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Man, was it just me, or did everybody besides OSU in the Big Ten suck last night? If you dig deep, there were a few bright spots, but for the other squads on OSU's schedule this year, Week 2 was a weekend to forget. Let's look at the details.
Miami (OH) (1-1) BEAT FCS Southern Illinois 30-14. The Redhawks shook off the Buckeye Beatdown they were served last week by beating SIU, but it wasn't always pretty. The Salukis actually outgained Miami 349-336, and had some success running the football, but penalties and two costly interceptions ruined any shot they had at an upset. Miami's Zac Dysert was 28 for 36 for 226 yards and a score, and the Redhawk's managed to rush for 110 yards as a team. Their daunting out of conference schedule continues next week, when they travel to Idaho to take on the Boise St Broncos.
UCF (1-1) The Knights will play host to the Florida International Golden Panthers next week.
More scores after the jump.
Cal (1-1) BEAT FCS Southern Utah 50-31. Cal's offense was much more impressive this week, but their inability to shake a not-very-good FCS team, at home, until the fourth quarter does not bode well for the Golden Bears, especially since their schedule is about to get a whole lot harder. The good news is that the Bears piled up 518 yards with a balanced attack, with running back Isi Sofele adding 104 yards and a score on the ground. Cal's defense came up with a big turnover in the 4th quarter, which led to a 30 point outburst. Southern Utah had 371 yards, paced by 292 through the air. Cal heads to Columbus next week.
UAB (0-1) The Trogdors were off this week. They travel to South Carolina next week.
#11 Michigan State (2-0) BEAT Central Michigan 41-7. MSU is looking like the top of the Big Ten, and took care of business against an over matched opponent on the road. Labia Le'Veon Bell didn't have a monster game (67 yards and 2 TDs), but he didn't need as his teammates did a much better job sharing the offense. QB Andrew Maxwell looked much sharper, going 20/31 for 2 TDs and 0 picks. CMU didn't score until they returned an interception for a TD in the 4th quarter, which means Sparty hasn't given up an offensive TD this season. Impressive. The Spartans face #24 Notre Dame (2-0) next week in what should be a great game.
#16 Nebraska (1-1) LOST to UCLA 36-30. THEY ARE WHO WE THOUGHT THEY WERE. The Cornhuskers were gashed for 653 yards by UCLA, and the Bruins held on for the upset in Pasadena. UCLA running back Johnathan Franklin was excellent for the second week in a row, adding 217 yards. T-Magic was the T-Magic we all know and love (as opposed to the one last week, who played like he entered the Contra code before the game), going without a TD pass, 1 interception, a safety, and a few armpunts. Nebraska will need to figure out their defense in a hurry, as the feisty Arkansas State Red Wolves come to town next week.
Indiana (2-0) BEAT UMASS 45-6. BREAK UP THE HOOSIERS. Just so we're all clear, we've played two weeks of football, Indiana is undefeated, and Auburn and Penn State combined have 0 wins. Granted, the Hoosiers have beaten an FCS team and a brand new FBS team, but take the wins where you can. The good news was that Indiana's offense was clicking, piling up an impressive-for-anybody 606 yards, 303 on the ground. The bad news was that their QB and leading playmaker, Tre Robinson, left the game in the 2nd quarter with a leg injury, and it looks like he'll be out for a long time. If the Hoosiers are going to sneak up on anybody in the Big Ten, they will need to find new playmakers. The Hoosiers get 1-1 Ball St at home next week, and a world where Indiana is 3-0 is a real possibility here people. Get ready.
Purdue (1-1) LOST at #23 Notre Dame 20-17 .Purdue had to face the indignity of giving up a game winning drive engineered by Tommy Rees. He set up Kyle Brindza's 27 yard field goal with 7 seconds left, and the Irish were able to slip away despite getting almost nothing from their running game (52 yards rushing as a team). AIRBHG took a shot as his second favorite target, Purdue Quarterbacks, as Robert Marve had to leave the game with an injury. Purdue has lost to Notre Dame 5 times in a row now, and 7 of their last 8 meetings. Luckily, they get to host Eastern Michigan next week, which should give them a chance to work out some kinks in their gameplan.
Penn State (0-2) LOST at Virgina 17-16. You have to feel bad for Penn State fans. The Nittany Lions kicked Sam Fricken missed 4 field goals and had a PAT blocked, providing the margin on a day when Penn State outplayed the Cavaliers but just couldn't find a way to win. Virgina was held to 32 yards rushing and under 300 yards total offense, and had 4 turnovers. Matt McGloin was 19 for 35 for 197 and 2 scores, but also missed time with an elbow injury. Penn State's schedule gets a little easier, but if they aren't able to find some playmakers on offense, it could be a very long season in Happy Valley. PSU hosts Navy next week.
Illinois (1-1) LOST at Arizona State 45-14. Last week, Illinois was unable to engineer any offensive production after they were forced to play a backup QB. Nathan Scheelhaase was out again during their game in Tempe, and the results were the same. Reilly O'Toole and Miles Osei combined to create a turd sandwich of 101 total yards passing. The normally stout Illinois defense was shredded for over 500 yards of offense, with ASU QB Taylor Kelly having a great game 18/23 for 249 yards and a score. Without Scheelhaase, Illinois doesn't look like a bowl team, let alone a contender for a division title. They face FCS Charleston Southern next week.
#13 Wisconsin (1-1) LOST at Oregon State 10-3. Tire fire doesn't seem like a strong enough adjective to describe the Badgers meltdown. Dumpster fire? No...Three Mile Island! Whatever you want to call it, it was horrible. The mighty Badger offense was held to a measly 207 yards, and Heisman candidate (lol) Montee Ball was bottled up for 61 yards and no touchdowns. Wisky's star wideout Jared Abbrederis left the game in the 2nd with a chest injury and may be out for a while. Wisconsin plays Utah State next week, who is fresh off a big upset of Utah. If the Badgers aren't able to find offensive production outside of "I hope Ball breaks 14 tackles here), they could lose that game too. Not a great time to be a Badger.
#19 Michigan (1-1) Beat Air Force 31-25. Denard put up absolutely crazy numbers against a pretty bad team (426 total yards, 4 scores), and it almost wasn't enough. Toussaint only got 8 carries for 7 yards in the game, but when Denard can rush for 218, there really isn't a reason to give anybody else the ball. Michigan's defense must have been fooled by the option, and let the Falcons run up nearly 300 yards on the ground. That won't cut it against Michigan State, Nebraska or OSU, so Michigan will need to seriously clean up their front seven if they want to be successful against good teams. Running Denard like we ran Michael Vick in Madden 2005 isn't a real college football strategy. Michigan plays Umass next week, so look for Denard to run for eleventy billion yards as the Wolverines win by 8.
In other news, Northwestern got a nice win over Vandy to move to 2-0, Minnesota smacked New Hampshire around and looked like an actual FBS football team, and Iowa lost an disgusting excuse for a football game to Iowa State. After 2 weeks, despite their obvious flaws, Ohio State absolutely looks like the class of the Leaders division.