Creepin' the Big Ten: Week 10

(AP Photo/Tony Ding)

Hey Michigan and Illinois... WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!?! Those of you at the Penn State game were spared the humiliation as fellow Big Ten conference members of witnessing the complete embarrassment that was the Michigan-Illinois basketball football game Saturday. More on that in a minute, but first we touch on the other action from this past weekend in Big Ten football.


The Struggle Bus is here for...

Michigan State 31 - Minnesota 8

How can MSU's performance get the "struggle" label? Because Minnesota was trailing by a mere two scores (24-8) before Sparty put the game away with five minutes left. The Gophers went for it five times on fourth down, only making good on three attempts, while committing seven penalties for 60 yards. Total yards: 266. On the flip side, MSU quarterback Kirk Cousins had a terrible day, going 9-for-20, 131 yards and a pick. He was bailed out by the fantastic running of Edwin Baker, who picked up 179 yards and a whopping four touchdowns. Behind Baker, though, there was nothing. The rest of the team combined for 10 yards on 14 carries. This was in East Lansing, by the way.

Iowa 18 - Indiana 13

Why doesn't this surprise me in the least? Iowa came off a complete demolition of Michigan State, only to trail Indiana 13-9 going into the fourth quarter. But Ricky Stanzi did what he usually does in the fourth quarter, sealing the win on a 52-yard touchdown pass to Marvin McNutt with 2:50 remaining. Things could have been worse for the Hawks before then... much worse. Indiana was driving late right after the Iowa touchdown. Ben Chappell had 4th and 10 at the Iowa 18. There were 35 seconds left. Chappell passed to Damarlo Belcher. It looked like a touchdown. But replay confirmed an incompletion. Game over.

As expected... sort of

Wisconsin 34 - Purdue 13

The Badgers needed a 28-3 run in the second half to put this one away. But Wisconsin was still able to stay atop the Big Ten standings. It was one of the ugliest 21-point wins you'll see all season long, as Wisconsin forced four turnovers and held Purdue to 301 yards of offense, but the Boilers had their own success defensively. Wisconsin only out-gained Purdue by two yards, 303-301, as quarterback Scott Tolzien passed for 130 yards, a touchdown and a pick. As usual, the Wisconsin run game carried the team, with Montee Ball pacing the ground game with 127 yards and two touchdowns. Star back John Clay chipped in 42 yards. Neither team has or will play Penn State this year.

Point and Laugh

Michigan 67 - Illinois 65 (OT)

Leave it up to Michigan to do that to one of the better defenses in the Big Ten. Quite honestly, a score like that, in a conference reputation built on defense and conservatism, is embarrassing. Sure, it must have been fun. But after a certain point, you start to realize that, overtime or no overtime, the teams gave up a crap-load of points. And it wasn't due to just world-beating offenses. The two teams combined for 1200 yards of offense. Just look at the scoring summary:

Scoring Summary
First Quarter	Ill	Mich
Mich	TD	14:46	Roy Roundtree 75 yd pass from Denard Robinson (Seth Broekhuizen kick)	0	7
Ill	FG	8:56	Derek Dimke 44 yd FG	3	7
Ill	FG	2:57	Derek Dimke 43 yd FG	6	7
Second Quarter	Ill	Mich
Ill	TD	14:57	Nathan Scheelhaase 2 yd run (Ryan Lankford 2pt pass from Nathan Scheelhaase)	14	7
Mich	TD	12:36	Roy Roundtree 33 yd pass from Denard Robinson (Seth Broekhuizen kick)	14	14
Ill	TD	11:55	Jason Ford 62 yd run (Derek Dimke kick)	21	14
Mich	TD	6:56	Stephen Hopkins 4 yd run (Seth Broekhuizen kick)	21	21
Mich	TD	3:01	Junior Hemingway 45 yd pass from Denard Robinson (Seth Broekhuizen kick)	21	28
Ill	TD	1:11	Ryan Lankford 33 yd pass from Nathan Scheelhaase (Derek Dimke kick)	28	28
Mich	FG	0:37	Seth Broekhuizen 35 yd FG	28	31
Ill	FG	0:03	Derek Dimke 43 yd FG	31	31
Third Quarter	Ill	Mich
Mich	TD	7:36	Michael Shaw 18 yd run (Seth Broekhuizen kick)	31	38
Fourth Quarter	Ill	Mich
Ill	TD	14:55	Mikel LeShoure 27 yd pass from Nathan Scheelhaase (Derek Dimke kick)	38	38
Ill	TD	11:35	Mikel LeShoure 1 yd run (Derek Dimke kick)	45	38
Mich	TD	1:47	Darryl Stonum 9 yd pass from Tate Forcier (Seth Broekhuizen kick)	45	45
OT	Ill	Mich
Mich	TD		Michael Shaw 5 yd run (Seth Broekhuizen kick)	45	52
Ill	TD		Mikel LeShoure 1 yd run (Derek Dimke kick)	52	52
2nd OT	Ill	Mich
Ill	TD		Mikel LeShoure 25 yd pass from Nathan Scheelhaase (Derek Dimke kick)	59	52
Mich	TD		Junior Hemingway 9 yd pass from Tate Forcier (Seth Broekhuizen kick)	59	59
3rd OT	Ill	Mich
Mich	TD		Michael Shaw 1 yd run (Junior Hemingway 2pt pass from Tate Forcier)	59	67
Ill	TD		Mikel LeShoure 3 yd run (failed 2pt pass)	65	67

'Nuff said...

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