First and Ten – Week Three

Ten takeaways from the third weekend of Big Ten Football. You can follow along all season on SiriusXM Big Ten Radio (Ch. 372).

DEEP DIVE

Ohio State and Oregon have received most of the early season attention even with a couple of stumbles for each team. But make no mistake, the conference is deeper than just those two programs with the likes of USA, Penn State and of course Indiana not far behind right now.

STILL SPOTLESS

Exactly half the conference remains undefeated with nine teams sporting goose eggs in the loss column. How long does that last and can anyone replicate Indiana’s perfect year of a season ago?

ON THE OTHER HAND

Only one team has yet to put a W on the board and that’s 0-3 Rutgers. No way they go winless all season, right?

WHAT ABOUT MICHIGAN?

Sure the Wolverines are undefeated and their win over Oklahoma in the second game of the season was impressive. Still the controversial Western Michigan win and last week’s rout of UTEP aren’t yet enough a sample size to see just where this team is right now. This week’s home game versus Iowa should help bring things into a bit more focus.

PENN STATE SHOWING PROMISE

The Nittany Lions are going to be in the hunt it appears and Penn State has looked very good in the early going with quarterback Rocco Brecht making a nice transition into the conference. This week’s game against Wisconsinshould continue Penn State’s unbeaten season.

TROJANS MARCHING

It was probably a little too close for comfort in Piscataway last week for USC as Rutgers certainly made a game of it. But still USC’s offense rose to the occasion and going across country, even to take on a struggling program like Rutgers right now, is not small task. USC checked that box.

OVERLOOKED HOOSIERS?

Indiana should be the number five team in the country going into week four but those that may be dismissing this version of Curt Cignett’s team are making a mistake. This Hoosier squad looks every but as potent as last year’s National Champion program and with Northwestern, Rutgers and Nebraska ahead there’s a good shot Indiana will be undefeated when they take on Ohio State in mid-October.

BEWARE THE BRUINS

Could UCLA be the upset special of the conference? New coach Bob Chesney has already made a significant impact on this program, which is playing great football on both sides of the line. Nico Iamaleava is playing with an immense amount of confidence and all of a sudden, UCLA looks kind of scary as their opponents look at the schedule.

WINNING WILDCATS

Colorado came to Evanston and some players called Northwestern’s intimate Martin Stadium “a library.” Well the Buffaloes were the ones that were quiet last Saturday night when the Wildcats trounced them 40-7. The ‘Cats travel to Bloomington this week for a tough match-up against Indiana before christening their brand new renovated Ryan Field the following weekend hosting Ohio State. Yikes.

HAPPY HAWKEYES

Iowa remained undefeated with its easy win over Northern Iowa. Hank Brown has been locked in a quarterback battle but on Saturday, he went 12-of-12 in the first half. Should be an interesting road trip for the Hawkeyes on Saturday at Michigan.