The Big Ten is down to its final weekend of widespread nonconference play before mercifully retreating to league games.
The conference followed its flop on the big stage in Week 2 by dropping from eight unbeaten teams to two -- Nebraska and Penn State -- in Week 3. Big Ten teams fell to 1-10 on the season against Power 5 opponents. Saturday night ended with a glimmer of hope thanks to Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg's fourth-quarter magic in a win over Rutgers. A few teams will have an opportunity to build on that optimism in the coming week.
1. Last chance to save face: The last two weeks sufficiently bulldozed any Big Ten claims to conference supremacy, or even equality, but a couple programs can scrape a bit of remaining dignity off the pavement with wins this weekend. Indiana and Iowa get a shot to redeem last-minute losses on the road. The Hoosiers are a long shot to beat No. 18 Missouri, and Iowa’s run defense will be put to the test at Pitt. Nebraska is the league’s best chance at this point. The Cornhuskers(3-0) can provide some relief if they stay unbeaten with a win over Miami in primetime. After that game, the Big Ten has only one nonconference matchup with a Power 5 team remaining in 2014 – Northwestern’s trip to Notre Dame in mid-November.
2. Letdown alert: What a week it was for the Nittany Lions in Happy Valley. It started with the announcement that Penn State’s NCAA sanctions were cut short for good behavior and ended with ruining Rutgers’ conference welcome party in a 13-10 come-from-behind victory. The Lions, now that they are eligible for the postseason, are suddenly in the mix in the East Division. Penn State gets easy-to-overlook UMass this week. The Minutemen are 0-3 but gave Vanderbilt all it could handle last weekend. Could they catch James Franklin’s new team peeking into the future and make this Saturday an interesting game?
3. Is Michigan’s defense for real? The Wolverines enter Week 4 with a top 10 defense despite three of its veteran starters missing time due to injuries. Michigan has shut down the teams it should, allowing an average of 252.7 total yards against Appalachian State, Miami (Ohio) and No. 9 Notre Dame. The Irish hung 31 points on the Wolverines, but turnovers were the bigger culprit in that loss. Michigan held Everett Golson and his offense to a respectable 280 yards. Enter Utah, which brings the No. 3 scoring offense in the nation to Ann Arbor. The Utes racked up 1,115 yards of offense in wins over Idaho State and Fresno State. They should provide a good measuring stick for where the Michigan defense stands a month into the season.
4. The Same Old Nova: Senior quarterback Gary Nova threw five interceptions in Rutgers’ Big Ten debut, proving he may not have exorcised his past turnover demons just yet. His shot at redemption will come against Navy, which has won two games since sticking with Ohio State for three quarters in its season opener. Consecutive losses for the Scarlet Knights could knock the wind from the sails of a positive start for Kyle Flood’s team this season. Rebounding from an emotional week and a tough loss won’t be easy.
5. Can Northwestern keep its season from going completely off the rails? Losers in nine of their last 10 games, the Wildcats host the Leathernecks of Western Illinois (2-1) this weekend. Coach Pat Fitzgerald challenged his team’s toughness and pride heading into the bye week and ramped up the intensity at practice. Will the attitude adjustment help Northwestern improve its 115th-ranked rushing attack and 112th-ranked scoring offense? The best case scenario for Fitzgerald’s team this weekend would be keeping the jury in deliberation until the start of conference play. Another rough outing against a lowly opponent could spin things out of control in Evanston.