Week 4 Big Ten Preview

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My apologies for not getting the preview up last week. My Friday was blown apart because my dad ended up in the emergency room late Thursday night before he was transported to Indy for emergency surgery to remove a huge blood clot on his lungs that was stressing his heart. Dad came through incredibly well and is doing significantly better right now, but it was serious enough that as they were taking him back Friday morning I had the through of, “did I just talk to my dad for the last time?”

Thank you to the emergency room folks at St. Vincent in Kokomo and the Interventional Radiology department in Indy for their amazing work. We keep another Boiler in the world as a result!

Conference play begins in earnest this week, and for that I am thankful. It is annoying to find something to say about 18 games in a single article. Here is this week’s schedule, beginning Friday night in Piscataway.

Friday

Howard (1-2) at Rutgers (0-3) 7pm, BYN

“Friday night in Piscataway sounds more like a threat than a football game, especially when it comes to this year’s Rutgers team. The Scarlet Knights did, at least, look decent last week against USC. We have also already seen Howard this year doing pretty much nothing against Indiana two weeks ago (really! They had 57 yards of offense and four first downs). If Rutgers can’t win this they will not win all year.  Rutgers 48, Howard 7

Northwestern (2-0) at #5 Indiana (3-0) 8pm, FOX

The Hoosiers have to play a real team this week, and Northwestern is looking interesting on offense thanks to Chip Kelly. Indiana has not been tested at all through three games, while Northwestern has already had a weekend off. Is the revamped offense enough to make this game competitive? Maybe for a little while. Indiana 45, Northwestern 20

Saturday

Illinois (2-1) at #7 Ohio State (2-1) B1G NUDE SATURDAY, FOX

Purdue has a real chance at an actual Big Ten win against Illinois in Chambana next week as long as Notre Dame leaves something resembling a football team. This is technically a rivalry game for a trophy and everything, but the Buckeyes are to the point where only about 5 teams in the country can beat them unless they play a horrid game. Illinois is not one of those five teams. Ohio State 45, Illinois 10

UCLA (3-0, 1-0) at Maryland (2-1) 1:30pm, BTN

UCLA is a sneaky good team that is running the ball like a service academy. Wayne Knight had his way with the Purdue defense last week and most of the rest of his unit did pretty well too. Now the only battle is traveling across the country for a game that starts at 10:30am on the Bruins’ natural rhythm. UCLA 31, Maryland 21

#3 Notre Dame (3-0) at Purdue (1-2) 2pm, Peacock

Purdue is a four TD underdog at home, but I think the offense is good enough to at least prevent the Irish from covering. Ryan Browne has been a pleasant surprise and now he has receivers that can actually catch footballs thrown their way. That defense though… woof. I have absolutely no faith in Purdue to get a third or fourth downs top regardless of defense, which is sad. If we had any form of defense whatsoever Purdue might be 3-0 right now. Notre Dame 52, Purdue 28

#17 Iowa (3-0) at #18 Michigan (3*-0) 3:30pm, CBS

I originally thought this would be a defensive struggle that wouldn’t have more than 30 points score, but Iowa has been relatively competent on offense. They also have given up just 13 points on the season, all to Iowa State in their only close game. I really don’t know what to think about Michigan. The defense is really good, but the offense took a while to get going last week against UTEP. Iowa 21, Michigan 17

Wisconsin (2-1) at #13 Penn State (3-0) 5pm, Peacock

Will the real Wisconsin please stand up? The Badgers have blown out Western Illinois and Eastern Michigan the last two weeks, but they were blown out in a pseudo-home game against Notre Dame in week one. Penn State is at home though, and shouldn’t have any trouble. Penn State 37, Wisconsin 17

Nebraska (3-0) at Michigan State (2-1) 5pm, BTN

Michigan State is one of the few teams in the Big Ten that, top to bottom, might be worse than Purdue. It is just unfortunate that we don’t play them. They hung with Notre Dame last week a little, but I think that is more Notre Dame just going through the motions than anything else. Jamal Rule is averaging over 100 yards per game on the ground for the Huskers and should have a good day. Nebraska 41, Michigan State 24

#20 Oregon (2-1) at #12 USC (4-0) 7:30pm, ESPN

Is this an early “Loser Leaves Town” matchup for a playoff spot? Oregon is already on thin ice for their loss at Oklahoma State, while USC struggled with lowly Rutgers last week. The Trojans still have to go to Penn State and Indiana while hosting Ohio State, so this is pretty much a must-win conference opener since they are playing at home. USC 38, Oregon 34

Minnesota (2-1) at Washington (3-0) 11pm, FOX

Here is this week’s late night game on the west coast, and this time it a long way for the boat to row to Lake Washington. Minnesota was flattened by Mississippi State in the only real test they have had to this point, but PJ Fleck can get this team going. Washington was shaky vs. a bad Utah State team, too, so this could get fun after dark. Washington 27, Minnesota 21

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