What an entertaining weekend of B1G football. It’s easily been the best of the season.

Four of the five games in the conference were decided by five points or less, with the only blowout game coming from Columbus, with Ohio State blowing out Maryland 73-14. Purdue defeated Northwestern on a game-winning field goal, Wisconsin stuffed Iowa on a game-tying two-point conversion attempt, Illinois overcame a 25-point deficit to defeat Michigan State and Minnesota upset Penn State in Minneapolis.

After what has been a relatively uninteresting B1G season, the second weekend of November provided all kinds of intrigue. Hands down, this was the most fun Saturday for the conference.

Lovie Ball = Lovie Bowl

Over the last four games, Illinois has forced 12 turnovers, including four takeaways against Michigan State. There’s really something to this Lovie Ball stuff, and now it means Lovie and the Illini are going bowling. The only thing that made it better? Lovie stroking his beard as if he were Merlin the wizard. And, actually, considering the turnaround in Champaign this year, he may actually be a wizard.

Maryland has figured out Ohio State’s defense

Last season, Maryland scored 51 points against Ohio State, the most the Buckeyes allowed all season. This year, the Terrapins scored a sizzling 14 points against OSU. That’s the most any B1G team has mustered against the mighty Buckeyes. This Terps team really has the Bucks figured out.

Sports Betting in Big Ten Country

There is big news coming to the upcoming 2022-23 Big Ten football season (and NFL season). Ohio online sports betting and Maryland sports betting are on the way.

21+ and present in OH. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.

O’Connell provides First Aid to Purdue

Yes, that’s a bad play on words using Aidan O’Connell’s name, but damn it, it’s also true. The walk-on, third-string quarterback who was previously headed to a Division III program got his first career start and led his second game-winning drive in back-to-back weeks. And he did so completing 34-of-50 passes for 271 yards and two touchdowns. The Boilers’ bowl hopes are still alive.

Congrats, Northwestern, you get your “O” back

There were reports of tornadoes in Evanston on Saturday, but the only “touchdowns” spotted came from Northwestern’s offense. Yeah, football fans were just as surprised as the weather people. The Wildcats may have lost, but they crossed the goal line three times after not scoring a TD for over a month. That’s a positive!

Also, if you don’t like my joke, my email is #IDontCare

Paul Chryst is actually not a robot

Did you see it? When Paul Chryst transformed from his robotic, unemotional self into a human being to rip an official furiously? It was pretty awesome. I wish we saw that Paul Chryst more often. I could have a beer with that Paul Chryst.

Row, row, row, row, row, row, row, row, row the boat

That’s nine rows. The Gophers are 9-0 and have a win over No. 4 Penn State. I know Minnesota doesn’t have that “quality loss” that seems to be so valuable in the SEC, but P.J. Fleck and company should jump into the top five this week. Will they? Probably not. But they should.

Same old song and Ferentz

Well what do you know, Iowa had an opportunity to notch a win over a ranked opponent but fell short…AGAIN! The offense was awful through the first three quarters and made a strong push at the end of the game, but it wasn’t enough to upset Wisconsin.

Did you know: Iowa has now lost three games to ranked teams by a grand total of 14 points this season? And the Hawkeyes have dropped seven games by 37 total points (5.3 points per game) since last year.

As John Mellencamp would say “The walls come crumblin’ down” in East Lansing

There was a glimmer of hope early. You thought maybe, just maybe, after Michigan State took a 28-3 lead, that Michigan State could finish the season strong and maybe end the year with an 8-4 record and a chance to get a ninth win in a bowl game. But the Spartans blew the big lead just like Mark Dantonio blew off questions about his future after the game.

MSU’s program is crumbling before our eyes. Maybe we should see if Mellencamp can rewrite the lyrics to focus on Sparty’s downfall.

Minnesota is the new “WR U”

Rashod Bateman, Tyler Johnson, Chris Autman-Bell. It doesn’t matter who Tanner Morgan throws the football to, a Minnesota receiver is coming down with it. Bateman is the B1G’s leading receiver, Johnson ranks fifth and Autman-Bell has over 300 yards this season. There may not be a better receiving corps in the country right now.

Ohio State, LSU, collision course

One reason why I’m not opposed to the return of the BCS system. Is there any doubt that Ohio State and LSU are the two best teams in the country? I guess you could make a case for Clemson, but the Buckeyes and Tigers look untouchable right now. Go ahead and pencil this one is as the national title matchup.