Big Ten Football Stock Report: The Regular Season is Over

For some of us, college football season is over and it’s time to start focusing on the winter sports. Whether that is basketball, hockey, wrestling, or some other non-rev sport I didn’t mention, you may have done that already if your team’s season ended this past weekend. Let’s take a look and see how everyone finished after this weekend:

Stock Up

Ohio State Buckeyes - You won The Game. Taking Michigan to double overtime only seemed fitting given that they needed to win to go to the CCG. The fake punt was a little headscratching and you needed some luck on the non-measurement of the 4th down play in 2OT but you did what you had to in order to position yourself for a CFP birth. Next up: Waiting for CFP Selection.

Wisconsin Badgers - You kept the Axe even though through most of the game it didn’t look like you should. Perhaps locking up the CCG bid made you look past Minnesota a bit so don’t make the same mistakes this week since you got your dream opponent out of the East and avoided rematches with Michigan or OSU. Next up: Penn State.

Penn State Nittany Lions - Different week, same story: Penn State is either down at half or played a completely uninspiring first half only to come out in the second half and blast their opponent. This week it was to lock up a spot in the CCG after OSU defeated Michigan in double OT. Wisconsin’s defense is much better than MSU, so you should probably work on that whole game effort to try to win in Indy. Next up: Wisconsin.

Iowa Hawkeyes - So I guess the end of the season was when it all started coming together? After a pretty uninspiring effort after Kirk Ferentz was signed up to a long term deal you guys decided you’d end on a positive note and beat two ranked teams? Well, I guess it’ll give some uninformed fans some false hope by pointing to progress as the season went on. Next up: Waiting on bowl selection.

Indiana Hoosiers - Two straight years of bowl eligibility! When is the last time that occurred for you guys? 90’s sometime? In football talk, allowing Purdue to hang around that long probably isn’t a great idea when you’re playing to be bowl eligible. Next up: Waiting on bowl selection.

Northwestern Wildcats - Doubling up Illinois in the Hat game? Nice. Justin Jackson The Ball Carrier had a strong performance on the ground tallying up 3 TDs and surpassing 150 yards, matching Illinois total scoring output in the game. Next up: Waiting on bowl selection.

Maryland Terrapins - Stock is up after beating Rutgers? Yep. Mainly because it literally had no other direction to go after getting blasted three of the past four weeks. Perry Hills returned and the offense looked like it knew what to do again, which was run the damn ball. Next up: Waiting on bowl selection.

Stock Holding

Michigan Wolverines - That’s a tough way to end your regular season, in double OT against your hated rival no less. We could all do with a little less whining from your head coach though. It was an iffy call and definitely deserved a measurement but his sideline temper tantrum earlier in the game was just as bad as his complaining afterwards. Next up: Waiting on which NY6 bowl you go to.

Purdue Boilermakers - You should probably be in stock down mode for losing the bucket game but in a day where everyone else but you and Michigan were easily handled I just couldn’t do it. Where do you go from here? The next few days should give us an idea of where the coaching search is going and hopefully it doesn’t drag on forever. Next up: Basketball season.

Stock Down

Minnesota Golden Gophers - It feels weird that an 8-4 team feels this uninspiring. The reality is you are 8-4, which is most likely enough to placate calls for Claeys’ head that will undoubtedly infuriate a lot of the fan base. Derping away the lead in the Axe game didn’t help matters. Next up: bowl selection time.

Michigan State Spartans - We were all hopeful, for a half that is. You guys got absolutely blasted in the second half and it wasn’t pretty. Where do you go from here? Certainly it’s just one down season after half a decade or so of success, so the HC isn’t going anywhere. Coordinators? Who knows. Next up: basketball season.

Nebraska Cornhuskers - That was ugly. Iowa isn’t even good this year but, then again, perhaps you guys are just a reflection of an easy schedule and a ranking to start the season (unlike Minnesota). One assistant coach is already gone from special teams but will there be anymore staff shakeup? Next up: bowl selection time.

Illinois Fighting Illini - That was a rough season and you guys are in complete rebuild mode. Let’s hope that having a former NFL coach as your head coach somehow helps with recruiting because some talent influx is needed all over. Next up: basketball season (wait, don’t look there either..)

Rutgers Scarlet Knights - See Illinois write up, change NFL coach to young, up and coming head coach. Next up: shrug.emoji. I’d tell you basketball season but we’re all waiting for that to implode.