During the summer, talking heads were weighing this question: Who was better: The Big 10 East or the SEC West? In retrospect, this was as funny as any utterance ever from Dave Letterman or Jay Leno.
Saturday was probably an all-time downer for the Big 10 in non-conference play. The Associated Press poll started in 1936. On Saturday, the Big 10 suffered the embarassment of losing to more unranked teams on any date since the AP started tallying opinions (we grant the skewness of this stat since we are now talking of the Big 14).
There were so many lowlights, it is hard to know exactly where to start. In an early game, winless Temple ventured to unbeaten Maryland. To make matters worse for the Owls, they were without Frank Nutile, their starting QB. No matter. Temple pounded Maryland, 35-14, recording 7 sacks and limiting the Terps to 195 yards of offense. In what would be a recurring theme, Maryland’s offense scored 0 of their two touchdowns against a team that had allowed FCS Villanova 405 yards. Startling how many touchdowns in Big 10 games were scored by defense and special teams.
When Nebraska’s freshman wonderkind QB, Adrian Martinez, did not go against Troy, the Huskers’ 2nd straight nonconference loss was understandable. Nebraska actually a 100+-yard edge in offense but a Troy punt return for a touchdown was key in the Trojans’ 24-19 upset win.
The most pitiful loss was probably by Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights managed to be routed 55-14 by traditionally even more pitiful Kansas. Like Maryland, to even get to a paltry 14 points, they needed a special teams touchdown.
The most consequential loss was BYU’s 24-21 upset at Madison. Many thought the Badgers were prime playoff material. But losing to a BYU team fresh off a loss to Cal is going to go tabbed by the committee as a bad loss. Kiss the playoffs goodbye, Wisconsin. Hard to see Bucky winning at Michigan, at Iowa, at Penn State and then in the Big 10 title game.
On Saturday night, after all these Big 10 travesties had been processed, normalcy seemed to return to Evanston — at least for a half. Northwestern’s Clayton Thorson threw a TD pass just before halftime to give the Wildcats a 21-3 lead over Akron. Somehow, Akron scored three defensive touchdowns in the 2nd half to shock a team, 39-34, that had won 10 games in 2017. For Akron, it was their first win against a Big 10 member since a 1894 win over Ohio State. The Zips were called Buchtel College and their coach was none other than legendary John Heisman.
Even Michigan looked somewhat lethargic against SMU. A 36-point favorite, the Wolverines were only winning 14-7 with 17 seconds to go in the 1st half before a 73-yard interception return touchdown by Josh Metellus totally changed the complexion of the game. The Maize and Blue are surely not all the way back.
Michigan State’s upset loss in the desert a week ago looks worse now as Arizona State succumbed to a Mountain West team, San Diego State, on Saturday night.
True, Ohio State looked quite good in their 40-28 win over TCU, featuring two defensive touchdowns. They may well get bored playing the Big 10 schedule. After all, there is only so much lipstick you can put on a pig.