Ohio State escaped Bloomington with its unbeaten Big Ten run intact, but the bigger question hanging over the Buckeyes is whether the price was too steep. Julian Sayin’s elbow injury could keep him out for the year, even after the No.
3 Buckeyes survived Indiana on a play that came down to a foot being out of bounds. With a bye week now in front of them, Ohio State has time to sort out Luke Fahey and get ready for the trip to Los Angeles.
Indiana was inches away from flipping the entire weekend. Nick Marsh couldn’t get his foot down late on the kind of catch the Hoosiers have seemed to make forever, and instead their winning streak ended by a foot. It was a brutal finish for a team that had built a habit of pulling off the difficult stuff.
UCLA, meanwhile, just keeps rolling. The Bruins moved to 6-0 with a 17-7 win over Wisconsin, a score that actually made the Badgers look a little better than they were. Wisconsin managed just a shade over 200 yards of offense, and the Bruins now head into a home stretch that could carry all the way to an undefeated game against USC at the end of the season.
Iowa also took a step forward in this strange league, and the Hawkeyes are back from a bye with Jeremy Hecklinski set to start over Hank Brown. Their schedule opens into a run of tough but manageable games, which means they may still be hanging around the playoff picture late. That, apparently, is a conversation worth having with the kids.
USC comes off its bye and goes right into a demanding road trip to Wisconsin on Saturday night. The Trojans have not exactly loved heading east, and after Madison they still have Ohio State on Halloween. Lincoln Riley doesn’t exactly get a breather.
Northwestern stayed put in the rankings after slipping past Pat Fitzgerald’s old team in the rain, 24-21. The Wildcats now get Rutgers next, which looks manageable on paper, but the stretch after that is brutal: at Oregon, Iowa, and at Ohio State.
Oregon remains a headache to place. The Ducks kept their season alive with a wild win over Nebraska, and Dylan Raiola - coming off one of the worst statistical games in recent history in the loss to UCLA - led the winning drive against his former team.
The next stop is Champaign, where Oregon will try to claw back into the playoff race. There was also a rumor floating around Eugene about drag racing on Sunday morning and one player getting popped for a DUI.
Michigan finally got its first conference win, knocking off Penn State in Ann Arbor. But now the Wolverines have Indiana coming to town, and that means facing an angry Hoosiers team that probably believes it should be sitting on a 23-game winning streak. The Bryce Underwood situation also looks finished, and there’s still the matter of teams allegedly already reaching out about a transfer.
Minnesota comes off a bye to host Iowa, and the Gophers are about to find out whether they were looking ahead to this one after not seeming fully locked in against Purdue. Washington, after getting blown out by Iowa, bounced back with a strange one at Purdue: they were minus-3 in turnovers, still piled up nearly 500 yards of offense, and held the Boilermakers under 100 rushing yards after Purdue had run wild on Minnesota the week before.
Wisconsin’s loss to UCLA was a reality check, and things don’t get easier with USC coming to town Saturday night before a Halloween trip to Iowa City. Nebraska’s collapse, though, was the kind that leaves a mark. The Huskers could easily be 7-0, but instead they found another way to lose in the late stages, and this time Dylan Raiola was the one leading the winning drive for Oregon.
Illinois sits at 3-3 after a down-the-middle placement here, while Purdue drops after getting exposed by Washington’s offense and failing to make the turnovers matter. Michigan State couldn’t close the door against Northwestern, and now the Spartans have to travel to the hottest team in the league in UCLA.
Penn State gets a week off, which it probably badly needs after a rough start to conference play. Rutgers finally got into the win column, and Maryland’s situation reached the end of the road, with Mike Locksley out after losing 20 of his last 22 Big Ten games. That move, as noted, probably should have happened a year ago.
In Other News...
Iowa Heads Into Minnesota With More Riding On This Rivalry Than Usual
Iowas trip to Minneapolis for the 120th meeting with Minnesota comes with a little extra weight attached, even for a rivalry that has lasted more than a century. The Hawkeyes arrive off a win over Washington, while Minnesota is trying to steady itself after a loss to Purdue, and both sides know this one can shift the tone of the season in a hurry.
The setting only adds to the usual Big Ten grit, with rain and wind expected to be part of the backdrop. Iowa has controlled the series lately, winning nine of the last 10 matchups, even though Minnesota still holds the historical edge at 63-54-2, which is part of what makes this rivalry feel a little different every time it comes around. [Read more 🡒]
Iowa Faces One Huge Floyd Of Rosedale Test On Defense
Minnesota brings a more varied offense into the Floyd of Rosedale matchup than Iowa typically wants to see, and that makes this one a real stress test for the Hawkeyes on that side of the ball. Drake Lindsey gives the Gophers a different kind of challenge at quarterback, while wideouts Javon Tracy and Noah Jennings add another layer of concern for a defense that will be trying to control the game the way it usually prefers.
The run game matters just as much, with Darius Taylor and TJ Thomas giving Minnesota options to keep the pressure off Lindsey and force Iowa to handle multiple threats snap after snap. For the Hawkeyes, the task is less about any one player and more about whether they can stay disciplined against a rivalry opponent that has enough talent to make mistakes costly, especially if Minnesota starts finding answers to the looks Iowa uses most often. [Read more 🡒]
Former Hawkeyes Made Their Presence Felt All Over The NFL
Week 6 turned into another reminder of how many former Hawkeyes are making their mark on Sundays. George Kittle was productive for San Francisco with five catches and a touchdown, Tory Taylor helped tilt field position for Chicago with punts that set up a fumble recovery, and Amani Hooker was all over the field for Tennessee with 13 tackles and an interception.
The rest of the week was just as busy for Iowa alumni scattered across the league, with contributions showing up in different roles and different game situations. For Hawkeyes fans, it was the kind of NFL snapshot that reinforces how wide the programs footprint remains, even when the box scores tell only part of the story. [Read more 🡒]