Week 7 Big Ten Stock Report

Sorry for the late report....under the weather this weekend and the kiddo’s birthday party put me behind. Here we are after Week 7:

Stock Up:

Ohio State Buckeyes - Ohio State continues to roll and destroy teams in attempts to ensure that their one loss is forgotten by the time the Playoff Selection Committee starts meeting. Combine that with losses in the ACC and Pac 12 to their contenders and I’d say they are firmly in that Top 4. Next up: bye.

Northwestern Wildcats - Northwestern dink and dunk’ed down the field all day long on a Maryland defense that couldn’t generate a pass rush and yet refused to get out of the soft zone that gave Thorson all day to hit those underneath routes. The defense contained a generally potent Maryland rushing attack and enjoyed playing against a 4th string QB all day. Next up: Iowa.

Michigan Wolverines - I mean...I guess? I was super surprised as I sat there drinking to see Michigan had put up 13 points in the first half but their defense let Indiana back into the game in the 4th quarter and forced OT, relatively speaking. Still, Harbaugh will take the conference win, even with only 58 yards passing from his starter. Yikes. Next up: Penn State.

Michigan State Spartans - Is that...another LJ Scott fumble?! Fumble aside, Scott powered the Michigan State offense Saturday night in the rain, going for 194 and 2 TDs with only that fumble as the blemish on the stat sheet. Next up: Indiana.

Wisconsin Badgers - The score is a bit misleading as this game was never in doubt thanks to a stout Wisconsin defense. Purdue could never get going and a pair of TDs from Jonathan Taylor and Hornibrook in the 1st quarter was all that was needed to smother Purdue. Next up: Maryland.

rutger Scarlet Knights - I think I said that rutger wouldn’t win another game. Thanks Illinois for proving me wrong but I enjoyed many laughs at the tailgate at your expense. I won’t even pretend I caught highlights of this game but the stat sheet tells me the run was open all day long. Next up: Purdue.

Stock Holding

Indiana Hoosiers - The offense was late in showing up to the game but Indiana has once again showed that they can keep pace with the tops of the conference even in a loss. As a Maryland fan, that is the next step for us and yet something we haven’t been able to achieve...maybe next year. Indiana is still that darkhorse that keeps popping up as a team that could knock off someone at the top. Will they next week? Next up: Michigan State.

Minnesota Golden Gophers - In a rain soaked game, the Gophers looked completely defeated before speed rowing in the 4th quarter to make things interesting. Too little, too late to show life when down 17. Next up: Illinois.

Iowa Hawkeyes - bye.

Penn State Nittany Lions - bye. Arguably stock up with the Clemson loss giving PSU the #2 spot.

Stock Down

Maryland Terrapins - That was a horrendous performance on defense. Stew tells me I shouldn’t be mad as it’s hard to prepare for Northwestern’s offense if it is rolling like that. I disagree. We didn’t even get to see if an adjustment would have helped because one never came. There was no pass rush and the secondary sat in a soft zone all day and never waivered from it. Horrendous. Oh, and if anyone is wondering, Ty Johnson had to play QB for a few plays because Bortenschlager got hurt...again. Next up: Wisconsin.

Purdue Boilermakers - After a great start, the Boilermakers are starting to slow down and attempt to avoid going off the rails. It doesn’t help that Purdue has played two smothering defenses the last two weeks so I’m not going to pass judgment on that given their rebuild status. Still, the offense needs to get rolling again to gain some steam and dare I say, keep bowl hopes alive. Next up: rutger.

Nebraska Cornhuskers - Yep...Ohio State’s latest victim in their bid to stay in the playoff picture. That buzzsaw hurts. Next up: bye.

Penny Stock Not Worth Touching

Illinois Fighting Illini - Um. Well. That happened. You lost to rutger when no one thought that was possible this year. I didn’t think it was that bad but I also thought no P5 team could lose to rutger this year. RIP Thump’s liver. Next up: Minnesota.