Sunday, Feb 23, 2025

Big Ten Week Two Superlatives


Syndication: The Des Moines Register
Bryon Houlgrave/The Register via Imagn Content Services, LLC

We take a look around the conference to find the best and worst of week two.

Week two of the college football season is officially in the rearview mirror and now we turn our attention to week three. But before we do so, let’s take a look at some superlatives from around the Big Ten this past weekend.

Most Impressive Win: Iowa (27-17 win over No. 9 Iowa State)

The Hawkeyes entering this game as four-point underdogs seemed like the easiest bet of the week and they proved it was just that on Saturday. The Hawkeyes dominated the Cyclones en route to a 27-17 victory.

Worst Loss: Illinois (42-14 loss to Virginia)

Only two Big Ten teams lost this week, Illinois and Ohio State (35-28 to Oregon). That being said, Illinois’s loss to Virginia was just as bad as the score indicates. The Illini allowed 556 total yards in the game including 423 passing yards. The game was over by halftime and the Illini never stood a chance. After opening the season with a win over Nebraska, it’s been a tough two weeks for the Illini.

Most surprising result: Ohio State (35-28 loss to Oregon)

As most were, I was personally expecting Ohio State to beat Oregon comfortably on Saturday. But as soon as that game started, you had a feeling that Ohio State may finally get tripped up under Ryan Day in the regular season. The Buckeyes offense will be fine going forward, C.J Stroud is a perfectly fine quarterback, he can get the job done but he’s not spectacular that’s for sure. That Ohio State defense, however, needs to find some answers. Or not. Don’t think anyone outside of Columbus would be complaining if they aren’t up to par this season.

Best offensive performance: Purdue (49-0 win over UConn)

Technically Maryland scored the most points but Purdue was very impressive against UConn on Saturday. Now, UConn is basically an FCS program at this point but the Boilermakers put up 562 yards of total offense in their shutout victory including 375 yards through the air.

Best offensive play: Michigan State’s flea-flicker

I was personally at the Penn State game Saturday so I didn’t get to see many plays from around the Big Ten or around the country. That being said, I’m a fan of flea flickers so the Spartans get the nod here.

Best defensive play: Jesse Luketa’s one-handed pick-six

This is a homer pick. Yeah, I said it. But what a play out of Jesse Luketa on his pick-six.

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By: Dylan Callaghan-Croley
Title: Big Ten Week Two Superlatives
Sourced From: www.blackshoediaries.com/2021/9/13/22670758/big-ten-conference-football-week-2-superlatives-2021-jesse-luketa-penn-state-oregon-ohio-state
Published Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2021 13:43:14 +0000

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