It was a week full of competitive matchups in the Big Ten. All of the highly anticipated games lived up to the hype and then some. Other than Ohio State reassuring the country the Buckeyes are still the No. 1 team in the country with a win over Washington, every other game came down to the wire.
Here are the scores from this weekend in Big Ten football for Week 5 along with my breakdown for each team:
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Illinois 34-32 vs USC
USC deserved this loss due to all of the major issues they let go unchecked just because they got wins. The Trojans are a talented team and were the more talented team in this matchup but they still are very undisciplined. Bret Bielema knows how to win these type of games. Illinois bullied the Trojans the entire game and it was clear they knew how to beat the Trojans from the beggining.
Minnesota 31-28 vs Rutgers
This was a battle, both teams kept responding to each other’s scores. Without their two top running backs, the Gophers had to lean on freshman quarterback Drake Lindsey to deliver. Lindsey did not disappoint, he lit up the Scarlet Knights defense. Lindsay threw for 324 yards and three touchdowns. Athan Kaliakmanis played well enough to get his revenge on his former team but there was no question Lindsey was the best quarterback on the field.
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Ohio State 24-6 vs Washington
Ohio State’s defense continues it’s dominance as they stunned the Huskies in a one sided game. The Buckeyes defense is good enough to do this to everybody they face. The Buckeyes have allowed just 22 points in 4 games. The Buckeyes offense has the leisure of doing whatever they want because the defense is good enough to win games on their own. Things seem to be trending towards an Ohio State versus Oregon Big Ten Championship game and a National Championship matchup.
Northwestern 17-14 vs UCLA
As expected UCLA is the worst team in the Big Ten. But not by much as it took a lot for the Northwestern Wildcats to take down the Bruins. I don’t know what there is to gain for fans to continue to watch this Bruins football team.
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Indiana 20-15 vs Iowa
Iowa would have much rather loss just like Illinois lost last week instead of losing a game like this. Iowa at one point in this game had an 80% percent chance of winning this game. Iowa’s little mistakes in this game cost them big in this loss. Good football teams will always capitalize off of the opposing teams mistakes no matter how bad they are playing. With a hostile environment this game was always going to be close but Iowa should of came away with this one. Not only did they lose this game but starting quarterback Mark Gronowski is not hurt too. Tough break for the Hawkeyes and the Hoosiers are letting out a huge sigh of relief.
Oregon 30-24 vs Penn State
This game did in fact live up to the hype. The Oregon Ducks proved they are a force to be reckon with this season in college football. They can win in hostile environments. This maybe Dan Lanning’s best chance to win a championship, with how good this Ducks roster is. Once again James Franklin has proven his teams will always come up short in the big games. Drew Allar is not living up to all the preseason hype and he got outplayed by potentially the best quarterback in the country in Dante Moore Jr.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Biggest winners and losers from Week 5 in Big Ten football
