Around the Empire: October 18, 2023

Last weekend, I traveled the length and breadth of the Capital Beltway to College Park, MD to watch what was likely going to be another brutal Illinois loss, in October rain, no less. But hey, the rain stayed away, October Maryland showed up, and the Illini won on a walkoff field goal. Dreams really do come true!

If you also spent your weekend avoiding inclement weather or inclement football (looking at you, Iowa-Wisconsin), here’s what you might have missed from around the Big Ten and beyond.

Scores:

Michigan Wolverines 52, Indiana Hoosiers 7

Ohio State Buckeyes 41, Purdue Boilermakers 7

Penn State Nittany Lions 63, Massachusetts Minutemen 0

Rutgers Scarlet Knights 27, Michigan State Spartans 24

Iowa Hawkeyes 15, Wisconsin Badgers 6

Illinois Fighting Illini 27, Maryland Terrapins 24

Football coverage from Off Tackle Empire:

• GoForThree provides the snark and the rest of us chime in with our thoughts in Sunday Morning Coming Down.

• Dead Read analyzes the charts and dares to review the Poisoned Chalice that is the race for the B1G West in this week’s Stock Report.

• Michigan rolls for 52 straight points after digging an 0-7 hole in the first quarter against Indiana. Brian Gillis breaks down the mollywhopping.

• Thump returns with a midseason lookback at the most idiotic events from this season in Fall’s Tarts!

• Vaudvillain compares the offenses across the conference against the infamous Ferentz Line. Only one B1G West team cleared the threshold this week.

• GTom takes a look at the Howard University Showtime Marching Band and rates the B1G bands in another Off Beat Empire. Stick around for the phenomenal Pink Floyd routine from Illinois.

• Don’t forget to get your choices in for Survivor and for the ATS picks games. Green 96 and Ziowa09, thank you for continuing to organize those!

• And for your scheduling purposes, be sure to check out Kind Of...’s Big Ten volleyball preview, including this week’s massive Nebraska-Wisconsin matchup on Saturday night, as well as MNWildcat’s Midweek Don’t Watch This; Watch That. We’ll be watching the FIU-Sam Houston game at the AlmaOtter household. I blame my gambling problem.

Off Tackle Empire previews the upcoming basketball season:

• OTE continues its basketball preview series with the Cardiac Cats of Penn State and the Knights of Jersey at Rutgers! If you’ve missed the other teams, take a look at Minnesota, Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Nebrasketball.

• BoilerUp89 continues his review of the Big Ten’s non-conference scheduling with the programs honored with a B, as well as the three schools receiving Cs, like the cowards they are. And if you missed it, catch up with the three schools receiving Ds. At least they didn’t get Fs like Penn State and Minnesota. Just a few more weeks until basketball season mercifully begins.

Two Truths and a Lie: Harbaugh Edition

Hey, a new segment! Stealing a bit from a blogger from long ago (shoutout to @clubtrillion), I’m going to present two real Harbaugh quotes from this week’s press conference, along with one made-up quote. See if you can spot the lie!

Big Ten Football:

• L.C. Norton at The Crimson Quarry looks at former Indiana team captain and QB Jack Tuttle’s transfer from the Hoosiers to Ann Arbor. Norton wishes Tuttle Time well, but it must have been bittersweet to watch him score a TD against Indiana this weekend.

• Tanner Mordecai has a broken hand and will likely miss the remainder of the season, according to Bucky’s 5th Quarter writer Rohan Chakravarthi. I will not be cheering for Wisconsin when they come down to Champaign this weekend, but damn, that’s a tough loss. Get well soon, Tanner.

• Robert Rosenthal at the Illini Board provides his usual expert breakdown of the Illini win over Maryland. Field position matters, punting is winning.

• From Ryan Nanni at Homefield’s Buried Treasure newsletter, a fantastic history deep-dive into Nebraska kicker Dale Klein and his game-saving and record-setting day in 1985. Seven field goal attempts, seven made to win 28-20 over Missouri.

• On the Banks writer Francis Hearne was there live at SHI Stadium in the SHI weather to take in the epic comeback win over the Spartans. The feeling he describes is precisely why we watch this game.

• Couldn’t have made this point better myself. Ryan Cole at Inside NU pens a requiem for the B1G West in its final year of existence. It’s been a fun ride.

• While I am loathe to speak positively of the Iowa Hawkeyes, even I have to admit that the Crossover in Kinnick event from this Sunday was monumentally awesome. Iowa didn’t just beat the previous record for attendance at a women’s basketball game; they smashed it by nearly double. And Caitlin Clark drilled a three from damn near mid-court, Iowa prairie wind and all. Bartt Pierce at Black Heart Gold Pants recaps it here, and BHGP’s Jerry Scherwin writes a truly beautiful letter to his daughters on the importance of the game.

Have a good week, all. It’s almost Saturday.