Sunday Debriefing: Will the real Big Ten please stand up
Wisconsin shocked at home by BYU, and Nebraska losing to Troy sent the Big Ten West into another week of tailspin.
In the year 2000, the rapper Eminem asked for the real Slim Shady to please stand up.
In Week 3 of the 2018 college football season, I’m asking will the real Big Ten—the one that had multiple teams in the preseason rankings listed as College Football Playoff contenders—to please,
please stand up. It’s now or never.
Once again, the Big Ten— other than Ohio State— made a fool of itself on the national stage. The No. 6 Wisconsin Badgers, seen as the Big Ten West’s savior, stumbled at home to unranked BYU. Even though the defeat was only by three points (24-21), the loss packs a one-two punch. Not only do the Badgers’ playoff hopes now hang off the side of the proverbial cliff, but this recent high-profile loss gives off the mental image of the Big Ten slipping on a banana peel— and into the air— before crashing back down to the ground as a laugh track plays.
This reoccuring image has now happened every week of the young season.
Penn State nearly lost in to Appalachian State in Week 1, then Michigan State was the one to fall last week; now it was Wisconsin. However, one team took the cake and fell both weeks. That’s right, we’re talking about the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
The Scott Frost era is off to about as bad of a start as you could image. First, their season opener against Akron got delayed, then cancelled. Last week, they lost to Colorado, 33-28, in thrilling fashion. Then this week against Troy, they found another way to lose in thrilling fashion. One cancelled game and two losses— and it’s only the middle of September.
It appears that Iowa may be the survivor of the Big Ten’s West wild ride, but who knows? Purdue, who is now 0-3, can very well win the division; as could Northwestern, who defeated Purdue already this season before getting steamrolled by two touchdowns by Duke last week, and then lost by five to Akron.
Entire article:
https://www.landgrantholyland.com/2018/9/16/17865050/ohio-state-football-big-ten-power-rankings