At the end of Saturday, the Big 10 West has two very unlikely leaders: Purdue and Northwestern. Both were assumed to be among the also rans 8 days ago. Both have unexpected tail winds in their efforts to be the unlikely West winner (and probable sacrificial lamb to Ohio State in the Big 10’s championship tilt) We believe there is a 3rd entity sharing the West lead: Covid-19.
Wisconsin looked nothing less than fantastic in their opening demolition of Illinois. Graham Mertz, their redshirt stand-in for Jack Coan, was not perfect. In 21 passes, he actually threw one incompletion.
But with Wisconsin’s game today scraped with Nebraska and with next week’s Purdue showdown in Covid jeopardy, both the virus and the Big 10’s questionable decision not to have any bye dates have taken center stage.
Almost as bad for the Badgers, the ballyhooed Mertz will likely not be able to play at Michigan in two weeks. One small morsel of good news is that the Wolverines looked very human in their upset loss to their “little brother” today. Hopefully, the Badgers can play 6 games. If not, current rules render them ineligible to take on the Buckeye machine.
Northwestern and Purdue have also had to surmount hurdles in 2020. Northwestern literally went from the penthouse to the outhouse in 2019. They won the West in 2018 and then did a 1-8 faceplant in the Big Ten last year. In addition to getting the bad taste from 2019 out of their mouth, they had to rally from a 17-point deficit in Iowa City to nip the Hawkeyes, 21-20. Pat Fitzgerald once again showed his coaching brilliance as this was the 6th time since 2014 the Wildcats have surmounted 17-point deficits.
The dean of Big 10 coaches, Kirk Ferentz, is painfully aware of Fitzgerald’s coaching prowess. Saturday represented the 3rd consecutive time in Iowa City that the Hawkeyes held a halftime lead over NW, only to lose. With the latest comeback win, Fitzgerald increased his lifetime record against Iowa to an impressive 9-6.
Purdue has had to deal with the absence of their best player, the uber talented Rondale Moore. The Boilers’ Covid-positive coach, Jeff Brohm, was sidelined for Purdue’s opener. The Boilers did get a bit of Covid luck when the Illini starting QB, Brandon Peters, was a 12th-hour Covid scratch this morning.
Both co-leaders have been blessed with soft crossover schedules with the East as neither drew Ohio State, Penn State or Michigan.
Given Covid’s pronounced influence on the West, the Odyssey would like to amend one comment with all due respect to the Boilermakers and Wildcats. Covid-19 is the division’s undisputed leader.