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College Football

Big Ten Game Balls for Week 6

Paul Harvey

By Paul Harvey

Published:

Big Ten Game Balls for Week 6 are finally here, and what a weekend it was!

Across Saturday, 5 of the top 11 teams in the country all fell by the wayside. Within the Big Ten, No. 10 Michigan and No. 11 USC both fell to unranked conference foes in Washington and Minnesota, respectively.

Across the country, 3 teams ranked in the top 10 fell to unranked foes, including a pair of top 5 teams from the SEC. The story of the day proved to be Alabama — previously the No. 1 team in the country — falling to lowly Vanderbilt. The Commodores were previously 0-60 in games against top 5 teams.

As for the B1G, the heavy hitters of Ohio State, Oregon and Penn State all remained unbeaten while Indiana became the first FBS team in the country to punch bowl eligibility. So, without further ado, let’s get to some Game Balls!

Michigan State at Oregon

  • Michigan State: DB Charles Brantley: With Michigan State’s offense tied down for most of the game, Brantley delivered a big performance for the defense. He recorded 1 of the 2 Spartan interceptions off Dillon Gabriel and led MSU with a team-high 9 tackles and 5 solo stops.
  • Oregon: RB Jordan James. James is starting to heat up with back-to-back games of 100 rushing yards, including a new career-high with 166 yards against the Spartans. He maintained his elite efficiency with 6.9 yards per carry and a touchdown. That type of performance allowed the Ducks to record a 21-0 stretch in the first half before cruising to the finish line.

UCLA at Penn State

  • UCLA: LB Oluwafemi Oladejo. UCLA’s defense hung tough against Penn State all game long, and Oladejo delivered a game-changing performance. He led the Bruins with 2 TFLs and registered the teams only sack while finishing 2nd with 10 total tackles and 5 solo stops.
  • Penn State: QB Drew Allar. With star RB Nick Singleton ruled out just before kickoff and the running game stalling, Allar delivered an effective performance against UCLA. He finished 17-for-24 throwing the ball for 237 yards and a touchdown to go with a rushing touchdown and his distribution was brilliant. A group of 8 different Nittany Lions registered a reception in the win.

Purdue at Wisconsin

  • Purdue: DB Kyndrich Breedlove. Purdue’s offensive numbers would be even worse without Breedlove’s 2 interceptions. The 2 field goals for the Boilermakers came off of those 2 interceptions, but there was no help to be found outside of his key takeaways.
  • Wisconsin: RB Tawee Walker. With Chez Mellusi stepping away from the team this week due to injury, Wisconsin needed a clear-cut leader at RB. Walker responded with 19 carries for 94 yards and a hat trick with 3 touchdowns. The challenge will be finding that success against non-Purdue teams, but it’s a good start.

Iowa at Ohio State

  • Iowa: LB Jay Higgins. Iowa’s defense finally wore down in the 2nd half, but this game was 7-0 at halftime. Higgins was a big reason why after forcing a fumble from Jeremiah Smith. The star LB finished the game leading the Hawkeyes with 14 total tackles while adding a sack and TFL to his forced fumble.
  • Ohio State: WR Emeka Egbuka. It’s hard to discredit Will Howard’s passing performance against Iowa, but Saturday’s game truly belonged to Egbuka. Overshadowed a bit by Jeremiah Smith this season, Egbuka went off by tying a career-high total with 9 catches against the Hawkeyes. He also set a new career-high with 3 touchdowns and finished with 71 yards receiving.

Indiana at Northwestern

  • Indiana: QB Kurtis Rourke. No player has been more instrumental in Curt Cignetti’s hot start with IU than Rourke. The veteran QB went off again on Saturday with 380 yards and 3 touchdowns without an interception in a road blowout of Northwestern. In the process, the Hoosiers racked up over 500 yards of offense and reached 40+ points in their 5th straight game.
  • Northwestern: QB Jack Lausch. Northwestern could not keep up with Indiana, but Lausch did his best with 277 total yards of offense and 2 touchdowns. He was only sacked twice and did not commit a turnover, so this is a performance Lausch and the Wildcats need to build on moving forward.

Rutgers at Nebraska

  • Rutgers: LB Dariel Djabome. In a true defensive struggle, Djabome led the Scarlet Knights with 8 total tackles and 7 solo stops. He also added a sack and a TFL for a defense that registered 4 sacks and 7 TFLs while harassing Dylan Raiola all game long.
  • Nebraska: DL James Williams. It’s not the kind of offensive output Nebraska will want to revisit, but the defense remains elite with 4 sacks and 9 TFLs against Rutgers. Williams was the leader of that unit with 2 sacks to go with 5 total tackles and tying the team-high with 4 solo stops. It allowed the Huskers to hold Rutgers to 264 total yards and 2.4 yards per carry.

Michigan at Washington

  • Michigan: LB Ernest Hausmann. Michigan’s defense was once again the unit to keep the Wolverines in this game, and Hausmann shined throughout. He led the unit with 12 total tackles and 8 solo stops and recorded an interception. Unfortunately, the ensuing possession after Hausmann’s interception would result in a turnover.
  • Washington: DE Voi Tunuufi. Washington’s defense did a great job with Michigan’s ground-and-pound attack for much of the night. The Huskies also got the play of the game from the defense when Tunuufi forced a fumble from Jack Tuttle in the 4th quarter. Washington would cash in that short field for a go-ahead touchdown while Tunuufi also tied for the team lead with 6 tackles.

USC at Minnesota

  • USC: RB Woody Marks. With Miller Moss struggling at times and throwing 2 interceptions, it was Marks who kept the Trojans in this one for most of the game. He finished with 134 rushing yards and a touchdown with 164 total yards of offense. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to avoid the upset loss on the road.
  • Minnesota: Head coach PJ Fleck. Okay, I don’t normally do this, but I’m going off script here. If we were giving a game ball to a player, it would be Darius Taylor after leading the Gophers in total offense, but let’s give Fleck his due. Instead of kicking a FG on 4th-and-goal from inside the 1 and less than a minute remaining, Fleck rolled the dice. And it’s a good thing he did. Minnesota scored the go-ahead touchdown, but it took hardly any time for USC to march right back into field goal range. The Gophers would eventually end it on an interception in the end zone, but this one was headed for overtime if not for Fleck’s gutsy call.
Paul Harvey

Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.