B1G Thoughts: Can you avenge a national championship loss in the regular season?
JordanW330 via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Tom Hauck/Getty Images
Washington and Minnesota pulled off massive upsets to contribute to an upset-riddled college football weekend.
Every week after the Big Ten games, I will bring you some B1G thoughts on everything that happened! This will include analysis, stats, key players, moments, and more. With the Big Ten expanding from 14 teams to 18 teams in 2024 we will have a bunch of storylines to follow.
Ryan Day and Ohio State are all in for the 2024 season. Is Oregon a national championship contender or will they stumble in their first Big Ten season? How do the former members of the Big Ten West fair in the new divisionless format? This article tracks all these storylines and more as the Big Ten hopes to win back-to-back national championships.
Check out the I-80 Football Show for more in-depth analysis and to preview the next week of B1G games.
There are very few guarantees in college football, but you can almost guarantee that if there is a weekend that looks bad on paper, there will be some sort of upset or must-watch game. This weekend did not look promising, and many fans were probably looking ahead to Oct. 12 and Oct. 19, which both have major top-25 matchups, but you can never overlook a weekend in college football.
Oct. 12 is the future, but we will be talking about Oct. 5, 2024 for years to come, as five of the top 11 programs in the AP Poll suffered upsets, and No. 8 Miami needed a 25-point comeback to avoid being the sixth top-11 team to lose this weekend.
The highlight of it all was of course Vanderbilt beating No. 1 Alabama, but Washington made No. 10 Michigan regret not getting a quarterback in the transfer portal. Minnesota did what Wisconsin should done and showed No. 11 USC what life will be like in the Big Ten if they don’t get better at the line of scrimmage and get tougher as a team.
There are big games next week, but this weekend will be remembered for its upsets. Saturdays like this remind you of why you fell in love with college football!
You can’t avenge a national title loss, but winning feels great!
On Saturday we had a rematch from the 2023 national championship as Washington welcomed Michigan to their beautiful stadium on the lake. This time, Washington came out on top, 27-17, after a dominant start and a fourth-quarter comeback.
Washington started the game up 14-0, but struggled to adjust to Michigan’s third quarterback change as Jack Tuttle provided a better arm and a more efficient QB running game, which sparked a 17-0 run for the Wolverines. Washington still has some problems, as their kicker continues to miss field goals, but he made the two that mattered most, helping the Huskies secure a big conference win.
I’m sure for Washington this win was cathartic, especially considering Kalen Debeor’s Alabama team suffered a massive upset as the No. 1 team in the country. All of that is well and good and the celebration should be fun, but you can’t avenge a national championship loss in the regular season. Michigan still has the rings and the trophy.
They didn’t avenge their loss, but they can be proud that they’re rebounding better than Michigan.
Welcome to the Big Ten. Everyone is Utah.
When Lincoln Riley left Oklahoma for USC, it was rumored that a part of his decision was due to Oklahoma’s upcoming movement from the Big 12 to the SEC. Shortly after accepting the USC job, it was announced that USC was moving to the Big Ten, and Riley was forced into a situation he was trying to avoid.
In its first season in the Big Ten, USC has already gotten the full experience of playing three-straight games against teams who generally want to win the game in the trenches with mediocre quarterback play. USC wasn’t able to beat Michigan and they survived a tough Wisconsin game, but as they just found out these teams keep coming and they have to be able to consistently win every week. Under Riley, they haven’t been able to win these games, showcased by his inability to beat Utah.
That is where the problem is for Riley: almost every team in the Big Ten plays like Utah, and the ones that don’t are Ohio State, Penn State, and Oregon — three of the best teams in the conference. This is why I was low on USC entering the season, and after five games they sit at 3-2 before playing Penn State next week. Let us not forget they still have games against Maryland and star wide receiver Tai Felton, plus Rutgers, Nebraska and Notre Dame — three teams who will play this same style of football but much better than Minnesota.
USC must look itself in the mirror or risk its season spiraling for the second year in a row as they could easily lose a few more games. USC is not a national title contender, and as currently constructed they’re not a contender in the Big Ten. Riley has to find a way to get better on the line of scrimmage, or he needs to find a new job… again.
Does Oregon have a Dillion Gabriel problem?
If you look at the stats, 1,449 passing yards, 11 passing touchdowns, three interceptions, and three rushing touchdowns, Dillion Gabriel is playing like one of the best quarterbacks in the country. He is completing almost 78% of his passes as he continues to fill up the box score. So how could this be a problem?
When you watch Oregon play, but specifically watching them against Michigan State, Gabriel is prone to just throw the ball away. Against the Spartans, he threw two interceptions in the red zone. You can’t do that against better opponents. He’s competing 77% of his passes, but most of his throws come at or around the line of scrimmage as Oregon runs a lot of screens. He is consistently missing open receivers further than 10 years from the line of scrimmage.
Oregon has bounced back from its slow start, but heading into the Ohio State game Gabriel will need to make better decisions and hit deep passes, as you won’t beat Ohio State throwing bubble screens. Michigan State was not able to capitalize on Gabriel’s misses and gifted interceptions, but with Ohio State next week and the Illinois and Michigan secondaries in back-to-back weeks, Oregon will face teams that can make him pay.
He’ll need to play better if they want to contend for a national championship.
Ohio State has somehow become even scarier ahead of its hardest test yet.
Ohio State, especially under Ryan Day, is known for its skill position players, but the best Ohio State teams historically have always been dominant on both sides of the line of scrimmage. For the past couple of years, Ohio State has had special players like CJ Stroud, Chris Olave, Marvin Harrison Jr., Garrett Wilson, and the list goes on and on. They did not have those players on the line.
This year, Ohio State has three potential first-round picks on their defensive line in JT Tuimoloau, Jack Sawyer and Tyliek Williams, and they are finally playing like it. On the offensive line they may not have first-round picks, but after bringing in center Seth McLaughlin and returning three starters from last year, Ohio State’s offensive line has been dominant.
Through five games Ohio State is averaging 222 rushing yards and three touchdowns per game at 6.2 yards per carry. They’ve allowed two sacks and four QB hits, including zero sacks and one QB hit against Iowa, the best team they’ve faced so far. Iowa’s defense is predicated on stopping the run and limiting big plays, and Ohio State ran for 203 yards and passed for 209 against them. On defense, they held the second-most productive rusher in the country to 86 yards on 15 carries and one garbage time touchdown.
The Buckeyes finished the game with four sacks including a sack-fumble, nine tackles for loss, and their defensive line forced a bad throw that led to an interception. In their biggest test of the season, Ohio State dominated at the line of scrimmage in a way they haven’t for years.
We know they have the skill players, but with how their lines are playing this team can win a national championship. Before we get there, let’s see how they play against Oregon next week.
Winning isn’t a beauty contest, the ugly wins still count.
For years Nebraska has lost ugly. We’ve all seen their record in one-score games in the last five seasons. This week, they found a way to win ugly, and that is progress.
When you see the Nebraska record it will say 5-1 after six games. It won’t say which games they won ugly or which games they dominated. For the Cornhuskers, all that matters is the number in the win column.
Nebraska is hoping to become bowl-eligible for the first time since 2016, and they needed to beat Rutgers as they have a tough remaining schedule. After an off week next week, Nebraska has to face 6-0 Indiana followed by Ohio State, with both games on the road. Besides Indiana and Ohio State, they still have to play USC, Wisconsin, and Iowa. The only game they should feel confident they’ll win is UCLA, who may not win another game this season.
Nebraska needs one more win for bowl eligibility. This team should beat UCLA and can beat Wisconsin, so it’s staring in the face of a 7-5 season, not including a potential upset against a USC team that is beatable or Indiana who looks good but hasn’t played much competition so far this season.
Good teams find a way to win. Nebraska has consistently found ways to lose, but this week they beat a good Rutgers team 14-7 including a five-play goal line stand. These games make or break your season, and it is clear that Nebraska is improving. Now they get a week off to prepare for the toughest two-game stretch of the season.
Plays of the Week - Freshman Edition
For whatever reason this year’s freshman class seems more impactful than any in recent memory. We have all marveled over star receivers Jeremiah Smith and Ryan Williams, but they aren’t the only freshman making big plays.
Nick Marsh is another good freshman wide receiver, and Dylan Stewart at South Carolina is already one of the best pass rushers in college football. This week, Jeremiah Smith continued to dominate, taking over a whole drive against Iowa to extend the Buckeye’s lead, while Minnesota’s freshman safety Koi Perich had a great performance culminating in a game-sealing interception in the end zone to upset USC.
Follow The I-80 Football Show on YouTube: @JordanW330.
Subscribe to the podcast: RSS |
Apple |
Spotify |
Google Podcasts |
iHeart Radio
Connect with me on Twitter: @JordanW330
Follow I-80 Football Show on Instagram: @I80FootballShow
Continue reading...
./cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25663493/usa_today_24417931.jpg "NCAA Football: Utah State at Boise State")
️ Darryn Peterson, the top-ranked guard in the 2025 class, will announce his college decision on November 1st, his father tells 
