With Penn State in Trouble, Can OSU Win the Big Ten?

Following the ridiculous problems going on at Penn St, Ohio St seems to be in control of their own destiny. If Ohio St wins out, they will likely win the leader’s division. But first they have to get through Purdue, in Purdue.

The Boilermakers have only lost 1 home game this season, and are 3-2 against Ohio State at home in their last 5 meeting. Overall Purdue is a mediocre team that lost to Rice and Notre Dame early this season, and has now lost 2 in a row to MSU and Wisconsin. They have a decent run game, but the key to their success if forcing turnovers and being aggressive on defense. If Purdue can shake Braxton up, or force mistakes, Purdue has a chance.

Ohio State, on the other hand, is counting the days until Posey returns as a WR. In order to beat Purdue OSU must score a lot, and score early, especially since this is a road game. I hope to see them open the offensive playbook a little bit more, and for the receivers to find ways to get open.

Prediction: OSU 34 Purdue 10

Michigan is a statistically solid team this season, but all of that has taken a turn for the worst as Michigan lost to Iowa, in Iowa, last weekend. Now they must go into a similarly hostile stadium in Illinois in order to keep their hopes alive for a BCS bowl bid. Michigan’s offense has not been at its best this season, but still ranks in the top 40 overall, and top 15 rushing. Their defense has been the major improvement from last season, especially the pass defense. In order to win Michigan’s offense needs to get clicking again; barely scoring 16 points against Iowa is something to be worried about, especially this late in the season. Illinois has a below average offense, but a top 10 defense this season, that is holding teams to 100 yards rushing per game. If Illinois can bounce back from this current 3 game losing streak, they can definitely get rolling against the wolverines.

Upset? Prediction: Illinois 27 Michigan 23

The one dimensional offense of Nebraska backs into Penn St this weekend during one of the craziest weeks in Happy Valley in a very long time. This will be the first time in over 60 years that there is no Joe Paterno in Penn St, he is gone. Unfortunately, this is also the last home game of the season for PSU, and PSU is currently undefeated in the Big Ten. With all of these things going on, lets try to just focus on the football game. Nebraska doesn’t pass the ball well at all, and instead they either run the ball with Rex Burkhead, or Taylor Martinez is forced to scramble. Either way it has been working this season, except last week when Northwestern stunned the Cornhuskers 28-25. In order to win, Nebraska just needs to get over the strong defense that Penn St has on the field. Penn St is in the opposite situation, the offense is not that good at all, but the defense is top notch. In order for this Nittany Lions team to win, they need to force Martinez to fumble/throw interceptions, and then capitalize on offense. If not, I do not see this Penn St going anywhere for the rest of the season.

Prediction: Nebraska 24 Penn St 7

Last but not least, it is the game everyone has been waiting for….since the end of the LSU v Alabama game at least. Oregon travels to Stanford to take on the Cardinals in a battle for the PAC 12, a guaranteed Rose Bowl bid, and possibly a National Championship bid (if other things fall into place). Both teams have been on a roll this season, Stanford has not been seriously challenged while Oregon stumbled against LSU in week 1. Oregon and Stanford have the nation’s seventh and eighth best offenses, but Stanford has the nation’s third best rush defense. This will likely be a battle of Heisman hopefuls as Stanford is led by Andrew Luck and Oregon is led by LaMichael James. But in the end there can be only one winner, and if Stanford wins then they just might jump into 2^nd place in the BCS rankings. Stanford’s defense will be the key, if they can shut down the run then they shut down Oregon.

Prediction: Stanford 42 Oregon 30