As ESPN's College Gameday broadcasts from Fargo, North Dakota, for the second consecutive year, other places throughout the country are getting ready for quite an exciting slate of games. As a blogger and a fan, my main concern is whether the Big Ten Conference can recover from last week's sub-par performance. Two Big Ten teams that lost last week, Michigan State and Northwestern, have byes for week #3. Wisconsin (1-1 overall) will also be sitting out this week but the other 11 teams will see some activity.
Starting at noon on the Big Ten Network, West Virginia will visit Maryland for another edition of this border rivalry. Maryland's decision to move from the ACC to the Big Ten has not affected the Terps' willingness to play the Mountaineers. Next year the teams will meet again in Morgantown, and then the rivalry will take a four-year break until 2020. One reason for this hiatus may have to do with the Big Ten's decision to move to a nine-game conference schedule in 2016. At the same time, on ESPNU, the Indiana Hoosiers will visit Bowling Green for the second part of this home-at-home series. Last year, Indiana won 42-10. Will the Hoosiers have a similar performance?
On either ABC or ESPN2, depending on your location, #22 Ohio State hosts Kent State. Today's match-up should provide the Buckeyes with an opportunity to recover from last week's loss against Virginia Tech. The other game on either ABC or ESPN2, is Boise State vs. Connecticut in a Mountain West-American Athletic Conference showdown. Speaking of Virginia Tech, the Hokies are playing East Carolina right now on ESPN. This should be an interesting game since East Carolina had a very competitive game last week against South Carolina. Last year, Virginia Tech beat East Carolina by only five points. Can the Pirates get an upset here? It is a possibility.
As the afternoon progresses, four more Big Ten games will be nationally televised. Michigan hosts Miami (OH) at 3:30 PM on the Big Ten Network. The Wolverines should prevail here, since Miami (OH) has lost 18 consecutive games. A win here for Michigan will give the folks in Ann Arbor a much needed morale boost. At the same time, on ESPN, the great in-state rivalry between Iowa and Iowa State will kickoff in Iowa City. Both teams will play for the Cy-Hawk trophy, which looks like this:
This trophy has been awarded to the winner of this game since 2011.
A half-hour after the kickoff in Iowa City, two more games featuring Big Ten teams will begin west of the Mississippi. At 4:00 PM on FOX Sports 1, Minnesota will play TCU for the first time the 1970s. In terms of offensive lines, it appears that today's match will feature a rushing vs. a passing game. Minnesota's offense is ranked 31st nationally in rushing while TCU's offense is ranked 12th in passing. Can Minnesota extend their winning streak to 3? We will see if Jerry Kill's defense can contain TCU's passing game.
On the west coast, the Illinois Fighting Illini, led by QB Wes Lunt, will pay the Washington Huskies a visit in Seattle. Last year's game, which the Huskies won 34-24, was played at Chicago's Soldier Field. Given Washington's struggles in their last two games against Hawaii and Eastern Washington, the Illini (2-0) have an opportunity to get a much-needed win on the road. The Illini's offensive line ranks #9 in the country in passing, and their defense currently allows 25.5 points per game. By contrast, Washington will rely on its rushing game, which currently averages 265.0 yards per game (19th overall). Since the Huskies defense currently averages 34 points per game, it looks like Washington will have to outscore Illinois in order to earn win #3. Expect a high-scoring game here.
The last three games for the Big Ten feature two rivalries, a highly anticipated conference game, and a traveling fan-base from Lincoln. At 7:30 PM on NBC, the Northern Indiana rivalry between Purdue and #11 Notre Dame will kickoff at Indianapolis's Lucas Oil Stadium. Today's neutral site match-up, which Notre Dame is heavily favored to win, will be the last time these two teams meet until 2020. Notre Dame's affiliation with the ACC, which requires the Fighting Irish to play 5 games against ACC opponents, was a major factor in Notre Dame's earlier decision to end its annual rivalries with Big Ten schools Michigan, Michigan State, and Purdue. Notre Dame will still play rivals USC, Stanford, and Navy on an annual basis.
At 8:00 on the Big Ten Network, Penn State and Rutgers (both ranked 2-0) will play a conference game at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey. Big Ten league play starts today with this game, which is expected to be very competitive. Since the NCAA recently rescinded Penn State's bowl ban, a win here from the Nittany Lions many result in PSU being ranked for the first time in at least two seasons. A win here for Rutgers will give the Scarlet Knights the confidence they will need when they face conference opponents like Michigan (October 4th), Ohio State (October 18th), and Nebraska (October 25th) later in the season. The last time Penn State and Rutgers played each other was back in 1995. It will be interesting to see if this renewed rivalry will bring more media attention to College Football in the Northeastern USA.
Finally, Nebraska, the Big Ten's westernmost team, will lead its traveling fan-base from Lincoln to Fresno for a late-night game against the Fresno State Bulldogs. CBS Sports Network will broadcast the game, which will kickoff at 10:30 PM. Nebraska, with its star running back Ameer Abdullah, is favored to win here.
That is about it for today. I will be updating my twitter page for the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening. Enjoy today's games, everybody!
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