Creepin' The B1G: Week 3 Recap

North Carolina 48, Illinois 14

Former PSU recruit Ryan Switzer scored a pair of touchdowns for North Carolina, one coming on an 85-yard punt return. The Tar Heels controlled the game from the start, scoring 13 straight points and then--after Josh Ferguson rushed for a touchdown for the Illini--North Carolina scored 35 unanswered points. The Illini added a trash-time touchdown with less than a minute remaining to give the appearance that there were two teams competing on Saturday. For the Illini, the only player that played well was Ferguson, who ran for 133 yards on 22 carries. Each of the teams rushed for over 200 yards, with the Tar Heels gaining close to 500 to go along with 168 return yards by Switzer.

Michigan 28, UNLV 7

Michigan has rebounded from the opening-day loss to Utah with two consecutive wins. The game was never in doubt as the Wolverines scored four straight touchdowns. Sione Houma, fullback, rushed for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Harbaugh called offense the Michigan Way, with big, ugly running-backs wearing out the over-matched UNLV defense. Jake Butt caught two balls on the day for fourteen yards. The Running Rebels struggled on the day, managing just over 200 yards of offense as a team.

Minnesota 10, Kent St. 7

In this low-scoring affair, the Gophers managed to win ugly for the second time this year. Minnesota grabbed the early lead eight minutes into the game, adding a touchdown with one minute remaining in the first half, and held on from there. Kent State was held to just 63 yards passing on the day on 10 completions out of 28 tries by Colin Reardon. Matt Leidner played well enough to win for Jerry Kill, throwing for 184 yards and completing 17 of his 27 attempts. The players of the game were the punters, who combined for 17 total punts. If you like ugly football, you loved this game.

Michigan State 35, Air Force 21

Sparty is currently ranked #2 in the new polls, only trailing OSU in the rankings. Air Force scored the final two touchdowns in the game making this one appear much more competitive than it really was. The Spartans handled the option that Air Force features well enough to win but still gave up over 250 yards on the ground. Connor Cook served up 23 passing attempts and his teammates gobbled up 15 completions for a total of 247 yards. For Air Force, five players recorded 40 or more yards on the ground, which makes playing defense difficult even in winning efforts. Aaron Burbridge of MSU hauled in 8 receptions for 156 yards.

Maryland 35, South Florida 17

Caleb Rowe played quarterback for Maryland and had a solid performance with 21 completions on 33 attempts for 297 yards. South Florida rushed for well over 200 yards, but was unable to hold pace with the Terps. A key point in the game: with Maryland leading by four points in the second quarter, Rowe fumbled and Brandon Ross scooped it and scored for Maryland. This was a sign that things were going to go the Terps' way as Rowe added four touchdowns the the air to go with the fortunate touchdown on his fumble.

Northwestern 19, Duke 10

Duke had the lead 7-3 at the half, but Solomon Vault returned the second-half opening kickoff 98 yards for the Wildcats to bring the score to 10-7. Northwestern never trailed again, adding a field goal and a touchdown while allowing Duke another three points on a Jack Mitchell field goal. Northwestern is now 3-0 and ranked in the early-going of the season. After another ugly win, coach Pat Fitzgerald was quoted after the game saying "Everybody in the locker room is really not concerned with what other people think of us." Whatever makes it easier for you to get through life, coach, have at it. NW completed 39% of its pass attempts for just 70 yards but gained over 200 yards on the ground.

Virginia Tech 51, Purdue 24

Thankfully nobody ever goes back to see which teams the BSD writers picked to win after the fact. If they did, it would be very embarrassing for me, as I picked the Boilermakers to win. Early on things were going pretty well for the 1-2 Purdue team. Down 10-7 with the Hokies driving in for another score, Purdue picked up a fumble and ran it back 90 yards for the touchdown and a brief 14-10 lead. The game was tied 17-17 shortly before halftime, but the Hokies added a late first-half touchdown by new starting quarterback Brenden Motley. Tech would go on to score 27 consecutive points before Purdue added a touchdown to cut the deficit to 44-24 late in the fourth quarter.

Miami 36, Nebraska 33

Miami held a 23 point lead but Nebraska came back to force overtime. This loss is the second tough one for the Huskers, as it lost on a hail mary earlier in the season to BYU. Nebraska starts the season 1-2 but the team should not be overlooked moving forward, as it could just as easily be 3-0. Each team passed for more than 300 yards and rushed for well over 100 yards so it is hard to say that this was anything but a fair fight. The home Hurricanes simply scored last for the win. Rashawn Scott caught 9 balls for Miami for a total of 151 yards.

Ohio State 20, Northern Illinois 13

The seemingly unstoppable Ohio State offense was stoppable on Saturday. The passing attack was muted by the Northern Illinois squad, which held OSU to just 136 yards through the air. Fortunately for Urbz OSU was able to hold the opponent to 80 yards passing and less than 200 yards of total offense. Zeke Elliot eked out 108 yards, which was enough to hold the ball long enough to gain the Buckeye defense the rest it needed. The explosive Buckeye offense was held to just one play over 20 yards on the day, a 25 yard reception by Michael Thomas. The poor showing is likely what cost OSU some #1 votes in this week's polls.

Wisconsin 28, Troy 3

Wisconsin rushed for over 200 yards and scored a touchdown in each quarter, using a balance attack to defeat an over-matched Troy team. A delay due to a fire-alarm was the only thing that slowed the Badgers down all day. The team also passed for 202 yards as Joel Stave went 13-17 including a touchdown with no interceptions. 'Sconsin is now 2-1 and climbing in the polls. Troy struggled to gain yards on the ground but found some success through the air as Brandon Silvers threw for 174 yards completing 23 of his 34 attempts.

Indiana 38, Western Kentucky 35

WKU was ahead 28-17 at the half and things looked bleak for the Hoosiers. Indiana was able to right the ship after the half, scoring a touchdown on each of the first three possessions in the third quarter. WKU fought back, scoring a touchdown by little-respected Jared Dangerfield with under seven minutes remaining in the game. The Hoosiers were able to hold on, escaping with the win and a 3-0 record on the season. The teams combined for over 800 yards through the air and Indiana added another 286 on the ground. There was a missing persons alert for each team's defensive unit, we will update you later this week if anyone is able to locate the players.

Iowa 27, Pitt 24

The fighting Ferentzs stole this game with a late 57-yard field goal by Marshall Koehn. 5b managed to tie the game up with 1:09 left on the clock on a Tyler Boyd touchdown reception. It seemed like the teams were heading for extra football. Instead, with two seconds on the clock, Iowa broke poor Pat Narduzzi's little heart. It was the first loss on the season for the Panthers, and Iowa remains unbeaten at 3-0. 5b used special teams earlier in the game to knot the score at 17 on a blocked punt touchdown return by Pat Amara. Iowa held Pittsburgh to just 55 yards rushing.