Big Ten Week 2 Stock Report

I’m sure only a third of you will read this, but the stock report is how each team ranks relative to how they were expected to do going into the game. Did they do better than expected? As expected? Let you down?

Stock Up

Maryland Terrapins - Yeah yeah, The Terps played an FCS team. The Terps also broke in a true freshman at QB and dropped 63 on Towson with Kasim Hill going 13/16 for 163 and 2 TDs with 41 yards rushing and key blocks down field. I will take that out of a true freshman QB any day of the week. Hill looked unfazed in his first start and was extremely accurate in his throws with 2 of his 3 misses counted as pass drops from the WRs. Next up: Bye

Purdue Boilermakers - I most likely said something similar last week regarding Purdue....but Purdue? Competent football? You’ve quickly moved from perennial 13th/14th place holder in power rankings to looking like you could ruin some seasons and finish not last in the west. Next up: Missouri

Indiana Hoosiers - It’s not the win I wanted where you blow the doors off of Virginia but you were never not in control of this game. Cobbs is a legit WR and it appears that you’ve found someone to finally usurp Lagow. Next up: FIU

Penn State Nittany Lions - I really don’t know what you guys are doing with Barkley returning kicks as he showed once again that he is your best player on the field and it isn’t close. Still, the defense held Pitt to under 350 total yards and shut out Pitt in the second half and Barkley averaged over 6 ypc. Next up: Georgia State

Michigan State Spartans - I’ll admit, I thought you all were going to blow this and lose outright to WMU. Strong win against a legit G5 team and even better that you almost topped 300 yards rushing as a team while Lewerke looked serviceable in the pocket. Next up: Bye

Illinois Fighting Illini - I think a majority of the “writing” staff here picked WKU to win outright, so winning and covering was a solid day. I didn’t watch, par for the course, but the defense looks like it thoroughly shut down WKU and there were no Thump meltdowns to be seen in our Slack chat other than during a late drive for WKU. Progress. Next up: USF

Minnesota Golden Gophers - That is what we thought the boat rowers should have done last week. After taking a 4-point lead into the half, Minnesota came out and blanked Oregon State in the 2nd half while putting up 28 of their own points en route to a 48-14 victory. Next up: Middle Tennessee State

Stock Holding

Michigan Wolverines - One could argue stock down (measuring against expectations) given how close this game was through the 3rd quarter thanks to another week of abysmal offensive play by Michigan. Once again the defense carried the load, keeping Cincinnati from ever getting into the game, as well as contributing some scoring itself. Top scoring defense in the nation candidate? Next up: Air Force

Wisconsin Badgers - Jonathan Taylor’s amazing afternoon aside, this game shouldn’t have been this close and you didn’t cover the spread either. I’m sure I’ll get some flack for not having you in stock up but quite honestly I expected another 59-10 outing and I’m sure most Wisconsin fans did too. Next up: BYU

Iowa Hawkeyes - Well, that happened. A late two-minute drive to close regulation with a TD was required to get to OT and the defense finally held, allowing a FG to give the offense the chance to win it all. And win it all they did. I don’t know what it is about Iowa State that makes this game closer than it should be but y’all have some legit hate for each other and watching both fan bases go at it is great. Next up: North Texas

Stock Down

rutger Scarlet Knights - LOL. Just lol. Way to give EMU their first Big Ten victory in 39 tries and their first P5 victory ever. I was assured last week that rutger was “back” in the sense that they weren’t the league’s doormat...but then they went and proved otherwise. I see 1-11 in your future. Next up: Morgan State.

Nebraska Cornhuskers - Well, you lost and the first half wasn’t pretty at all but there are positives. The defense looked much better in the 2nd half and kept the game in striking distance but the lead was just too big for y’all to overcome. I think after the first six quarters of the season most Nebraska fans will take that. Next up: Northern Illinois

Ohio State Buckeyes - Is J.T. Barrett B1G football’s version of Melo Trimble where he peaked his freshman year and gets worse every year after? Next up: Army

Screw you, you lost to Duke Category

Northwestern Wildcats - Way to not only lose to Duke but also get yourself blown out in the process. MNW wants his money back for the drive he made because lol that was more money than the $9 ticket to the game since no one goes to Duke football games. Next up: Bowling Green