First Week of 2015 Big Ten Football Highlights

Week one of the college football season is already in the books, and for the Big Ten, is was an opening week of mixed results. Let’s take a look at how the Big Ten came out of week one.

The Jim Harbaugh era at Michigan got off to a rough start. Quarterback Jake Rudoch struggled all day throwing the football, finishing with three interceptions. Michigan also struggled to run the ball as De'Veon Smith was the leading rusher, finishing the game with 17 carries for just 47 yards. The TCU-Minnesota game turned out to be a lot closer than most people thought. The Gophers actually had the ball with a chance to win the game late, but got nowhere on their final drive. Michigan State's start to the 2015 season was actually a lot better. Sparty took care of business against a tough Western Michigan team 37-24. Quarterback Connor Cook, who is in the mix to be the first selection overall in the 2016 NFL draft, had a decent day, finishing 15-31 for 256 yards and two touchdowns.

On Saturday, Northwestern pulled the biggest upset of the week for the Big Ten when they defeated Stanford 16-6. Stanford's offense struggled all day and quarterback Kevin Hogan finished with just 155 yards passing. 2015 could not have started worse for Christian Hackenberg, who at the moment, is the leader in the clubhouse to be drafted first overall, Penn State was stunned by the Temple Owls 27-10, and Hackenberg finished with the game 11-25 for 103 yards and one interception. Hackenberg's QBR on the day, I'm not kidding you, was 3.2. Of course it can't all be blamed on Hackenberg. The man was sacked 11 times.

Nebraska felt by far the most heartbreaking loss of the day. With mere seconds to go, they led BYU 28-27 and appeared to be headed for a tough, well fought week one win. Then backup quarterback Tanner Magnum, replacing Tayson Hill, rolled out to his right, threw up a hail Mary, and Mitch Matthews came down with the game winner in the front of the end zone as time expired. Indiana and Southern Illinois played the game of the day. Indiana won 48-47, and it was a wild one. After take the lead 48-41, Indiana allowed Southern Illinois to go down the field and scored a touchdown with just moments left. However Southern Illinois elected to go for two, and failed to convert. In the night cap, Alabama faced off against Wisconsin in Dallas. The game was close most of the way, and then the Crimson Tide pulled away late to win the game 35-17.

Rutgers, Illinois, Maryland, and Iowa all took care of business. 

Race To Big Ten Championship 204 | Do The Badgers Have A Shot?

So how are things going in Big Ten football right now? The race to the Big Ten Championship game has turned into one of the most entertaining conference races in the nation. Let’s examine where we stand.

The Big Ten East division is a two horse race between Ohio State and Michigan State. Both teams currently sit at 7-1 on the season and 4-0 in Big Ten play. Ohio State fell off of the map for a while after their early season debacle against Virginia Tech and Michigan State almost blew it against Purdue a few weeks back. These two teams are headed for high noon this Saturday at 7 p.m. Central time in East Lansing. The winner of this game will play in the Big Ten championship.

The Big Ten West division is an entirely different story. Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin all have serious chances at it. Nebraska. This one is far from over as all of these teams have to play the other three to finish the season. This is going to be the best race coming down the stretch in the nation. It may not impact the National Championship game, but it does have a competitive appeal to it. Of the four, I would put my money on Nebraska as they seem to have the best package of the four teams to offer. After that Minnesota followed by Wisconsin. I put Minnesota above Wisconsin because of the complete ineptitude of the Badgers quarterbacks right now, as I have written about previously this season on this blog. Iowa in my opinion is the least likely of the four to win this division. I will predict that Nebraska plays Michigan State for the Big Ten Championship in Chicago in December and gets hammered when they do.

Badgers First Two Games Were Not A Test | Wisconsin Has Huge Obstacles Ahead

The Wisconsin Badgers have started the 2013 season with back-to-back shutouts, defeating UMASS 45-0 in week one and Tennessee Tech 48-0 in week two, becoming the first Badgers team in over half a century to post back-to-back shutouts. Yawn.
Not much of a news story there, as these were both Championship Subdivision opponents. I understand that seven such teams beat Bowl Subdivision teams in week one, but none of those Bowl Subdivision teams were as good as the Badgers are, and no, I don’t count Oregon State as a good team.
2012 was basically a free ride to a Big Ten Championship for Wisconsin, as they literally had almost no opposition to get there. That isn’t the case in 2013. There are a number of teams who could get in their way of another trip to Pasadena. The biggest road block is Ohio State. The Buckeyes currently sit ranked third in the polls. Ohio State couldn’t stop the Badgers from winning the Big Ten championship because they simply were not eligible due to their postseason ban. The postseason ban is over now, and the Buckeyes are a strong favorite to win the Big Ten.
Also standing in Wisconsin’s way is Michigan, whose offense ran over a good Notre Dame defense on Saturday, dropping 41 on the Irish. Question with Michigan is the same question that has plagued them the last couple of years, can they defend enough? Another team in the Badgers’ way is Northwestern. The Wildcats have been slowly improving year to year for the last decade, and I believe one of these years they are going to sneak up and snatch the Big Ten title when nobody’s paying attention. Northwestern has always been led by strong quarterback play, and this year is no different as Kain Colter might be the second best quarterback in the Big Ten behind Ohio State’s Braxton Miller.
Another team that would like to have a say in this process in Nebraska, and I guarantee you they have not forgotten about the way Wisconsin embarrassed them last December in the Big Ten Championship game. If Nebraska and Wisconsin meet again, I believe the game will go much, much, differently. At the end of the day, I think the completion for Wisconsin is too strong for the Badgers to win the Big Ten yet again.

Badgers Basketball Team Comes To Life | NCAA Tournament Still In Sight

As the calendar turned to 2013, the Wisconsin Badgers wereleft for dead. Their season was pretty much toast and they were given no chance to make the NCAA tournament. It's not like the season was being considered a disappointment either. Many thought this was Bo Ryan's worst team ever during his tenure in Madison and the preseason loss of point guard Josh Gasser really hurt. At that point, any chances they had of making the tournament yet again this season had been thrown out the window. Something unusual, and this is what makes sports so darn awesome happened after New Year's- all of a sudden the Badgers gained some traction and their season sprung to life.

The Badgers began Big Ten Conference play with several okay wins, at home against Penn State and on the road against Nebraska. Alright then, couple of so-so wins. It’s nothing to get excited about. It's what happened after the Nebraska that caught everyone's attention. Illinois came into the Kohl Center on January 12^th feeling confident and left, well, not so much, losing 74-51. The Badgers went on the road three days later and pulled off perhaps the biggest upset of the college basketball season, defeating preseason number one and currently ranked number two Indiana 49-47. Wisconsin came down to earth in the next two games and I thought that the Badgers had peaked and were on their way down. They proceeded to come home and beat 12^th ranked Minnesota on a last second shot.

Some of this has been luck though. Indiana couldn't hit a shot to save their life that night and the Badgers needed to Gophers to have their worst game of the season offensively. But still, a win is a win is a win. The Badgers travel to Columbus tonight to take on Ohio State. How long can the magic last though? Well, let's wait and see, shall we?

Badgers looking forward to Nebraska

Non-conference play proved to be a breeze for the Wisconsin football team, but with the Big Ten season beginning this weekend, the Badgers will find out just how good of a team they really are.

The No. 8 Nebraska Cornhuskers come to Madison hoping to make their mark on the Big Ten and the Badgers in their inaugural conference game Saturday.

UW head coach Bret Bielema knows how big of a game this is and also how important home-field advantage will be.

"Camp Randall should be rocking," Bielema said.

The Badgers are not taking this game lightly by any means, andBielema wants students to get to the game early and make Camp Randall Stadium as loud as possible.

"We encourage everybody to get in their seat and bring as much red as possible and make that place electric," he said.

Saturday's matchup will be the first game at Camp Randall Stadium between two teams ranked in the top 10 since 1962, and with all the media attention that goes along with a game like this, the players have to maintain their concentration.

"You've got football, you've got academics; this is a busy time for us," Bielema said. "Our kids really have to be great about where their focus is."

Nebraska is undefeated and coming off of a 38-14 win at Wyoming. They run a fast-paced, no-huddle attack that utilizes a quick tempo to catch their opponents off guard. While this may be a different offensive scheme than what the Badgers employ, the two teams do share several similarities, which are not lost on Bielema.

"Both of our athletic directors are former coaches that had hall-of-fame careers," Bielema said, "Nebraska players are like Wisconsin players; they both really love to play the game."

Bielema and Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini have some similarities themselves, both getting their first taste of coaching at the University of Iowa. As a graduate assistant for the Hawkeyes, Pelini even helped coach Bielema for one season in 1991.

I know everyone will be watching and praying for a Badger victory.  GO BUCKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!