Big Ten Superlatives: Week 4

Best Win of the Week: No. 6 Ohio State 17, No. 9 Notre Dame 14

With its back completely against the wall on Saturday night on the road against a Top 10 ranked team, Ohio State put together an unforgettable final drive that culminated with a touchdown run in the game’s final seconds. There’s probably a lot to be said about the way this one played out, but in the end, the Buckeyes stayed unbeaten in the night’s most talked about and watched game. Ryan Day also seemed unhinged in his focus on Lou Holtz, so that was fun.

Worst Loss of the Week: Minnesota loses three-touchdown lead in Evanston

The Golden Gopher boat hit rocky shores along Lake Michigan Saturday night. In a game that you likely didn’t watch one minute of in real time, the Gophers were outscored 21-0 in the fourth quarter at Ryan Field as Northwestern forced overtime. Then, Minnesota’s defense gave up a touchdown on the first play of Northwestern’s series, giving the Wildcats their first conference win since August 2022.

Offensive Player of the Week: Ben Bryant, Northwestern

Speaking of those Wildcats, transfer quarterback Ben Bryant had a breakout night. He passed for nearly 400 yards and four touchdowns with 10 of those passes (for 215 yards and two scores) going to Bryce Kirtz. This also acts as your first introduction to Northwestern players who you’ll know as Penn State plays in Evanston on Saturday.

Defensive Player of the Week: Penn State’s Defense

A repeat performance from last week, but you’re not tired of reading about them. Speaking of not being tired, the Lions defenders aren’t either. They were on the field for just 30-odd plays Saturday, something that is welcome as they head into Saturday with a bye week on the horizon. Keeping this group healthy and rested is key for a schedule that will get challenging in a few weeks.

Offensive Play of the Week: IU game winner in double overtime

Akron, better known as the Fightin’ Joe Moorheads, should have come away with a win in Bloomington against the Hoosiers. But, the Zips missed a field goal in the closing seconds of regulation and Indiana won via this two-point play in the game’s fourth overtime.

Defensive Play of the Week: Michigan Pick 6 ices game against Rutgers

Michigan faced an ealry deficit on Saturday, but ultimately scored 31 unanswered points for the win. It was a defensive play that really clinched things as Mike Sainristil intercepted a screen pass and returned it for a score to put the Wolverines up 24-7.

Most Big Ten Thing of the Week: Bad Television Schedule

The conference is ready for prime time, but maybe was a little too ready on Saturday night. Four of the conference’s eight games (Purdue and Wisconsin played on Friday night) were 7:30 p.m. kickoffs. Notre Dame/Ohio State was the game of the weekend, while the Whiteout is obviously a spectacle of its own. So why exactly did the conference have a pair of other games - especially a conference game with Minnesota traveling to Northwestern - going head to head with those? Meanwhile, why was there only game in the noon window? Just seemed to be odd scheduling and hard for me to keep track of things...Abe Simpson GIF inserted here.

Most Big Ten West Thing of the Week: Wisconsin moves to the tops

Tanner Mordecai had a solid game on Friday night as Wisconsin earned a conference win in West Lafayette. Midway through the second quarter, he was still the Badgers leader in rushing, passing, and receiving. Meanwhile, the Badgers are the lone West team that has yet to drop a conference game.

Most Iowa Thing of the Week: Fumbles, field position, defense, and good bounces

You saw it Saturday night. Iowa was involved in a game with some weird stuff - punts bouncing off people, fumbled punts that squired 20 yards over wet turf, missed facemask penalties, touchdowns on fourth downs, etc. And Penn State finally got some of the bounces in the series...it was wonderful. It was just so wonderful.

Thing We Are Looking Forward to the Most: A weekend in Chicago

This BSD writer will be on the road to one of my favorite cities as Penn State looks to improve to 5-0.