When people think of the Big Ten, the first image that comes to mind is usually three yards and a cloud of dust, a byproduct of ground-and-pound running offenses.
After living under the sunny skies of California, wide receivers coach Ted Gilmore and his family have traded in their swimsuits for stocking caps. He even joked about his son wearing a winter hat to school when the temperature dipped into the 40s.
No. 5 LSU might be the only team in the country that can say it has been as impressive as No. 2 Baylor. A fifth straight convincing win has the Tigers at their highest ranking since 2012, but they couldn’t be playing a more different style from that team.
In a season plagued with injuries, the Badgers seemingly suffered their worst loss with the announcement that highly touted starting junior running back Corey Clement would miss significant time after surgery to repair a lingering sports hernia injury. To compound the damage, redshirt freshman running back Taiwan Deal suffered an ankle injury in UW’s comeback win at Nebraska.
No. 17 Iowa made a statement Saturday afternoon when it rolled through No. 20 Northwestern by a score of 40-10, putting it in control of its own destiny in the Big Ten West.
Michigan State-Michigan. That is all.
1. Stave’s roller coaster ride
Defensive coordinator Dave Aranda self-admittedly has a difficult time talking about what his defense does well.
Many of the Badger faithful expected Wisconsin (2-1 Big Ten, 5-2 overall) to roll over a weak Purdue team (0-3, 1-6). While it wasn’t as lopsided as expected in the beginning, UW defeated the Boilermakers by a respectable 24-7 score.
After a thrilling and much-needed win against the Nebraska Cornhuskers, the Badgers return home next week to face the Purdue Boilermakers.
One week after Iowa traveled to Camp Randall Stadium and upset the Badgers in a close game, they looked to solidify their position as one of the favorites to win the Big Ten West with a win over Illinois. Coming in as 10-point favorites, many expected Iowa to command the game from the start.
Bouncing back from a tough week against Iowa, redshirt senior Joel Stave earned the title of MVP this week by leading the Badgers on not one, but two game-winning drives.
As a kid, Derek Watt and his brothers T.J. and J.J. would play football with their two neighbors, utilizing three full backyards to create a field as close to a real gridiron as possible.
There’s no question that Rafael Gaglianone deserves an enormous amount of credit for Wisconsin’s 23-21 win over Nebraska last Saturday.
Wisconsin’s long-standing tradition of offensive dominance is well documented. A wildly successful lineage of running backs and offensive linemen have accounted for the vast majority of the Badgers’ success.
After their latest underwhelming victory, Michigan State has fallen from its perch in the Big Ten power rankings. A big week lies ahead for the conference, as four of the teams in this week’s power rankings square off against one another.
1. Gaglianone the great?
What a wild week of college football. Of the 20 ranked teams that played this week, five won by just one score and three more lost to unranked teams. No. 10 Alabama struggled mightily against 2-4 Arkansas before pulling away in the fourth quarter, while No. 1 Ohio State got everything they could handle from Maryland.
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