Big 10 Bookends: Not That Hawkeye
October 28th, 2009 by Mike Ware
Quick, name the team with the current longest winning streak in the FBS…ok that was easy, Florida.
Iowa QB Ricky Stanzi is either announcing his team's arrival on the national stage, or doing a great Terry Bradshaw imitation. (Icon SMI)
Now who has the second longest active winning streak? Give up yet? It is Iowa baby! As in the Big Ten conference leading Iowa Hawkeyes. A Hawkeye may not have been as relevant this late into a season since Hawkeye Pierce from MASH filled the airwaves. Gold and Black is back!
Week 8 Recap saw a couple of close games. Iowa keeps it interesting by never really closing out a team until the final minutes of a game. Last week it got a little too close though as Ricky Stanzi had to pull out a victory as time expired. No matter what they face this team just finds a way to win. Stanzi has confidence in his receivers and it shows. Stanzi threw for 138 yards to seven different receivers. He also had one huge TD pass at the end of the game. Adam Robinson continues to emerge as the main running back posting another 100 yard game with 109 yards rushing.
On the Michigan State side the fantasy points were better with QB Kirk Cousins throwing for 225 yards and a TD plus 23 rushing yards. Blair White had 95 yards receiving and a TD. Michigan State now sits in 4th place in the Big Ten Standings but they are playing way better than that.
Elsewhere Northwestern narrowly defeated Indiana 29-28. The bigger story here is the fact the Wildcats had to overcome a 25 point hole they were in just to get the victory. Very impressive comeback and Wildcat owners were happy with the players points in this one. QB Mike Kafka threw for 312 yards, threw 2 TD’s and rushed for another TD while also rushing for 65 yards on the day. WR’s Andrew Brewer and Zeke Markshausen each had a TD reception with 135 and 94 yards respectively. Indiana RB Darius Willis had 2 TD’s and 103 yards rushing. WR Tandon Doss only posted 40 receiving yards and QB Ben Chappell was held to just 163 yards passing although he did scramble for one rushing TD.
Gratuitous SEO-driven awesome Terrelle Pryor image (Icon SMI)
Other big games for week 8 included Illinois RB Mikel Leshoure who posted 122 yards rushing. Oh and that Ohio State QB Terrelle Pryor had a solid game too. Let’s see, he threw two TD passes, ran for another TD, had 239 yards passing and 104 rushing. I think the Buckeye Nation is breathing a little easier now. That is the kind of game folks expected of him. Glad to see him deliver what they fans wanted this week.
Looking ahead
Let’s face it, right now there is a three way race for the Big Ten title, Penn State, Ohio State and Iowa. The same teams should have players putting up some good fantasy numbers in the next few weeks right? Wrong.
Iowa has Indiana, Northwestern, Ohio State and Minnesota.
Penn State has Northwestern, Ohio State, Indiana and Michigan State.
And Ohio State has the least favorable schedule with New Mexico State, Penn State, Iowa and Michigan at Ann Arbor. Play your Buckeyes this week then sit them for the rest of the year.
Believe it or not but for the next few weeks I think Illinois players are going to post some big numbers along with Michigan State and Wisconsin. The big 3 fighting for the title are going to have tough games. Look at the schedules and get ready for the stretch run. I would not suggest trading for Juice Williams, but if you need to take a gamble to make the playoffs in your league I think you have to look at WR’s and RB’s on these teams.
This week we have no trophy games. Correct me if I am wrong but I don’t see one on the schedule this week and I could not find anything on the Big Ten web site either. So it looks like 6 games with no bragging rights attached this week.
Purdue goes to Wisconsin. Look for the Badger running game to have good numbers and the Boilermaker passing game to do well too.
Prediction: Badgers 24 Boilermakers 21.
Indiana at Iowa. Ricky Stanzi and Adam Robinson will shine again.
Iowa 18 Indiana 17.
Michigan at Illinois. Big day for the Maize and Blue. Michigan 31 Illinois 7.
Penn State at Northwestern. Air attack all around in this game. Start your WR’s for both teams and enjoy. PSU 34 NU 31.
Michigan State at Minnesota. You can’t sit any players in this one. Great match ups for everyone. In the end though it will be Michigan State 27 and Minnesota 23.
Ohio State plays a game this week too but I am not sure I need to make a prediction here. Start your buckeyes and hope they don’t fall in a trap game this week. Ohio State 48 New Mexico State 13.
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