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Did You See That? Week 3 in the Big Ten and On Kicking Asses

J Money

College football is now a constant bender of awesomeness and adrenaline on Saturdays. That is, aside from Purdue’s games. The happenings around college football at once both remind of why I love the game and the season, but also that my program is barely playing the same sport. Let’s look around at what went down… because it was tasty. Big Ten

UNC 48, Illinois 14 – Well, so much for the theory that Illinois stepped right into lucky sh-t with Bill Cubit. UNC is not a very good program and they absolutely had their way with the Illini like Mrs. Boilerdowd does with B-dowd after the latter has a couple of appletinis.

Maryland 35, South Florida 17 – Maryland rebounded from the pasting they took at the hands of Purdue’s next opponent, Bowling Green, by thumping the Bulls, who also aren’t very good.

Michigan 28, UNLV 7 – Michigan did to a now 0-3 UNLV squad that their program is expected to do. They won without leaving any doubt. And yet it seems like cause for celebration. As the coaches headed to midfield for the handshake, the D-level Big Ten Network announcer said breathlessly, “Is Michigan football back?” After beating a lousy Rebels team? Uh, sure.

Michigan State 35, Air Force 21 – It wasn’t even that close, as the Spartans continued mauling everyone in their path.

Minnesota 10, Kent State 7 – So the team that go absolutely pasted by Illinois hung tough against the Gophers. Kent QB Colin Reardon was a sizzling 10/28 for 63 yards. Minnesota’s Mitch Leidner was only marginally better with 184 yards and a TD and two picks. The Golden Flashes only having 142 total yards was a contributing factor to this mind-numbingly awful game.

Northwestern 19, Duke 10 – In the battle of the Burberry scarf-wearing alumni, the Cats took this one. Northwestern quietly moved to 3-0, despite their QB Clayton Thorson putting up an Appleby-like line of 9/23 for 70 yards and two picks. Northwestern was outgained and had two turnovers, but Duke had three and Fitz continues doing what seems to be a mystery at Purdue.

Miami 36, Nebraska 33 – Hey, Husker fans, 9+ wins a year is starting to sound good, isn’t it? Wait, what am I saying? Is there internet in Nebraska yet? In a game perfect for fanbases living in the past, the Huskers played their old nemesis, the Hurricanes. After falling behind 17-0 after one quarter and 33-10 with under nine minutes to go, Al Golden’s tie officially cut off the circulation to his brain and Tommy Armstrong led Big Red back with three touchdown passes in the final eight minutes. And then Armstrong threw a terrible interception in OT on their first posssssion. Miami hung on and Nebraska is 1-2. Do you know the last time they were 1-2? 1981. I looked it up myself. And I’m tired now because that was a lot to comb through.

Ohio State 20, Northern Illinois 13 – The Buckeyes looked listless in their uninspired win over the Huskies. Cardale Jones was ineffective (4/9, 36 yards, two picks – what was it with bad QB play across the Big Ten games this weekend?) and so JT Barrett came in to save the day. Of course, if he hadn’t, I’m sure the Bucks had another 3 or 4 QBs waiting on the bench. Why was OSU so flat? Maybe Urban used his special mic to give the pregame pep talk. (Man, that is a dull commercial… and who is Urban talking to? Everyone in class over the PA?)

Wisconsin 28, Troy 3 – Solid scheduling, Wisconsin. There are those who don’t think Paul Chryst is all that good. This one proved nothing.

Indiana 38, Western Kentucky 35 – Laugh all you want at IU’s schedule or their narrow victories or their porous defense. They’re 3-0 and only need to go 3-6 the rest of the way to make a bowl game.

Penn State 28, Rutgers 3 – Rutgers is a program in a tailspin and that’s James Franklin’s specialty. Meanwhile, during the night game and solid atmosphere in Happy Valley, the fans could be heard chanting “We’re not rivals.” I don’t even get this one. Is that a dig on Rutgers? Or is it that you’re proud that your program really doesn’t have any rivals because no one likes you all? Is that it? Yeah, we’ll go with that.

Iowa 27, Pittsburgh 24 – Iowa in recent years has been threatening to become the Pitt of the Big Ten. You know, the program that always finds a way to twist its ankle. Fortunately for them, they were playing the real Pitt. The Panthers only had 55 yards rushing but were able to tie the game on an exciting drive in the final minutes, scoring with 52 seconds to go. Iowa moved the ball into Pitt territory and then won it on a 57 yard field goal. And as I said on twitter, I’m jealous of this pretty great environment:

   

Elsewhere

Texas Tech 35, Arkansas 24 – Arkansas slipped to 1-2, having played all three games at home. In fact, the Razorbacks only go on the road four times this season. That’s pretty slick if you can get it. The big story in this game, though, was Kliff Kingsbury’s red ass regarding Bret Bielema:  

Well, if you didn’t already like Kliff, that should help. And if Charlie Strong can ever get his act together at Texas, it’s gonna be fun in the Lone Star state. Kingsbury at Tech, Strong at UT, Patterson at TCU and Sumlin at A&M.

Oregon 61, Georgia State 28 – I’ve been saying it now for a bit… Oregon’s defense is a problem. They just gave up 28 to George State and gave up 42 to Eastern Washington in Week 1. Those are their wins. They won’t be around come CFB Playoff time.

LSU 45, Auburn 21 – Auburn got the living crap kicked out of them this weekend and yet only fell to 25th in the coaches poll. Nah, no SEC bias there.

Notre Dame 30, Georgia Tech 22 – The Yellow Jackets let us all down by sleepwalking through the first three quarters of their match in South Bend. They came to life late, but it’s hard to erase a 30-7 deficit in the final minute. In this game, former Purdue commit Drue Tranquill tore his ACL and is out for the season. He did it by doing a leaping chest bump with his teammate and coming down awkwardly.

Ole Miss 43, Alabama 37 – I still am unclear on why this game had to start at 9:15 PM, but regardless, Ole Miss was ready for it. Seeing Lane Kiffin and Nick Saban debating what to do next while getting whipped at home never gets old. The Tide came on late but the #surrendercobras were already out:

And it's not just the surrender cobras. Look at the nervous/agitated energy of the guy in the tie to the right. Speaking of which.... who wears a necktie to a sporting event? What is this, 1940?

Arizona 77, Northern Arizona 13 – The Wildcats used five second quarter touchdowns to put this one away. I guess Rich Rodriguez learned how to coach, eh Michigan?

Cal 45, Texas 44 – In what turned out to be a far more entertaining game than it had any right to be, the Longhorns were a home ‘dog in a non-con game for the first time in almost 20 years. It looked like the right move for a while, as Cal went from down 24-14 in the second quarter to up 45-24 entering the fourth. Then Texas came to life and stormed back with three TDs, including Jerrod Heard’s 45 yard sprint with 1:11 remaining. While still celebrating the score on the sideline – and there were some great gifs of UT players dancing as the extra point was attempted – Nick Rose shanked the extra point worse than Boilerdowd off the tee. You could argue maybe this shows Texas is nearing where they need to be to be back in business.