College football rewind: A big letdown day for the Big Ten
There were heroics on many a Big Ten gridiron before Saturday. And there will be again.
And, contrary to common perception, there really were heroics this Saturday, which was a day that will go down as one of the low points in Big Ten history.
Because when your heroics include last-minute touchdowns just for two of your best teams, Nebraska and Iowa, to survive upset bids from McNeese State, an FCS team and Ball State, a middling MAC team, you know your conference in trouble.
Saturday was, indeed, a bad day for the Big Ten, one that makes the league unlikely to field a playoff team.
The league's most visible teams -- defending champion and No. 7-ranked Michigan State, No. 8 Ohio State and Michigan -- all lost prime-time showdowns against national opponents by double-digit margins.
Ohio State looked like it misses Braxton Miller even more than we knew in a 28-14 loss. Michigan was shut out for the first time in 366 games in a 31-0 loss to No. 16 Notre Dame. And Michigan State's vaunted defense, perhaps the biggest point of pride in the conference, was helpless to stop Oregon's second-half onslaught in a 46-27 loss.
And that's not the worst of it.
The afternoon games didn't prove much better. With the big games set for the evening, the league had a series of money games scheduled for the day, and it managed to go 2-2 against the MAC and Nebraska narrowly avoided its first-ever loss to an FCS team.
And that doesn't even bring up Maryland having to rally to beat South Florida and Illinois scrambling late to beat Western Kentucky. At least those wins were secure before the final minute.
What does it mean? Probably that the Big Ten replaces the Big 12 as the major conference least likely to get a team into the first College Football Playoff. The league is already 1-5 against teams from the other power conferences (plus Notre Dame) and has lost all of its big, national games in the first two weeks.
As the schedule starts to weigh heavily toward conference games, there will be little chance for the Big Ten to make up for that slow start. Particularly damaging was the loss by Ohio State, one of the league's marquee teams, to Virginia Tech, an unranked ACC team considered to be lower in the ACC pecking order than Ohio State's place in the Big Ten pecking order.
By late afternoon, the nation had heard about No. 19 Nebraska surviving a scare from little McNeese State, 31-24, on Ameer Abdullah's heroic 58-yard catch and run from quarterback Tommy Armstrong, Jr., in the final minute.
What some might have missed is that the game was actually closely fought throughout, particularly after a 98-yard pick-6 by McNeese's Aaron Sam tied the game at 14-14 in the second quarter.
Had Sam not intercepted Armstrong's pass, the game might have gotten away from McNeese. Instead, the Cowboys stood toe-to-toe til the end.
It should not have been a surprise. Next to North Dakota State, which thumped Iowa State last week (Iowa State almost upset Kansas State on Saturday), McNeese has been the most dangerous FCS opponent out there. The Cowboys had won three straight against teams from the higher division, including last year's 53-21 thumping of South Florida, the most lopsided win ever by an FCS team over an FBS team.
Biggest playoff impact
Not only did Michigan State's 46-27 loss to Oregon hurt the Big Ten, it added credibility to the Pac-12's national resume.
Oregon's offense answered questions about whether it could move the ball against good, physical defenses. The Ducks' defense looked playoff-worthy. And, as a league, the Pac-12 seemed to separate itself from the Big Ten, important because the last impression we had last season was of Michigan State beating Stanford in the Rose Bowl.
Does this eliminate the Big Ten from the playoffs? Of course not. After all, you still have relatively strong teams from Nebraska and Iowa that are still undefeated. But right now, it's hard to see a one-loss Big Ten champion getting a playoff bid over a one-loss non-champion from the SEC or the Pac-12, or maybe even the ACC.
* Illinois safety Taylor Barton's 77-yard interception return for a touchdown helped Illinois rally from a 10-point deficit to beat Western Kentucky, 42-34.
* Central Michigan's Thomas Rawls rushed 31 times for 155 yards and two touchdowns to lead Central Michigan to a 38-17 upset of Purdue.
* Dak Prescott of Mississippi State passed for 211 yards and four touchdowns and added 111 rushing yards and another score in the Bulldogs' 47-34 win over UAB.
* Minnesota's David Cobb rushed for 220 yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries in the Gophers' 35-24 win over Middle Tennessee.
* Jake Rudock of Iowa threw for 322 yards and two scores, including a 12-yard touchdown pass to Jake Duzey with a minute left, as the Hawkeyes rallied to a 17-13 win over Ball State.
* Kenneth Dixon of Louisiana Tech ran for 184 yards and two touchdowns, including a 99-yard touchdown run in the first quarter as the Bulldogs upset Louisiana-Lafayette, 48-20.
* Florida State's Jameis Winston was efficient, completing 22 of 27 for 256 yards and two touchdowns in a 37-12 win over the Citadel.
* Clint Trickett of West Virginia followed a big performance against Alabama by completing 35 of 40 passes for 348 yards and two touchdowns in a 54-0 win over Towson.
* Seth Russell of Baylor, playing for the injured Bryce Petty, completed 16 of 25 passes for 438 yards and five touchdowns in a 70-7 thrashing of Northwestern State.
* Taysom Hill, BYU's dual threat QB, passed for 181 yards and ran for 99 yards and three touchdowns in the Cougars' 41-7 thumping of Texas.
* Everett Golson of Notre Dame passed for 189 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-0 whitewashing of Michigan.
* Tim Scott of North Carolina intercepted a pass in the end zone with 14 seconds left to preserve the Tar Heels' 31-27 win over San Diego State.
Related Stories
Post a Comment for "College football rewind: A big letdown day for the Big Ten"