a career day with the ball barely hitting the ground, what kind of day can we expect from Ryan Browne and the Boilermakers’ potent passing attack on Friday night?
Browne is connecting on nearly 70% of his passes this season and could be poised to chew up the UW secondary.
In conference play, the Huskies are allowing 217 passing yards per game, and two of the three games were against Iowa and Minnesota, not exactly potent throw-first units.
The Boilers are just that.
In the three wins, UW has intercepted five passes compared to just two in the losses this season. If Washington is to get back on track, they need to start making things difficult on opposing QBs.
If they don’t, then it does not matter who they have throwing the ball—Williams or Brown—they will be playing catch-up.
The time is ticking on the once-promising season, and the rebound needs to start this week. I am not sure the result will be any better, though.
No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes at No. 5 Indiana Hoosiers
Saturday, October 17
9:00 AM PT, FOX
(Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt and Jenny Taft)
The marquee matchup of the week, both for the conference and arguably for the nation, will be in Bloomington as we have a rematch of last season’s Big Ten Championship game.
This might not be the last time these teams meet either. The way the conference is shaking out in the Big Ten halfway through the season, it looks like another meeting in Indianapolis could be on the table.
In this one, it might just come down to Jeramiah Smith. The OSU WR is the most dynamic player in the nation, and if the Hoosiers have a weak spot on defense, it is getting beat over the top. And Smith can get by just about any defender in the nation.
So, will Julian Sayin have time to make those passes, and will the Buckeyes be able to run the ball on Indiana? To me, that is where this game will be won or lost, in the trenches when the Buckeyes have the football.
Last week, Indiana had a hard time mounting much on the ground against Nebraska, but it opened things up in the passing game. I think Indiana will be able to move the ball on the ground.
If OSU takes that away, I think the passing lanes will again be there. For the first time this season, we might see Indiana unleash Josh Hoover and the air attack.
If the turnovers issues from his TCU days return, it could be a difficult day for IU. He has yet to turn the ball over this season and if those errors are truly a thing of the past, he could have a monster game himself.
No. 25 Northwestern Wildcats at Michigan State Spartans
Saturday, October 17
9:00 AM PT, Peacock
(Paul Bermeister, Yogi Roth and Caroline Pineda)
Pat Fitzgerald won 110 games in his 17 seasons leading Northwestern. Now for the first time in his career, he will be going up against the program he helped build up.
Northwestern is ranked for the first time since the end of the 2020 season. Fitzgerald’s successor, David Braun, has the Wildcats playing about as well as anyone in the league.
The Wildcat offense under Chip Kelly is explosive and unpredictable. On defense, they are making plays behind the line of scrimmage in the last two weeks, limiting opponents to 69 rushing yards per game.
In short, they look like a team Fitzgerald would like to see his Spartans look like.
Those days are not here yet. MSU has played hard and been in some games, but against the really good teams in the conference, they will struggle, and Northwestern with Aidan Chiles at QB is a really good team.
Penn State Nittany Lions at Michigan Wolverines
Saturday, October 17
12:30 PM PT, CBS
(Brad Nessler, Charles Davis and Jenny Dell)
I heard this one described as a high-urgency game, and I think that fits perfectly for this matchup of struggling conference foes.
Both Michigan and Penn State are winless in conference play, and the struggles are real for both former powerhouses in Year One under new head coaches.
For Kyle Whittingham and the Wolverines, a horrendous offense that has been plagued by too many penalties and turnovers. The defense is still elite, but the offense has taken a step back.
Bryce Underwood has failed to develop, and Michigan is stuck in neutral.
For Matt Campbell and the Nittany Lions, the passing offense has been good, but the defense has been a struggle.
So, what this comes down to is that the Michigan defense should be able to limit Penn State, and the Lions have not been good against the run at all. So, Michigan needs to get back to the power downhill rushing attack, and they’ll get in the win column.
Wisconsin Badgers at No. 12 UCLA Bruins
Saturday, October 17
4:30 PM PT, NBC
(Noah Eagle, Todd Blackledge and Kathryn Tappen)
At the start of the season, if I told you this weekend the Penn State vs Michigan game would be a battle of winless conference teams, you’d have called me crazy.
Now if I added that Wisconsin would travel to UCLA on the same weekend in a battle of conference unbeatens?!?! No way anyone had that on their bingo card, yet here we are.
The lone blemish on Wisconsin’s schedule was a loss to Notre Dame, and the Badgers are 2-0 in Big Ten play. UCLA is ranked 12th in the nation and sitting 5-0 on the season.
A huge turnaround in L.A. under Bob Chesney for sure, while Luke Fickell has certainly quieted his critics in Madison.
A noticeable reason for the turnaround in Wisconsin has been the play of Colton Joseph at QB. The transfer from ODU has been getting it done with his arm and his legs for UW.
Through the Badgers’ first five games, Joseph is averaging 226.4 passing yards per game and 52.4 on the ground. Numbers like that have not been seen in the Big Ten since 2018.
But perhaps less noticeable is the Badgers’ secondary, which has been lights out. That could cause a problem for the Bruins, who will turn to Ty Dieffenbach to lead the offense in the absence of Nico Iamaleava.
The good news for UCLA is the rushing attack remains the same, with Wayne Knight leading the way on the ground. The Bruins should test the Badgers’ run defense.
On the other side of things UCLA is proving to be as good as any team in the nation. Joseph will be difficult to contain, but UCLA should remain unbeaten.
Nebraska Cornhuskers at Oregon Ducks
Saturday, October 17
8:00 PM PT, FOX
(Tim Brando, Devin Gardner and Josh Sims)
Who had the worse week last Saturday, Oregon or Nebraska? The Ducks played about as poorly as they could have, still had a chance to win, and could not get it done at home.
Nebraska played Indiana tough, but let’s face it, the Hoosiers played poorly and gave the Huskers every chance to win, and they could not get it done at home.
The Ducks’ defense did enough to beat UCLA last week, but they were undone by the offense and some critical turnovers. Dan Lanning has not stated who will start under center this week, but the offense looked better under Brock Thomas last week.
Dylan Raiola struggled massively, and this week will certainly be an emotional one for him facing his old team.
Whoever wins the role this week will need to be sharp—and should have an opportunity to excel. The Huskers were very good against the pass in the nonconference but have been susceptible through the air in conference play.
Indiana, Maryland, and Michigan State averaged 245 yards passing. This is after Nebraska limited the first three opponents to 118 per outing through the air.
Oregon needs to shore up the penalties and turnovers, which they will. By doing so, they should be able to get back to winning this week.
Straight-Up Staff Picks for Selected Games
writes about various topics for SuperWest sports, including stats and records, college sports, and motorsports. He also founded and runs the Sports and Entertainment Research Center (SERC).