B1G Week 12 Recap

The conference had another embarrassing week, this time with Ohio State even getting into the action.  What was once thought to be a brutal November for the Legends Division has all but been decided.

Good surprise:
Wisconsin has realized that it needs style points to be considered for a BCS at large berth, and they got some on Saturday.  I expected the Badgers to hang 50 on the Hoosiers, but I didn’t expect Indiana to be held to 3 points. Even though the 51 points was the least Wisconsin has scored in the past 3 meetings, this was the most impressive win.  It looks like both sides are clicking at the right time for the Badgers. Now they just need some help from teams in front of them. 

Bad surprise:
Ohio State’s defense surrendered 35 points to an Illinois team that hasn’t won a conference game in 2 years. It’s not just that the Illini scored a lot of points, it was how they scored them.  The Buckeyes gave up 4 solid drives, and 420 yards.  Illinois found weaknesses in the Ohio State defense, and were actually able to exploit them.  What would a good offense that has a month to prepare be able to do against the Buckeyes, say in a bowl game?

Penn State defense has littered the bad surprise section for much of the season, but they reached a new low on Saturday.  The Nittany Lions gave up 21 points to Purdue, one of the worst teams in the nation. I know Penn State has some depth issues, specifically in the defensive secondary, but giving up 21 points to the worst offense in the conference is just embarrassing.

I expected the Nebraska offense to be stymied by Michigan State, but I didn’t expect them to have 5 unforced turnovers. After watching the Huskers play Michigan, I lost any respect I had for that team.  I thought they were bad, but like Michigan, had an inflated record because of the absolute joke of a conference. I would have taken MSU if the line was 14 (I would have lost). I never imagined the Huskers to be able to move the ball against the Spartans, and that they would shoot themselves in the foot on 5 separate occasions. So maybe the offensive game plan and some execution should fall under the ‘good surprise’ section, but the 5 ridiculous turnovers overshadows anything good Nebraska was able to do.  

Week 12 conference rankings:
1. Ohio State (no change)
2. Wisconsin (no change)
3. Michigan State (no change)
4. Minnesota (no change)
5. Nebraska (no change)
6. Iowa (no change)
7. Michigan (no change)
8. Indiana (up 1)
9. Penn State (down 1)
10. Northwestern (no change)
11. Illinois (no change)
12. Purdue (no change)