I might have expected the conference to go 10-1 in the first week. I just didn't expect the losing team to be Illinois. And didn't expect it to be by 184 points! But I think the Illini follow in line with the theme that developed from Week 1: It didn't clarify much.
I can't tell you if Week 1 means Illinois is bad, because for all we know Missouri is really good. Only USC and Oklahoma have won more games than the Tigers the last two seasons. And they have arguably the most hyped recruit in program history now starting for them at QB. Maybe the Illini lost to a team that's going to the Big 12 title game again. Not enough evidence yet.
I can't tell you if Ohio State fans should be nervous, because Navy is so funky that they always gives teams trouble. Some stuff in that game was a fluke. Navy QBs threw for six TD passes last year but threw for two in this game. Jim Tressel could have kicked a 32-yard field goal to make it a three-score game but for some reason didn't. He himself called it "a huge mistake in my mind." Maybe we should focus on the fact they held the Midshipmen to more than 100 yards below last year's average rushing yards per game. Maybe this was just an odd game against an unconventional team.
Not enough evidence yet.
I can't tell you if Minnesota looked bad against a Syracuse team that last year played as ugly as homemade sin … or if Minnesota got a win on the road against a BCS conference school that's energized over a new QB and a new head coach.
Not enough evidence yet.
I can't tell you if Tate Forcier, Mike Kakfa, Kirk Cousins, Joey Elliot and Scott Tolzien are the answers at QB for their respective schools? They haven't really played against competition that's all that good.
Not enough evidence yet.
I can't tell you if Iowa wouldn't have been biting their nails if Ricky Stanzi didn't shave his beard. Not enough evidence … actually I can say that's entirely on the facial hair.
But we might start to know answers to some of those questions as soon as this time next week. 'Cause as I mentioned in the last blog here, Week 2 is enormous.
The jewel in the crown of this week's slate is OSU-USC. But it feels like the luster is not as strong here as it should be. AA win for the Buckeyes does a tremendous amount for national perception of the Big Ten. A loss does almost as much damage. I want to say the key is Terrelle Pryor, but no. I think the key is the running game. If Boom and Zoom can get yards on the ground early, that will take pressure off of the Buckeye QB and open up the USC field for him. Of course, that's an awful lot easier said than done.
But how exciting is the Notre Dame vs. Michigan game, eh? Two struggling programs last year and now both come off easy wins. The first shutout in Charlie Weis' career. The biggest win by point differential in Rich Rod's Michigan career. Granted, neither Nevada or Western Michigan is going to a BCS bowl game any time soon. But still the combined score of those two openers was 66-7. This Michigan-ND rivalry game could be fun again.
And it's not as important nationally as the other two I just mentioned, but man am I looking forward to the Minnesota game. I just hated watching games in the dome. It had no character. It always felt gray watching those games. Stale. Boring. Bleh. If they built a bad outdoor stadium I'd be happy for the change, but by all accounts this new one is fantastic. It will be very refreshing to watch the sun out on a Gopher home game. (Or, since Saturday night's debut is in prime time, to at least watch the wind affect the ball).
Also, assuming it's a trend, Minnesota will apparently face Steve Wojciechowski at QB this week.
FINAL NUGGET: Just so Iowa fans know, the officials called everything right last week. The rules state that if a kick is not on fourth down, and that kick does not cross the line of scrimmage, the kicking team can recover the ball. That's according to rule 6, section 3, article 1 on page FR 89. It also says in rule 3, article 2, number 8 on page FR 70 that the clock stops and doesn't start again until the following snap on the end of a legal kick. That's what that was. Confusing, but they did it right. |
