A look around the Big Ten: Week 8

Week eight brought us two rivalry games, a couple snoozers, and a top 10 ranked matchup. We watched Cooper DeJean's punt return touchdown that could have been right after we saw Ohio State take on Penn State, before Michigan took home one of their biggest wins in the history of the battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy.

Let's do our weekly look around the Big Ten, as I dive into the six games of conference action in week eight.

QB J.J. McCarthy (Michigan)

The Michigan Wolverines headed to East Lansing to take on their in-state rival Michigan State Spartans in a game that the Wolverines were favored by more than 24 points. Michigan and J.J. McCarthy did not disappoint, as the Big Ten's top QB threw for four touchdowns and 287 yards with a 78% completion rate.

McCarthy looked as good as he has all season while picking apart opposing defenses. He hardly ran the ball in this game, but made plenty of off-schedule plays by moving his feet to avoid the rush to throw down field.

He now sits atop the Heisman Trophy odds among most if not all major sportsbooks, which tells you just how the folks in Las Vegas feel about him.

WR Marvin Harrison Jr. (Ohio State)

Marvin Harrison Jr. has been the sole contributor on the Ohio State offense that can be relied on week in and week out. As QB Kyle McCord contiunes to grow and improve, his reliance on the best wide receiver in college football has helped Harrison Jr. rack up some impressive stats.

Against one of the stiffest defenses that the Buckeyes' wideout will see all season, he torched the Nittany Lions with 11 grabs for 162 yards and a touchdown. Harrison Jr. is in the running for the Biletnikoff Award for the nations top receiver and performances like this against Penn State will go a long way for him to win it.

QB Gavin Wimsatt (Rutgers)

Let's get the obvious out of the way: Rutgers was playing Indiana and Wimsatt did not pass the ball well. Moving forward with that information, we can still be incredibly impressed at his performance as a runner.

Wimsatt rushed 16 times for 143 yards and three touchdowns in the Scarlet Knights' win over the Hoosiers, which is an average of about nine yards per carry. His previous career high in rushing yards for a game was 87, which he put up on Sept. 16, 2023 against Virginia Tech.

His development as a passer has a long way to go, but some always thought Wimsatt was a better runner than his offense used him as to this point. That was proven correct as he had plenty of designed runs in week eight.

Penn State's Offense

All season long what we had seen in the running game from Penn State was not to the level of success that it had been in 2022. Returning their top two running backs and bringing in a top-rated quarterback, the expectation was improvement.

Instead, the Nittany Lions were stuffed on the ground and struggled through the air against the Ohio State Buckeyes this past weekend. PSU ran for just 49 yards and threw for a mediocre 191. They averaged 1.9 yards per carry on the ground and just 4.5 yards per completion threw the air. While attempting 42 passes Drew Allar only completed 18, a 42.9% completion rate.

In their biggest game of the season the lack of deep ball and consistent success on the ground proved to be fatal as Penn State ended up scoring just six points prior to a late fourth quarter touchdown.

Iowa's Running Game

The one thing that the Hawkeyes have been able to hang their hat on all season was their rushing attack. In a game that was absolutely brutal to watch, both team's quarterbacks combined to go 20-for-53 passing. Iowa's Deacon Hill went 10-for-28, almost meeting his season average completion percentage of 37.8%!

The lack of run game is clearly an issue when that is all you have to work with on offense. Minnesota did a great job of slowing Iowa running backs Leshon Williams, Kaleb Johnson and Jaziun Patterson, all of which have had 85-yard plus rushing games this season.

Williams was the key back to stop and Minnesota held all three to just 33 yards on 20 carries. Going scoreless in the second half was not the plan for the Hawkeyes, but having Hill throw the ball 28 times was a mistake.

No matter how much the ground attack is struggling, they might as well have just banged their head into a wall doing it because passing the ball did not work either.

Big Ten Officiating

The trigger for this particular "disappointment" may be obvious to some folks. Although there are always issues with the Big Ten's officiating, one specific instance stood out in this weekend's action when Iowa's Cooper DeJean seemed to take a punt return back for a touchdown that would have all but won the game for the Hawkeyes. Then it was called back.

According to the officials, DeJean signaled a fair catch prior to picking the ball up on a hop and running it back. Some confusion is understandable, but the replay clearly shows the returner guiding his teammates away from the ball. There was no over the head waving of the arms, it was all chest or lower as he pointed out not up.

It cost Iowa the game and could really come back to bite them later this season as they continue to vie for a spot at the top of the Big Ten West.

Things are really getting interesting across the conference as rivalry games ramp up and late season pushes begin. With just five more Saturdays of regular season football left in the Big Ten, our eyes should be peeled more now than ever before.

If your favorite team, player, or position group ended up on this list in the "those who disappointed" section, they have every chance to show up in the "those who impressed" later this season. The flipside also applies.

Keep an eye out for who that might be in next week's reiteration of this article.

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