Week 9 Big 10 Review

There were only 4 games in the Big 10 this week, but each one said a lot about the conference title race.

The talk all season was that Ohio State wasn't beating good enough opponents or winning by a big enough margin to make the national championship. They proved everyone wrong Saturday night in a 63-14 rout of Penn State. Penn State was coming into the game off of a bye week following a 4OT win over Michigan. They were starting to show that they could still be great even with the NCAA sanctions that they are facing. Ohio State showed that Penn State is still not at that high level. Braxton Miller reestablished himself as a Heisman contender and Ohio State is continuing to show that it is by far the best team in the Big 10. Penn State now will try to play for a winning record while maybe spoiling someones chances at a conference title as they still have yet to play both Nebraska and Wisconsin.

There were two teams tied atop the Legends division going into week 9, Michigan State and Nebraska. Nebraska was looking like they might pull away with is as they had QB Taylor Martinez back and they were playing a Minnesota team that hasn't been a contender in a long time, but Martinez looked as if he were rushed back out there, throwing for just 139 yards and an interception. Minnesota deserves some credit though, as they now improve to 6-2 (2-2) and are bowl eligible. Nebraska is still right in the mix for the chance to face Ohio State as they are still tied with Michigan only a game back of first, and they still have both Michigan and Michigan State left.

The Nebraska loss presented Michigan State the perfect opportunity to capture soul possession of first place in the division and they did just that, beating Illinois 42-3. The nation's top defense looked better than ever, holding the Illini to just 128 total yards and 8 first downs. The most surprising part of the game was the Spartans offense, which has struggled to find its identity all year and was coming off a horrible performance against Purdue in which they only scored one touchdown. They were able to score 6 touchdown, the most they have in a game all year, while racking up 477 yards of total offense. They now have the biggest test of the year next week against the hated rival Wolverines. If they can walk away from that game victorious, they will easily become the favorite to play Ohio State for the big 10 title.

The most exciting game in the Big 10 came from Iowa City, as Northwestern came back from down 10-0 at halftime, to force overtime against Iowa. Iowa was able to pull through and win 17-10, but Northwestern showed that they are still a good team. Northwestern has looked bad lately as they are now on a 4 game losing streak after a 4-0 start. They looked good in a loss to Ohio State, but since then have lost badly to both Wisconsin and Minnesota. Iowa still has an outside chance at the Big 10 title, with just 2 conference losses, and with both Nebraska and Michigan left on the schedule.