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Show Me Saturday: We’ll find out a lot about several B1G teams in Week 5
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Break out the steno pads and ink pens, ladies and gentlemen, we’re about to do some learning this weekend.
Saturday marks the first week of the college football season in which the schedule is constructed primarily of B1G matchups — six conference games are on the slate with Iowa being the only team suiting up against a non-league foe (Middle Tennessee). Illinois gets a week to lick its wounds from a 42-38 loss to Nebraska.
And while the Week 5 slate isn’t filled with those premier top 25 showdowns from start to finish, this week presents some really interesting matchups for a lot of B1G teams. Four games in particular seem to have that “we’ll find out what this team is all about” aspect.
These kind of weeks are always pretty interesting, especially early in the year.
Ohio State and Penn State — both ranked in the top 12 — are both traveling this weekend. Minnesota, Purdue and Maryland are all playing their first B1G games of the season. There’s a lot we’re about to discover this weekend.
I’m taking a look at the four B1G games on the schedule that will hopefully give us some clarity on a team’s identity — even if we thought we already knew what it was. The two B1G games that are omitted are Northwestern-Wisconsin and Rutgers-Michigan. There’s probably not much we’ll learn from either of those two contests — though I have been wrong before.
Here’s what I’ll be looking for from these eight B1G teams, and what we might be learning on Saturday.
#12 Penn State (3-0) vs. Maryland (2-1)
The rivalry game that isn’t really a rivalry game. For the first time since 2015, it feels like Maryland may have the weaponry on both sides of the football to compete with Penn State. And that’s a good thing, because the last two years, the Terrapins have been outscored 104-6. There’s been very little competitiveness in this annual matchup the last three years.
Show me Maryland: The final score may not have reflected it, but Temple’s defense thumped Maryland pretty good two weeks ago. It was quite the change of ace after dropping 142 points in the first two games of the season. Now, Mike Locksley’s group has suffered through that reality check and has had two weeks to prepare for a top 15 Penn State team. This game is on Maryland’s home turf in a Friday night contest. Ticket demand was so high, the athletic department had to bring in more seating for students. How do the Terrapins handle that kind of pressure? Maryland doesn’t necessarily have to win this game to prove the first two games were a fluke, but it does need to show up and put up a competitive effort against a quality team at home.
Show me Penn State: How does Penn State’s young roster — particularly first-year starting quarterback Sean Clifford — handle the first road game of the season? And in a “Blackout” with a raucous crowd, this challenge shouldn’t be undersold. It’s one of the major questions we had about the Nittany Lions this season, whether or not a group of relatively young and inexperienced players would be able to put together consistent performances on a weekly basis in the B1G. This is the first of many challenges Penn State faces this season. We’ll see how quickly they’ve crown up on Friday.
Minnesota (3-0) vs. Purdue (1-2)
P.J. Fleck and Jeff Brohm are both in their third years with their respective programs and both seem to be headed in the right direction. Expectations are just a touch different this year, though. Minnesota has been thought to be a challenger in the B1G West and Purdue may be a fringe bowl team. Both teams have struggled through three games, but Minnesota has found a way to get to 3-0 while Purdue sits at 1-2. Still, this feels like a game that could determine the direction both teams are heading the rest of the season.
Show me Minnesota: Offensive line play has been a concern for the Golden Gophers every week this season. And not just a small one, either. Minnesota had a week off after flirting with disaster in each of its first three games, and Fleck took some time to self-scout his team and improve on the areas that have been troublesome early. Will we really see a drastic improvement on that front line after just one week off, though? Yes, it’s been good that the Gophers have found ways to win at the end of games, but they’ve struggled to block Group of Five defensive lines. Saturday’s trip to West Lafayette will probably give us a pretty good indication of whether or not this group can handle a B1G defensive front.
Show me Purdue: I know Brohm has gained fame as a quarterback guru and a guy who loves to throw the football around the field, but Purdue isn’t going to win a lot of games if it can’t run the football, especially if Elijah Sindelar isn’t under center. The Boilermakers are averaging 50 yards per game through three contests on the ground — which is horrendous. To compound the problem, Purdue’s defense has had little success stopping the run. That combination will often times leave you sitting at home during bowl season. Brohm used the week off to have his team practice on physicality and aggressiveness. It’ll be interesting to see how that translates on Saturday against a Minnesota team that has a bevy of ball carriers.
Indiana (3-1) vs. #25 Michigan State (3-1)
You want to talk about an interesting matchup, this might be the best of the bunch. Michigan State has looked pretty good in wins against Tulsa, Western Michigan and Northwestern. Indiana has been solid against Ball State, Eastern Illinois and UConn. The Spartans laid an egg against Arizona State and the Hoosiers got blown off their home field by Ohio State. Through four games, it’s hard to get a good beat on either team. Hence, why this game is so interesting.
Show me Indiana: On paper, Indiana has the talent to go on the road and beat a team like Michigan State. But, as the saying goes, there’s a reason the games aren’t played on paper. In wins over Eastern Illinois and UConn, the Hoosiers looked like a B1G team, stepping on the throats of their opponents when their down, and refusing to lift the boot. That’s not always been the case in Bloomington. Now, it’s time to do it against one of the big boys. IU’s defense has really been a liability early, missing easy tackles and failing to get many takeaways early in the year. So far, Michigan State’s offense has shown some serious weaknesses. If the IU defense can’t slow down the Spartans, there are going to be some serious red flags flying.
Show me Michigan State: Which offense can we believe? The one we saw against Western Michigan and Northwestern? Or the one we saw against Arizona State and Tulsa? Maybe somewhere in the middle. We know exactly who the defense is, but the offense is still a complete mystery. The Spartans have a great running back in Elijah Collins, Darrell Stewart is the B1G’s leading receiver and Brian Lewerke looks more like his sophomore self, which is a good thing. Consistency is key, though. Can the MSU offense really get this thing rolling and put together consecutive strong performances? Or is this going to be a hot-and-cold situation all year long?
#5 Ohio State (4-0) vs. Nebraska (3-1)
The game everyone will have their eyes on in the B1G this weekend. Most will say this is Nebraska’s opportunity to make a statement and show it’s trending in the right direction. But this is also a chance for Ryan Day, Justin Fields and company to step out from behind Urban Meyer’s shadow and prove they’re one of the four best teams in the country right now. There’s a lot riding on this game for both teams, even if Nebraska isn’t quite where we all expected it to be at this point in the year.
Show me Ohio State: Truth be told, the Buckeyes have pretty much proved everything they wanted to through four games. Fields is the real deal, the defense is 100 percent better and the talent at the skill positions is still unbelievable. But how does this group handle the spotlight in a primetime matchup on the road? With games against Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State and Wisconsin on the schedule, Ohio State has to be comfortable playing in these kind of games the rest of the year. We’ll see how they handle Act 1.
Show me Nebraska: Can the Huskers play a complete game? We’ve seen flashes of the defense playing really well — primarily against South Alabama and Northern Illinois. The offense has been dynamic in games against Northern Illinois and Illinois. There’s plenty of talent on the field with Adrian Martinez at quarterback and Wan’Dale Robinson, Maurice Washington, Dedrick Mills and JD Spielman all having big roles in the offense. But competing with a team like Ohio State takes discipline and playing mistake-free football for 60 minutes. We haven’t seen that yet. Nebraska doesn’t have to pull off the upset, but playing a clean game for four quarters sure would go a long way for this team.
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