Big Ten Recap: Purdue Collects Another Soul, Illinois Moves to 2–0 Against Ranked Opponents, and the West Returns to Familiar in Wisconsin

The best thing you can say about Ohio State's 26-17 win at Nebraska Saturday is that the Buckeyes got the win. That, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba is the truth. But you'd be forgiven for thinking Ohio State has some work ahead of it if the Buckeyes want to make a run at a national championship.

And then the rest of the day's results came trickling in.

Four days after the first set of College Football Playoff rankings were released, here's a recap of how the top six teams fared:

• No. 1 Georgia steamrolled Missouri, 43-6
• No. 2 Alabama struggled against a bad LSU, winning 20-14
• No. 3 Michigan State lost to Purdue (more on that in a bit)
• No. 4 Oregon struggled against a bad Washington, winning 26-16
• No. 5 Ohio State struggled against a bad Nebraska
• No. 6 Cincinnati struggled against a bad Tulsa, winning 28-20

Aside from those games, No. 9 Wake Forest, No. 12 Baylor, No. 13 Auburn, No. 17 Mississippi State, No. 18 Kentucky, No. 20 Minnesota, and No. 23 Fresno State all took Ls this weekend, as well.

Yeah, good luck to the committee this week.

Closer to home in the Big Ten, it was the Weekend of the Wide Receiver as Smith-Njigba, Penn State's Jahan Dotson, and Purdue's David Bell all went off.

WHAT A DAY FOR BIG TEN RECEIVERS

Jahan Dotson 11 Rec, 242 Yards, 3 TD
Jaxon Smith-Njigba 15 Rec, 240 Yards, 1 TD
David Bell 11 Rec, 217 Yards, 1 TD pic.twitter.com/re2soAp9Ub

— ESPN (@espn) November 6, 2021

Purdue 40, #3 Michigan State 29

Fresh off a big win over rival Michigan last week, Mel Tucker insisted his No. 3 Michigan State Spartans would not be susceptible to a trap game on his team's visit to West Lafayette to face Purdue this weekend.

So much for that.

Kenneth Walker, Michigan State's Heisman contending running back, put the ball on the turf on the Spartans' opening drive of the game – his first fumble in 366 carries – and it was all downhill from there as the Boilermakers held on to pull the upset, 40-29.

Purdue jumped out to a 14-7 first-half lead and pushed it to 21-7 with one of the longest developing trick plays you may ever see:

PURDUE BRINGS OUT THE TRICK PLAY FOR THE TD pic.twitter.com/06rqhGVD0q

— ESPN (@espn) November 6, 2021

Walker eventually got his, going for 146 yards and a score on the ground, but Purdue quarterback Aidan McConnell got more, to the tune of 536 passing yards – fifth-most in Big Ten history – and three touchdowns. Two hundred seventeen of those yards and one of the touchdowns went to the destroyer of undefeated seasons, David Bell.

Sparty managed to tie the game early in the third quarter, but Purdue reeled off 16-straight over the next 18 minutes of game action to effectively put the game away.

Ohio State fans know all too well about the black magic f–ckery that Purdue can call upon, and they did so Saturday to give the Boilermakers their second win over an AP top-five team this season and the program's FBS records 17th all-time such upset.

The bad news for Ohio State fans? A surging Purdue heads to Ohio Stadium in six days. The good news? After that, Ohio State gets Michigan State, and Purdue coach Jeff Brohm laid out the blueprint to beating the Spartans.

"As you look at this team we were playing, statistically, they were susceptible against the pass and really good against the run," Brohm said after his team knocked off the Spartans. "If you look at our team, we're okay at the run – and that's being nice – and we've been pretty good with the pass. While we wanted to have some balance and establish some things, we wanted to do what we did best and get it to our playmakers."

Next

Purdue (6–3) at Ohio State (8–1); Maryland (5–4) at Michigan State (8–1)

Illinois 14, #20 Minnesota 6

For about six whole days, Minnesota as a Big Ten West champion was fashionable. Then Bret Bielema and his Fighting Illini came to town.

Illinois, which has often looked like the worst team in the Big Ten this season, controlled the game from start to finish, jumping out to a 14-0 halftime lead on the way to a 14-6 upset of No. 20 Minnesota.

Illinois' defense took charge in this one, sacking the Gophers six times, recording nine tackles for loss, and holding Minnesota to fewer than 300 total yards in the program's first win in Minneapolis since 2009. Bielema's defense held a Gophers running game that seems to find a new 100-yard rusher each week and entered averaging over 222 yards on the ground, to just 89 on the day.

That defense was so good that Illinois quarterback Brandon Peters attempted just nine passes on the afternoon, and Minnesota didn't put up a single point until five minutes remained in the game.

Things went so poorly for Minnesota that Illinois' punter was out there breaking oars. It's hard to row the boat with broken oars.

Omg pic.twitter.com/MxZ716WGAd

— Wolverine 3 Rhombuses (@WolverineCorner) November 6, 2021

Bielema improved to 8–0 as a head coach when facing Minnesota and 2–0 against ranked teams this season. If you can figure his team out, please let me know because they have a loss to lowly Rutgers sandwiched between wins at No. 7 Penn State and now No. 20 Minnesota.

Next

Illinois (4–6) off; Minnesota (6–3) at Iowa (7–2)

#7 Michigan 29, Indiana 7

Michigan running back Blake Corum, the Big Ten's third-leading rusher, left the game with an injury after his first carry of the day, but the No. 7 Wolverines otherwise had no problem rebounding from a tough loss last weekend with an easy 29-7 win over Indiana.

Corum's battery mate Hassan Haskins went for a career-high 168 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries, good enough for his fourth 100-yard game of the season, and the Wolverine defense held Indiana to just 195 yards on the day in what was a three-point game late in the second quarter before Michigan ran off the final 19 points of the day.

The loss was the sixth in a row in conference for Indiana, which entered the season with thoughts on doing damage in the Big Ten East, and the Hoosiers' 21st straight loss at Michigan Stadium.

Michigan improved to 8–1 and head to Penn State next weekend, but if you're a fan of America's most arrogant program, you have to be worried about the team's lack of success in the red zone lately. They settled for field goals in six of their last 11 trips.

Next

Michigan (8–1) at Penn State (6–3); Rutgers (4–5) at Indiana (2–7)

#21 Wisconsin 52, Rutgers 3

So, it's safe to say that Rutgers is definitely not Rutgers Good™ right now.

17-year-old running back phenom Braelon Allen rushed for 129 yards, his fifth 100-yard game in a row, as No. 21 Wisconsin turned in its most complete game of the season with a 52-3 romp at Rutgers.

Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz completed just 11 passes against Rutgers – the sixth game in a row in which he's failed to top 11 completions, but he made his passes count against the Scarlet Knights, throwing for 240 yards and three touchdowns in Piscataway.

The Badgers have rebounded nicely from a horrid 1–3 start with five-straight wins in the books and control their own destiny in the Big Ten West. During the streak, which includes comfortable wins at Purdue and against Iowa, Wisconsin is holding opponents to 7.4 points and 186 yards per game.

Rutgers, meanwhile, has now lost five of six after starting the season 3–0.

Next

Northwestern (3–6) at Wisconsin (6–3); Rutgers (4–5) at Indiana (2–7)

Penn State 31, Maryland 14

It was a Jahan Dotson party in College Park, and while the Maryland Terrapins were invited,  they didn't have any fun.

Dotson caught 11 passes for a Penn State-record 242 yards and three touchdowns as the Nittany Lions snapped a three-game losing streak with a 31-14 win at Maryland.

Maryland quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa threw for 371 yards on 57 attempts, but he threw a pick that was returned 87 yards by Ji'Ayir Brown for a Penn State score, was hit up for a costly intentional grounding penalty that took his team out of scoring range and lost a fumble on a snap.

Meanwhile, Tagovailoa's counterpart, Sean Clifford, turned in a clean 27 of 47 for 363 yards performance, helping his team pull away as the Nittany Lions scored 24 of the final 32 points on the day.

After a 4–0 start, Maryland now has losses in four of its last five, and worse yet, the loss marked the 32nd in a row in which the Terps have taken an L against ranked conference opponents.

Did you keep the receipt for this jacket, my man?

pic.twitter.com/8iQcRceawn

— no context college football (@nocontextcfb) November 6, 2021

Next

Michigan (8–1) at Penn State (6–3); Maryland (5–4) at Michigan State (8–1)

#22 Iowa 17, Northwestern 12

For No. 22, Iowa, a change at quarterback did the trick as the Hawkeyes ended a two-game losing streak with a 17-12 win at Northwestern Saturday night.

Alex Padilla, who relieved Spencer Petras near the end of the first quarter, led the Hawkeyes on three big scoring drives, and running back Tyler Goodson rushed for 141 yards – his first 100-yard game since mid-September – and a touchdown to lead Iowa to a much-needed win to stop a freefall three weeks after they rose to No. 2 in the AP Poll.

The Iowa defense got back to its ball-hawking ways, picking off Northwestern quarterback Andrew Marty three times after failing to record an interception in losses to Purdue and Wisconsin during the two-game skid.

Between the turnovers and an uncharacteristic sideline penalty called on Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald, the Wildcats gave away a game they had a chance in, but that's basically the story of Northestern's 2021 season, isn't it?

Northwestern's coach Pat Fitzgerald received a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct for this reaction pic.twitter.com/rTZtoagz0u

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 7, 2021

Next

Minnesota (6–3) at Iowa (7–2); Northwestern (3–6) at Wisconsin (6–3)

B1G Power Rankings: Week 10

Rank	Team	Overall	B1G	Move
1	OHIO STATE	8–1	6–0	–
2	MICHIGAN	8–1	5–1	▲ 1
3	PURDUE	6–3	4–2	▲ 4
4	MICHIGAN STATE	8–1	5–1	▼ 2
5	WISCONSIN	6–3	4–2	▲ 1
6	PENN STATE	6–3	3–3	▼ 1
7	IOWA	7–2	4–2	▲ 1
8	NEBRASKA	3–7	1–6	▲ 2
9	ILLINOIS	4–6	3–4	▲ 5
10	MINNESOTA	6–3	4–2	▼ 6
11	MARYLAND	5–4	2–4	▼ 2
12	INDIANA	2–7	0–6	▼ 1
13	NORTHWESTERN	3–6	1–5	–
14	RUTGERS	4–5	1–5	▼ 2

Thanks to Michigan State's loss at Purdue, Ohio State remains at the top of our power rankings despite a lackluster showing in a win at Nebraska.

The Michigan Wolverines, who are doing a lot of things well right now, climb into No. 2. We'll learn a lot more about Michigan when they travel to Penn State Saturday.

Fresh off their second top-five upset in three weeks, Purdue is our second-biggest climber, moving four spots up to No. 3 in our rankings, while Michigan State and the Wisconsin Badgers, winners of five-straight, round out our top five.

Penn State (6), Iowa (7), Nebraska (8), Illinois (9), and Minnesota (10) round out our top 10. Yes, I feel weird about having 3–7 Nebraska at No. 8, but they truly are America's best bad team. Illinois is our biggest mover of the week, climbing five spots after their second win over a ranked opponent in three weeks.

In the Big Ten East, the Buckeyes sit atop the standings at 6–0, one game up on Michigan and Michigan State. In the West, it's a four-team rumble, with Purdue, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota all locked in at 4–2 in league play.

PLAYER of the WEEK
I am going to split it up among the Big Ten receivers who went off this weekend. Smith-Njigba with 15 for 240 and a touchdown, Dotson with 11 for 242 and three touchdowns, and Bell with 11 for 217 yards and a touchdown. It will be really interesting to see how the Big Ten Conference handles this when selecting the league's offensive player of the week Monday.