Big Ten Wednesday (Thursday)

Well it appears that Big Ten Wednesday has become Big Ten Thursday once again. I will attribute that to my laziness.

Speaking of laziness, I present to you the week 4 Big Ten schedule. It consists of eight games against MAC school, two games against FCS school (Illinois is off) an even Nebraska plays FCS South Dakota State. I cannot remember a worse non-conference weekend. I will not waste your time and mine by trying to break down these games other than I think that all 11 games are Big Ten winners (including Nebraska) and that Michigan (Bowling Green) and Penn State (Temple) are in the most peril for an upset.

Week three gave us even less clarity on the Big Ten power rankings as the gap between two and six is getting smaller. I do feel vindicated for my placement of Michigan at seven (where they will stay). Also, my intent was to stay up long enough to make Iowa my feature team of the week. But alas, I could not stay up that long. So instead I will break down Michigan State, who won a heart-stopper (sorry bad pun. Seriously Mark D. Get well soon. We all want you back on the sidelines ASAP; our thoughts and prayers are with you) against Notre Dame on Saturday.

1 Ohio State: Right now the Buckeyes are in another league than the rest of the conference. This is not to say that they are not capable of losing, or that they could compete with an Alabama. But they are playing some of the best football on the planet right now and should go into the Wisconsin game on October 16 undefeated.

2 Wisconsin: The Badgers get this spot by default, primarily because they won and Iowa did not. But the Badgers need to show more consistency on offense than they did at home against Arizona State. As usual, the Badgers play a mildly ambitious non-conference schedule, so we know a good deal more about them than most teams. With that said, Wisconsin has a lot of work to do before October 16.

3 Iowa: The Hawkeyes continued their string of poor performances on west coast trips with a loss to Arizona. The vaunted Iowa defense had another on of its first half lapses that we have seen many times over the last two seasons. Iowa has some great NFL-caliber talent on that defense, and they may have the best defensive line in the game. But the bottom finally fell out Saturday night, and the offense was unable to recover. This unit needs to work on it's chemistry or competent offenses will continue to have their way in the first half of games.

Featured Big Ten Team of the Week
4 Michigan State
The Spartans are an interesting team. They have a lot of talent on both sides of the ball. Maybe more than people expected going into the year. But the primary problem is inconsistency. For instance, on offense against Notre Dame, when MSU scored, they scored quickly, and efficiently. But other times, the offense really sputtered. Case in point, when Brian Kelly gave MSU a gift by going for it on fourth down at midfield with 6 minutes left, MSU could not move the ball and squandered the opportunity. Better ball control offenses, such as Wisconsin and Northwestern should be able to keep the MSU offense off the field, thus limiting its opportunities to be explosive and increasing the chances of winning.

On the other side of the ball, we saw the same problem. Notre Dame had some occasions when they moved the ball right over MSU, for instance the drive that lead to the go ahead TD at the end of the third / beginning of the fourth quarter. But at other times, the pressure of the front seven is dominating. Jones and his crew up front will cover up a lot of holes in the secondary. And weaker offenses will crumble under the pressure. But veteran and composed quarterbacks that can get into a rhythm will be able to score on these guys.

MSU will receive a great deal of residual benefit from the events of Saturday night and Sunday morning. In addition to the emotional lift of a great win, the confidence in Dantonio is at an all time high. Add to that a win one for coach attitude, and this could be a dangerous team, notwithstanding their on field issues.

T-5 Penn State: The Nits have just been downright unimpressive, which why they were relegated to a tie for fifth.  In their two "easy" games, the offense looked lost in the first halves, before turning it on in the second half.  And against Alabama, PSU was just outclassed at every position.  This is not to say that they do not have the talent to be among the top five in the league; but they have certainly underachieved their way to this spot.

T-5 Northwestern: The most impressive thing about the Wildcats season has been how well Vanderbilt has played; thus justifying, in some ways, the close game in Nashville.  NU has just played solid on both sides of the ball.  The running game will continue to be the Achilles heel, but the distance between Northwestern and Wisconsin in the power rankings is shrinking every week.

7 Michigan: Michigan's porous secondary reared its ugly head once again against Massachusetts, demonstrating that regardless of the play of Denard Robinson, this team is not quite ready for prime time.  There is no doubt that it will outscore teams.  But against teams with a legit defense and a competent offense, Michigan will have a difficult time keeping it close.  DR is still the most fun player to watch in the conference right now.

T-8 Purdue:Notre Dame, it has limped along against two MAC schools.  What was expected to be a potent offense has been a little slow.  The loss of Smith for the year has not helped much.

T-8 Indiana Despite the fact that they have not played anyone with a pulse, the Indiana offense has been pretty exciting to watch.  Chappell was the Big Ten Player of the Week in Week 3.  This team is strikingly similar to last year, and I do not know whether the end record will be any different.  But at the very least they will be fun to watch.

10 Minnesota: The Gophers played admirably against USC on Saturday.  Pretty good for a team that they did not even belong on the field with.  Maybe it is a home field advantage, maybe just the excitement of playing USC, but that first half might be the highlight of the season.

11 Illinois: It is going to continue to be a long season.  Saturday might be their last win.

X Nebraska: Are the Huskers that good or is Washington that bad?  Either way, their Freshman QB is amazing to watch and will give Big Ten defenses fits for the next three years.

Go Cats!