B1G Weekly Recap: Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota Improve to 2-0 in B1G Play

No nonconference games this week meant only conference matchups for the Big Ten for the first time this season. The only ranked Big Ten team to play was Michigan State and they won in West Lafayette over Purdue. Iowa and Minnesota also won to move to 2-0 in conference play. That Team Up North and Wisconsin both pulled out their first conference wins of the season this weekend.

Wisconsin 38, Illinois 28

Once again for the Badgers, it was the Melvin Gordon Show that carried Wisconsin to their first Big Ten victory of the season. Gordon led the game with 175 yards on the ground and added four touchdowns to his impressive resume. In just the sixth game of the season, Gordon went over the 1,000 yard mark.

Corey Clement had 164 yards rushing for Wisconsin as the team ran for over 400 yards on the day. Both teams are idle this week as Illinois has the week off to prepare for a trip to Minnesota and Wisconsin will welcome Maryland into Camp Randall in two weeks.

Iowa 45, Indiana 29

Indiana’s once-promising season is slipping through their fingers, as they lost to fall to 0-2 in conference play. To add injury to insult, starting quarterback Nate Sudfeld was lost for the season in the game. Tevin Coleman was impressive yet again for the Hoosiers, rushing for 219 yards and three TDs on just 15 carries.

Jake Rudock led the Hawkeyes in this one, throwing for 210 yards and two touchdowns. Marc Weisman added two touchdowns rushing to go along with 89 yards. Ohio State may score 80 points against Indiana if Urban Meyer really wants to. Iowa takes a visit to Maryland on Saturday while Indiana will play host to Michigan State.

Minnesota 24, Northwestern 17

Mitch Leidner had a pair of rushing touchdowns and Jalen Myrick returned a kickoff 100 yards for a score to lead the Golden Gophers to victory. Myrick’s return came with seven minutes left in the game and right after Trevor Siemian had just scored a game-tying touchdown.

In addition to the rushing touchdown, Siemian also threw for 269 yards and a touchdown on 32-50 passing. Justin Jackson had 106 yards on the ground for the Wildcats while David Cobb led the Gophers with 97 rushing. Minnesota looks to affirm its place at the top of the B1G West next week when Purdue comes to town and Northwestern will play Nebraska at home.

Michigan State 45, Purdue 31

Michigan State got a much bigger scare than anyone really thought possible when they took on Purdue in West Lafayette. The fact that the Spartans gave up 31 points, and relied on a Darien Harris interception return for a touchdown with a minute to go to seal the victory was shocking. Akeem Hunt led the way for the Boilermakers with 96 yards rushing and three scores.

Connor Cook threw for three TDs and 238 yards on just 19-37 passing for the Spartans. Jeremy Langford ran for 104 yards with Nick Hill adding 72 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Michigan State goes to Indiana on Saturday and Purdue takes a trip to Minnesota.

Michigan 18, Penn State 13

The offensive struggles continued for both teams as the Wolverines and Nittany Lions combined for just 470 yards of offense. Christian Hackenberg threw for 160 yards and a touchdown in the loss. Bill Belton added 69 yards rushing for Penn State, who led 13-10 at halftime before being shut out in the second half.

Devin Gardner passed for 196 yards and threw a 43-yard touchdown to Devin Funchess for the Wolverines’ lone touchdown. The running game struggles mightily for the Wolverines, with De’Veon Smith leading the team with 24 yards on 12 carries. Justice Hayes wasn’t far behind with 20 yards on seven carries. The Wolverines have a bye week to prepare for a trip to Michigan State and Penn State is also off as they will prepare for Ohio State’s visit.

What did you think of the first week of only Big Ten games in the conference? Is Michigan State starting to show some signs of vulnerability with just a month to go before their matchup with the Buckeyes? Let us know what you’ll be looking for in the upcoming slate of games.

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