Time To Exhale: Oregon 30, Penn State 24 (2OT); Illinois 34, USC 32; Indiana 20, Iowa 15; Minnesota 31, Rutgers 28; Northwestern 17, UCLA 14.
What a terrific Saturday full of close games – of course, if you are a fan of a team that wound up on the losing end of the ledger, your thoughts are probably entirely different. Indiana, Iowa, Oregon, Rutgers, and USC all have a bye week to regroup and get ready for their next games on October 11th; Indiana will actually be traveling to Oregon for the first time since the 2004 season (Indiana 30, Oregon 24). With both Indiana and Oregon 2-0 in Big Ten play, one of those teams will be knocked from the perch of the unbeaten. Rutgers now has 2 Big Ten losses this season (3-2 overall), while USC fell to 2-1 within the conference (4-1 overall).
For Illinois, Minnesota, Northwestern, Penn State, and UCLA, it is right back to work. Northwestern will host UL Monroe in a non-conference game, while Penn State will travel to UCLA for the first time since 1968 (Penn State 21, UCLA 6). It will bear watching to see how James Franklin, Drew Allar, and the Nittany Lions respond after such an intense battle against Dan Lanning’s Oregon Ducks. UCLA rallied on the road at Northwestern, but came up short as time ran out for the Bruins as they were driving against the Wildcats.
Illinois travels to Purdue, as the Boilermakers had a bye week to prepare for the Fighting Illini. It was an impressive bounce back win for Bret Bielema’s team, after being routed at Indiana the previous week.
For Minnesota, they will travel to Ohio State for a night game against the Buckeyes; Minnesota will look to end a losing streak versus Ohio State that dates back to the John Cooper era, when the Golden Gophers last defeated the Buckeyes 29-17 during the 2000 season. Speaking of the Buckeyes…
Snapping The Streak: Ohio State went on the road at Washington for the first time since the 2007 season and defeated the Huskies, 24-6. Washington led Ohio State 3-0 in the first quarter, marking the first time this season the Buckeyes trailed in a game. Ohio State’s win snapped an impressive 22 home game winning streak by Washington that dated back to the 2021 season.
Ohio State’s defense had themselves a day, with 6 sacks and 9 tackles for loss against a dangerous Washington offense. Washington will make their first trip ever to Maryland, with the only other time the Huskies and Terrapins have played was in the 1982 Aloha Bowl (Washington 21, Maryland 20).
