Tom Dienhart: It's been a tough beginning for Big Ten football

[BleedGopher]

per Dienhart:

Nebraska-BYU wasn’t even the highest-profile Big Ten game today. That was Wisconsin’s tilt vs. Alabama in Arlington, Texas. Like the Utah-Michigan and Minnesota-TCU games, no one expected the Badgers to win. Still, a triumph would have been a nice boost to the Big Ten’s image as the season begins to dawn. But, Wisconsin was no match for Alabama, falling 35-17 in a game that wasn’t really that close. Alabama is a heck of a measuring stick for any school, as the Badgers struggled to get any semblance of a running game and saw back Corey Clement get dinged up. How bad was it? Bama outgained Wisconsin, 502-268.

In the end, this has not been a great opening week for the Big Ten. It began with a thud on Thursday, with Michigan falling at Utah and Minnesota getting beat at home by TCU in games neither was favored to win—but still had hope.

Then, Michigan State didn’t look like a top-five team on Friday night in dispatching Western Michigan. And, today, Penn State got whipped by Temple, Indiana barely beat a FCS team, Wisconsin got dumped by Alabama and, of course, Nebraska lost.

http://btn.com/2015/09/06/dienhart-its-been-a-tough-beginning-for-big-ten-football/

Go Gophers!!

 

[Stuff]

Illinois won

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

I don't put much stock in the MSU performance. They had a good first quarter and were then thinking about the Ducks. A big reason the B1G looks so disappointing is that the media continually overrates teams like PSU, Michigan and Nebraska. Meanwhile Minnesota, Northwestern and Iowa (who crushed the number 2 FCS team) looked pretty good.