The Ducks’ dominating win over Purdue on Friday night opened Saturday up to watch the rest of the conference in action. While Ohio State (5-1, 2-1 Big Ten), Penn State (6-0, 3-0 Big Ten), Minnesota (4-3, 2-2 Big Ten) and Washington (4-3, 2-2 Big Ten) rested on their bye weeks, the rest of the Big Ten was in action. How did each team fare?
No. 22 Illinois earns 21-7 win over No. 24 Michigan
The Fighting Illini (6-1, 3-1 Big Ten) defeated the Wolverines (4-3, 2-2 Big Ten) for the first time since 2009 on Saturday as they scored 10 points off of Michigan turnovers in one of their biggest wins in recent history. Illinois has considerable momentum for their Week 9 trip to Eugene.
Michigan’s fall from glory has been rapid and ghastly. The Wolverines are flat-out bad. Illinois only had 267 yards of offense, and it was good enough to hand Michigan its third loss of the season. The Wolverines host their in-state rival Michigan State next week.
No. 16 Indiana romps Nebraska in 56-7 home win
Indiana (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) has taken the conference by storm, collecting win after win. Saturday was no different as the Hoosiers tallied close to 500 total yards of offense and turned Nebraska’s (5-2, 2-2 Big Ten) Dylan Raiola over three times.The Hoosiers might just be legit.
The Cornhuskers’ season doesn’t get any easier as they travel for a road contest against Ohio State next week. Indiana will host ESPN’s College GameDay before its Week 9 clash against Washington.
Maryland rallies to defeat USC 29-28
A two-point conversion proved the difference in Maryland’s (4-3, 1-3 Big Ten) surprising win over the Trojans (3-4, 1-4 Big Ten). USC led 21-7 at the half, but a ferocious comeback from the Terrapins continued the Trojans’ 2024 woes.
USC’s first season in the Big Ten has been an atrocity, and the Trojans are now fighting to even make a bowl game. Maryland takes on Minnesota in Week 9 while USC hosts Rutgers.
Michigan State stuns Iowa with 32-20 win
One week after thumping Washington, the Hawkeyes (4-3, 2-2 Big Ten) couldn’t handle Michigan State? What a weird season. MSU’s (4-3, 2-2 Big Ten) Aidan Chiles threw for 256 yards and a touchdown in a much-needed win for the Spartans before their rivalry game against Michigan next week.
Iowa, meanwhile, only had 150 passing yards and 133 ground yards. The Hawkeyes couldn’t get anything going offensively, and will look to regroup next week against Northwestern.
Wisconsin muffles Northwestern in 23-3 win
After a rocky start to their season, the Badgers (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten) appear to be back on track. They picked up their third-straight dominating conference win as they limited Northwestern (3-4, 1-3 Big Ten) to just 209 yards of offense. Tawee Walker led the charge for Wisconsin, collecting 126 ground yards in the win.
Wisconsin hosts Penn State next week while Northwestern travels to Iowa with hopes to serve the Hawkeyes a second straight loss.
UCLA earns first conference win with 35-32 victory over Rutgers
One of the conference’s better games of the week featured a surprising result as struggling UCLA (2-5, 1-4 Big Ten) knocked off Rutgers (4-3, 1-3 Big Ten), which had looked pretty solid at times in 2024. UCLA got ahead early and never trailed in the back-and-forth affair. The Scarlet Knights couldn’t get off the field on defense and dropped its third game of the year.
UCLA is off next week while Rutgers looks to rebound on Friday night in a road contest against USC.