Penn State and USC go down, Iowa trends up: Recapping Week 4 of Big Ten football

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After a close Friday night game between Indiana and Northwestern in Bloomington, many Hoosier faithful were hoping for a slate of Saturday games that would overshadow Friday’s contest. For those fans, Saturday certainly delivered.

In the early afternoon slate, the Iowa Hawkeyes delivered Michigan’s first or second loss of the year, depending on who you ask. Reece Vander Zee caught a 16-yard touchdown pass from Hawkeye quarterback Hank Brown to beat Kyle Whittingham’s Michigan as time expired.

Not only did that result avenge Western Michigan, but it put the Wolverines very much in the “suspect” category, with a win against Oklahoma that’s aging worse every week. Kirk Ferentz showed the nation that Michigan is not a miracle team with enough fight for 60 minutes and one extra second of football, it’s just as vulnerable as it was in Week 1.

Later in the day, then-No. 12 USC fell to then-No. 20 Oregon, an upset on paper but maybe not for those who had Oregon within the preseason top five. The 41-27 victory over the Trojans was much closer to what people expected from Oregon preseason, and, for the wrong reasons, exactly what a lot of people expected from USC.

Completely setting aside the dirty hit and unsportsmanlike behavior after (and whatever that may reflect about the program’s culture), this was a bad loss for Lincoln Riley. He’s had USC in the Pretty Good range for a while now without getting a signature win to break through in a way that’s eerily reminiscent of James Franklin.

Speaking of, No. 13 Penn State suffered the first loss of the Matt Campbell era, blowing a lead at home to a Wisconsin program that hasn’t had much to cheer about in years. The comeback was Wisconsin’s first road win against a ranked team since it beat No. 25 Purdue (lol) in 2021.

While the last game doesn’t impact Indiana, the other two games will not help the Hoosier’s strength of schedule. Michigan and USC made up 50% of Indiana’s preseason ranked opponents, and while USC is still ranked, Michigan is not and will have a hard time cracking the top 25 between now and then.

Winning out, particularly in blowout fashion, was an effective way to quiet the strength of schedule questions last year, but counting on perfection is a fool’s errand. Indiana would be well served if Michigan and USC stop losing, no matter how funny it is to watch.

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