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Big Ten Football: The Sunday Morning Recap

Posted By: DJ Hoyt

Iowa thumps Maryland in battle of undefeated teams, leading to showdown with Penn State

The Lead

There is a refrigerator magnet my parents have showing a dog playing fetch, and holding multiple tennis balls in his mouth. The caption on the magnet reads, “If it’s worth doing… it’s worth overdoing.”

I feel this could be unofficial motto of the Iowa defense.

The Hawkeyes recorded seven turnovers against Maryland on Friday night, on their way to a 51-14 victory. Of those seven turnovers, six were interceptions. It wasn’t just one guy on the Iowa defense wrecking havoc for the secondary, as all six interceptions were recorded by a different player.

Some analysts that cover the sport talk about how you cannot factor in turnovers into game predictions. That turnovers are too much of a fluke occurrence to be relied upon for an accurate game preview. I do subscribe to that way of thinking, but through five games Iowa is averaging three takeaways a game. According to ESPN stats tracker, the Hawkeyes have 12 interceptions and three fumble recoveries this year.

It feels like moving forward you can assume Iowa is going record at least one, if not more, takeaways in a game.

Lost in all this defensive talk is the fact that Iowa also put together a balanced offensive attack that saw the Hawkeyes put up 428 yards on Maryland. It’s the most yards they have put up all season, and ended the game averaging 5.4 yards per play.

For at least one night, Iowa truly looked like the top dog in the West. With the way their defense is playing, they don’t need some elite offense to also shoulder the load. They just need the offense to play a complimentary role. Friday night, they certainly did.

For Maryland, this is a slight setback. Slight because no one picked Maryland to challenge the top programs in the Big Ten just yet. That doesn’t mean Mike Locksley and company didn’t want to perform better on a bigger stage, but this is a reminder just how far they still have to go in building this program into a contender.

Lastly, for Iowa, this is a great way to enter into their biggest match up of the year. In what may be a preview of the Big Ten Championship Game, Iowa will host Penn State in what will certainly be the game of the week for all the major networks.

Speaking of Penn State…

Penn State Exorcises The Last 2020 Demon

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I and others have covered enough the talking point of Penn State rebounding from 2020. However, their was one last thing to do in order to symbolically move one. Avenge the loss that started it all against Indiana.

Saturday night Penn State did just that, beating IU 24-0.

In some ways it played out perfectly for PSU. After winning only four games in 2020, they beat the team that sent them on their initial slide to last year, and improved to 5-0.

Even with the start that Penn State has had, some still doubt how good this team is.

It’s a take that I find somewhat surprising. It would not have surprised me to see the Nittany Lions come out week one and struggle, and they did on offense at least. However, this team is growing each week and trending in an upward direction in my mind.

Unlike Wisconsin, who certainly appears to be trending downward, Penn State is becoming more efficient on offense as they continue to learn under first year offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich. Defensively, the Nittany Lions will become a top ten scoring defense when the NCAA updates their stats from this week.

Heck, Auburn just beat LSU in a battle of 3-1 teams. However, maybe LSU sucks too. They lost to UCLA, and UCLA isn’t good because they lost Fresno State. Fresno State isn’t good because they lost to Oregon. And we now know Oregon isn’t good because they just lost to Stanford. Does this mean Ohio State is worse than all these teams now?

Point is, if you want to doubt Penn State still, fine. To me, in a year where it feels like only Georgia and Alabama are safe, it says something to me when you go out each week and take care of business.

In week six, Penn State can effectively end this debate if they go into Iowa and come out with a win. If that happens and doubters still linger, it will just feel like a trolling attempt.

It’s Not How You Start…

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When the year began, Nebraska dropped their opening contest against Illinois and the doomsday articles came out about where to go next after Frost is fired. A pair of wins against lesser competition helped ease the pain of that loss to a degree, but it continued to linger over the program.

Oddly enough, hope for the season would actually come from their next loss.

Nebraska went into Norman, Oklahoma and came within a touchdown of upsetting the #3 Sooners. The mood was, though they lost, the team showed the type of effort and execution that is needed to win at this level.

The following week, Nebraska took #20 Michigan State to OT, before falling to the Spartans. Again though, the team didn’t look over matched.

Yesterday, Nebraska routed Northwestern, 56-7. It was a game where if you were a fan of the Huskers, you wanted to see that same level of effort and execution you saw the prior two weeks. Forget about Northwestern being bad this year, good teams don’t play down to their competition.

Nebraska still has a ways to go to be considered good, but Husker fans have reason to hold onto hope once again that brighter days are just around the corner.

Similar to Nebraska, Ohio State fans are waking up Sunday with a feeling of hope as well.

At the start of the year, Ohio State’s defense was about as useful as a screen door on a submarine. It felt like holes were everywhere with the unit, and the only consistency fans got from the defense was consistently bad play.

Things came to a head in week two when OSU lost to Oregon and was exposed on defense repeatedly. The performance was so bad, Ryan Day stripped defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs of his play calling duties. Instead, secondary coach Matt Barnes would assume that responsibility.

The following week, the OSU defense would still struggle against Tulsa, giving up 428 yards passing. Judgement wasn’t going to be made in the week the change occurred, but the performance didn’t ease concerns either.

The Buckeyes would beat Akron easily in week four, but it was Akron. The worst team in the MAC.

Rutgers was going to be the first true measuring stick for this team, post defensive shakeup. I think anyone that watched the game would say they measured up well.

Ohio State beat Rutgers 52-13, holding the Scarlet Knights to 346 total yards. The defense also was opportunistic as they recorded three interceptions, returning one for a score.

It’s a defense that OSU fans will certainly be happy with. It also provides hope that they wont have to watch their explosive offense get sabotaged by an ineffective defense.

Tweets of the Week

Players of the Week

Offense:

Chase Brown – RB – Illinois

Chase Brown ran himself into the Illinois record books on Saturday. Brown ran for 257 yards on 26 carries, adding 2 touchdowns along the way. His performance was the fourth best single rushing day in Illini history. Illinois needed it too, as he was instrumental to their 24-14 win over Charlotte.

Defense:

Iowa – Defense

Yea, this is cheating I know. However, if your group records seven turnovers against an opponent, everyone gets the award. Take a bow guys.

Tuesday’s Post

How Scott Frost can change the narrative this Saturday.