The third week of the Big Ten season saw a few surprises and the continued emergence of the Northwestern Wildcats and quarterback Peyton Ramsey.
Here is a look at some of the action around the conference.
1. Northwestern is making some magic happen in the West
It has been 25 years since Northwestern put together a team worthy of the Rose Bowl, and this year’s team truly appears to be something special.
The Wildcats improved to 3-0 in the Big Ten Saturday with a 21-13 come from behind victory over Nebraska.
Former Indiana starting quarterback Peyton Ramsey had a tough go of it in the first half, as he threw for only 51 yards and had two interceptions, but he found his way in the second half, throwing for 118 yards and two scores and adding 26 yards with his legs.
But as good as Ramsey has been this season, Northwestern’s defense has been giving coach Pat Fitzgerald everything he wants and then some. The former linebacker saw his unit hold Nebraska to three field goal attempts in the first half and it recorded multiple takeaways.
Northwestern sits atop the Big Ten West standings, but we will know a lot more about this team after this week when they take on Purdue, a team that had a week to prepare after its game against Wisconsin was canceled due to Covid-19 issues at Wisconsin.
2. Ohio State continues to win, Penn State struggles
The winning ways continued for the Buckeyes, while it is anything but happy times in Happy Valley for Penn State.
Ohio State capitalized with an explosive second quarter to propel the Buckeyes to a 49-27 victory over Rutgers in the Horseshoe.
Quarterback Justin Fields threw for three touchdown passes in the first half and was 24-of-28 for 314 yards and five touchdowns in the win. Wide receiver Garrett Wilson went over 100 yards for the third consecutive game, recording 104 yards and a score.
After the game, Fields told reporters he was surprised to be playing as late into the game as he did.
“I don’t think anybody did, to be honest. I think we let up too many points in the second half,” said Fields, who guided the Buckeyes to a 35-3 halftime edge.
Rutgers, however, had other plans, going for 290 yards in the second half.
Ohio State coach Ryan Day told the media he was not pleased with the lack of focus from his team in the second half.
“And then in the second half, we just didn’t play very great. We should have really dominated the first five or six minutes of the second half and then allow some of our other guys to get in the game, and that didn’t happen. So that’s something we got to get back and work on and look to close out,” Day said.
While Ohio State improved to 3-0, Penn State fell to 0-3 after getting trounced by Maryland, 35-19.
The Terps held a 28-7 halftime advantage as quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa was 18-of-26 for 282 yards and three touchdowns. In the last six quarters, he has thrown for 640 yards and eight touchdowns.
For Maryland, who improved to 2-1, it marked just the third win in the 44-game series and first since 2015.
For Penn State, the Nittany Lions dropped to 0-3 for the first time since 2001 and appear to be a program in disarray.
Quarterback Sean Clifford told the media after the loss Penn State has a lot to figure out.
“We are an 0-3, poor performing football team right now, and we need to change that. We need to figure it out, because it’s unacceptable to ourselves, the program, the coaches, the fans. It’s unacceptable. We got to figure this out,” said Clifford, who was 27-of-57 for 340 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.
3. Michigan State struggles against Iowa
A week ago, Michigan State looked like they were turning the tide with first year head coach Mel Tucker, knocking off Michigan 27-24.
In that game, quarterback Rocky Lombardi threw for 323 yards and three touchdowns on 17-of-32 passing, while receiver Ricky White hauled in 8 catches for 196 yards.
However, against Iowa, the Spartans fell behind 35-0 at the half en route to a 49-7 setback to drop to 1-2 on the season.
The Hawkeyes set the tone immediately, racking up 206 of its 209 first half yards on its first four drives. In the game, Iowa rolled up 405 yards of total offense, with 226 yards coming on the ground.
For MSU, Lombardi was 17-of-37 for 227 yards, three interceptions and no touchdowns. The Spartans finished with 59 yards and a 1.8 per carry average against Iowa on the ground.
Iowa managed to turn the three turnovers into 14 points.
“We have a tremendous amount of work to do. We have to get tougher, we have to be more physical and we have to play smarter. Consistency in performance is how you become successful. You got to sustain performance. Right now, it was inconsistent. And this is the result you get,” Tucker told the media after the loss.
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