Big Ten Superlatives: Week 8

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Most eyes were on Columbus, but other things happened in the conference on Saturday

Best Win of the Week: Minnesota 12, Iowa 10

A Big Ten coach went on the road Saturday against a longstanding rival/nemesis and came away with a spirited win. Yep. Not the one we wanted. P.J. Fleck’s crew out-Iowa’d Iowa and won against the Hawkeyes for the first time since 1999.

Worst Loss of the Week: Penn State falls at Ohio State

There are plenty of other posts on this blog dedicated to this one. No new insight here. This one was tough.

Offensive Player of the Week: Marvin Harrison, Jr., Ohio State

A few weeks ago in this very spot, I pleaded with Manny Diaz to devise a gameplan to not let Harrison torch the Lions. Please, I asked, anyone else. Chris asked much the same here earlier today. But there was Harrison with a career-high 11 catches for 162 yards and a score. Harrison was named Big Ten Player of the Week by the conference for the second time in three weeks.

Defensive Player of the Week: Tyler Nubin, Minnesota

As you’ll continue to read, Minnesota and Iowa was the other notable game in a week of blah around the conference. Nubin earned conference player of the week honors on defense thanks to his performance that included a sack, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery as the Gophers won a defensive struggle.

Offensive Play of the Week: Nebraska goes into a time machine

The Huskers came away with a low-scoring win at home against Northwestern. This fourth quarter touchdown looked like something straight out of Tom Osborne’s playbook.

Defensive Play of the Week: The aforementioned strip sack

Nubin was mentioned earlier - here’s his biggest play

Most Big Ten Thing of the Week: Michigan State Somehow Gets Worse

Michigan State lost 49-0 on national television Saturday night. Michigan State has an interim coach because of the Mel Tucker saga. Somewhow, Michigan State did something even more embarrassing on Saturday night - letting a Hitler trivia question show on its video board pregame.

Most Big Ten West Thing of the Week: Wisconsin right back in the race

The Badgers are home Saturday night against the Buckeyes, but at least for a week Wisky is back on top in the West. Wisconsin trailed most of the game in Champaign last Saturday, but found a way to rally and come away with a win against the Illini.

Most Iowa Thing of the Week: Punt return called back

It looked like Iowa had done it again - trailing 12-10 in the closing moments, the Hawkeyes sent back Mr. Everything-for-them Cooper DeJean back to return a punt. DeJean took back that punt for a score, but the officials determined that DeJean had given a signal to his teammates to get away from the ball that caused any subsequent return to be nullified. Kinnick fans showed displeasure by throwing trash all over the field.

What We’re Looking Forward to the Most: Punt Week

Check that. We saw plenty on Saturday in Columbus. I’m not looking forward to more.

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By: Bennett765
Title: Big Ten Superlatives: Week 8
Sourced From: www.blackshoediaries.com/2023/10/23/23928739/big-ten-superlatives-week-8-2023-penn-state-ohio-state
Published Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2023 16:42:30 +0000

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