Ad Disclosure
Saturday night’s prime time game between No. 4 Penn State and Iowa overshadowed every other game in the B1G this week. Like it or not, that’s just the way it was.
Ten conference teams were in action this weekend and three league games took place. But as Michigan stifled Purdue in the second half and Nebraska-Rutgers turned into a slop-fest, all we really remember are the remarkable performances — from both teams — in the Penn State-Iowa thriller.
As always, there were a few takeaways outside Iowa City as we start to get a clearer picture of where each team stands after the fourth week of the season. Here were some of the key notes from this past Saturday.
- Michigan State didn’t show much life in a 38-18 loss to Notre Dame in East Lansing. Saturday’s performance looked similar to what we saw from the Spartans on a weekly basis in 2016. It’s only one game, but Mark Dantonio can’t afford to have his team play at such an inconsistent level throughout the season.
- The impressive play from Iowa quarterback Nate Stanley was no fluke, and he proved it against Penn State. Stanley completed 13-of-22 passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns as the Hawkeyes nearly pulled off another major upset. He now has 12 touchdown passes to just one interception for the year. If he continues to play mistake-free football, Iowa might find itself in the hunt for a B1G West title.
- We were really close to seeing a complete meltdown in Lincoln. Fortunately, Nebraska fought off Rutgers to improve to 2-2 on the season and start conference play with a victory. But the Huskers’ struggle with the Scarlet Knights isn’t a good sign. Nebraska isn’t going to win many games if it continues to play that poorly, and Mike Riley might be shown the door earlier than expected.
- A once-promising season now looks a lot gloomier for Maryland after freshman quarterback Kasim Hill went down in Saturday’s game against UCF. He’s the second Terrapin QB to go down, along with Tyrrell Pigrome. If Hill is out for a substantial amount of time, Maryland is going to have a tough time winning games and may have trouble hitting that all-important six-win mark.
- Offensive woes are still a concern at Michigan, but it’s fair to say this defense was wildly underrated when the season started. Everyone looked at the 10 lost starters and assumed it would be a rebuilding year. Don Brown has proved all the critics wrong. The Wolverines still have a championship-caliber defense.
- Purdue is still ahead of schedule but some of the hype was quieted after a 28-10 loss to Michigan. The Boilermakers may not stun anyone this year, but there are still a handful of winnable games left on the schedule. It’s still a possibility that Jeff Brohm leads this team to bowl eligibility at the end of the season.
Maybe this week didn’t give us quite as much insight as we’d hoped, but we still got a better idea of where each team stands. Has it altered our opinion of where each team will land this postseason? Just slightly.
Here’s the B1G bowl projections after Week 4:
- Heart of Dallas Bowl: Indiana vs. UTSA
- Pinstripe Bowl: Michigan State vs. Pitt
- Foster Farms Bowl: Northwestern vs. Stanford
- Holiday Bowl: Iowa vs. Colorado
- Music City Bowl: Purdue vs. Vanderbilt
- Outback Bowl: Minnesota vs. Auburn
- Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Mississippi State
- Cotton Bowl: Ohio State vs. Georgia
- Orange Bowl: Michigan vs. Virginia Tech
- College Football Playoff: (No. 3) Penn State vs. (No. 2) Clemson
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB