Speaker 1: You are now listening to the Big Ten Paradigm podcast
here on the College Gridiron Coast to Coast Podcast Network.
Please welcome in Noah Drury's We covered the Big Ten
throughout this whole entire twenty twenty five college football season,
and welcome into this edition of the Big Ten Paradigm
Hack the Week four recap and also look at the
schedule in the Week five of Big Ten. But we
will recap this past weekend and all the action that
happened because there were some pretty good games on the agenda,
one that was super late on a Saturday for the
Michigan State Spartans and USC Trojans, but also you know
Indiana Illinois. We will have Zach Browning from Hoosier on three,
one of the senior writers on the hoos You're on
three site. You will be a guest joining us later
in this episode and should be a good conversation on
the horizon. But first I wanted to tell you that
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Think smarter Ticket Smarter, like to think our partners at
ticket Smarter. But let's get in to the recap. In
the Big ten of Week four, Friday night, we had
Iowa versus Rutgers. And the one thing watching this game
back I caught a little bit of it on Friday,
but was working a different event. So I went back
and watched this game, and I wall they looked a
lot better. Early in the game, Mark Ronowski made a
couple of great throws that were twenty thirty yards down
the field, and it's like, so Tim Lester is trying
to open up this offense for Iowa, which you don't
really see with an Iowa team, And look, they tried
to get their skilled guys involved. Caden Wetgen. He was
able to return a kickoff for a touchdown to open
up the game, which really kind of set the tone
in this game. And look, I was scored thirty eight points,
Rutgers scored twenty eight. Rutgers. On the defensive side, we
kind of saw this when they played Ohio, is that
their defense might not be completely sound in the sense
that you know, typically a Greg Ciano teams are pretty
sound defensively, and with Rutgers the season, I don't know
if that's gonna be the case. Uh, and I don't.
I mean, it's their first loss of the season, but
in non conference play. I mean, you played Ohio, Miami,
Ohio in Norfolk State. They do him Minnesota next week,
which Minnesota is gonna be coming off a bye after
they're loss to Cal. It's Cal just lost to San
Diego State thirty four to nothing. So everything I said
great about Sega patel a, I don't know if that's
completely the case. But he's also a freshman, so got
to take that into account. But I mean Cali commanis
he threw the ball well, he was really trying to
push it down the field. Ian Strong had a strong
performance and word play there anyways, but a receptions one
hundred and fifty one yards on about nineteen yards per reception,
and then also Antoine Raymond was able to run it
in for two scores along with caliac Manus. But I
will like, look, they're not particularly an amazing group. They
do play I or excuse me, they play Indiana at
home next week, which you're gonna like. When we talked
to mister Browning later, this is a great conversation in
the sense that you know, Indiana looked phenomenal yesterday and
I'm gonna, well, we're gonna dive deep more into this later.
I'll just bring it up briefly. Indiana wins sixty three
to ten over Illinois. Illinois falls down. We'll also take
a look at the EP Top twenty five poll that
came out. But in the sense of, look, dude, Fernando
Mendoza is probably a at least I'm comfortable to say,
a top four quarterback in this upcoming draft class. The
kids just so poised three incompletions in his last two games.
It's just, you know, with a lot of these quarterbacks
kind of not coming into their own this season across
the college football universe, not just in the Big Ten,
but in all of college football. He's been very impressive
in one of the quarterbacks that has been able to
step up and kind of just prove his mark. And look,
they're gonna play a good Iowa not a good Iowa defense,
but a solid Iowa defense. But I think their real
test comes on October eleventh, Oregon, so I will be
very intrigued to see that game. The next big game,
we'll move on to Michigan in Nebraska. I don't know
if Michigan technically has it all figured out yet, but
when you're able to average nine point four yards of
carry and get almost three hundred yards on the ground
passing wise, it's just not really gonna matter at all
at all. Justice Haynes seventeen carries one hundred and forty
nine yards, one touchdown, Jordan Barshall had a big breakaway touchdown,
and then also Bryce Underwood was able to scramble out
of the pocket and get a touchdown. And when we
were able to dominate on a ground versus a Nebraska
team that you know Dylan Riola, he looked good yesterday
and when we talked with Connor Happer last week, like
Riola is one of those quarterbacks. Now he's not eligible
to go to the draft. I don't know if he
would even if he was anyways, but I mean thirty
of forty one he did throw an interception, but three
hundred yards and three touchdowns like he looked. But other
than em at Johnson, which he didn't play particularly great,
they weren't able to really get anything going on the
ground game. And I think with Michigan getting seven sacks
and nine TFLs, really applying that pressure and being able
to get through the gaps, it's it made Nebraska's life hard.
The Hail Mary was sick at the end of the half.
I thought Nebraska really had the momentum going forward in
that game. But I think the difference was just on
the lines of scrimmage of this game. Michigan was better
on the defensive side than Nebraska was on the offense.
In Michigan's pass rush was something that really came into
question after the first couple of games, and look, Waint Martindale,
he's gonna send pressure, He's gonna send five, six, seven
guys sometimes, and there they were able to feast on
Nebraska and Michigan. They don't play next week. They will
take on Wisconsin, which I don't know what to think
of Wisconsin anymore. And then but I mean US Seas
on the schedule, and then Ohio State. You avoid Indiana,
You avoid Illinois, not that Illinois, I don't know where
they fit. You avoid Penn State, you avoid Oregon like
you played. You played Nebraska and beat them too, And
that was one of the tests coming into the season.
So it'll be interesting to see how this team gets
tested throughout more and more each week. But that's an
impressive victory. And that Oklahoma loss, I mean, Oklahoma moved
up seven in an AP pole. And whether you think
the AP pole is a legitimate way of seeing how
good a team is or not, or if you're more
power ratings or you make your own rankings or you know,
listen to a different side of rakings, whatever, Oklahoma is
going to measure as a good team. And you know what,
you took a loss with a freshman QB his second
collegiate game ever as a freshman, an eighteen year old
who's freshly eighteen. By the way, it's not like he's
like he's still got a lot of time to develop.
And you might be able to figure it out by
the end of the season and find yourself in a
college football playoff spot. Who knows the next game Maryland Wisconsin.
Malik Washington talking about freshman quarterbacks, he was really good yesterday.
He had that throw that was a deep post route
for a touchdown. But I mean he played consistent throughout
the whole entire game. He has a reliable target in
Octavion Smith junior, who did really well. I didn't know
Julia for Rouke was on this team either until yesterday's broadcast.
I haven't watched too much Maryland other than some cutups
this season, but just because like I really didn't know
what to think of this team to come into the year.
To be quite frank with all of you, I like
I knew about Malik Washington and like, oh, this kid's
gonna actually be a big deal, and like probably after
his freshman season he's gonna transfer it. I don't know
if that's going to be true, if he does or doesn't,
but all I know is he's he's a good football player.
They didn't really get anything going on the ground against
Wisconsin either. They were able to apply pressure to the
quarterbacks that played for Wisconsin. Billy Aldboard started out the game,
got hurt and Wisconsin's big problem right now is they're
just not able to run the ball. And it's so
weird to say that the Badgers who have been this
great dominant on the ground program with running backs like
James White, Melvin Gordon, Jonathan Taylor, like a bunch of
different running backs for this team, even Braylan Allen as
of recent like, it's weird. It's weird to say that
Wisconsin can't run the football. And I don't know if
it's an identity crisis, is because Louf Fickle wanted to
make this program more of an air raid team and
you know, play in the modern style of college football,
but that's just not Wisconsin, Okay. With the areas that
they recruit and the talent that they get, they got
to be a ground and pound. Not saying that they
can't throw the ball or they can't develop receiver talent,
but you're you want to stick with your program identity.
I mean, look at Iowa. While they haven't had any
postseason success per se, they have been a really solid
foundational program and sometimes that's all you need to please
your fans, and you know, eventually you might be able
to make that push when all the cards align, especially
at the transfer bortal and being able to pay players
like you can cash in on your success. And I
think Wisconsin can be one of those programs in the
Big Ten, but not right now, not with who's at
the helm this season. And it'll be interesting to see
if Luke Fickle's gonna finish this season out. They'll play
Michigan in two weeks. They have a bye this week,
and then they'll play Iowa, Ohio State, Oregon, Washington, Indiana, Illinois.
That is a rough stretch for a Badger's team that
if they don't make a bowl game, I mean, it
could be very ugly. They finished with Minnesota at the
end of the year two, which I think they could
be a win, but this I would put this team
on quit watch. I don't know if they're gonna play hard,
especially with the tough schedule coming up. Like they could
win theoretically versus Iowa. I don't think that's out of
the question or cards for that to happen. And then
Ohio State and Oregon back to back. I mean, look,
those are two really tough games. And then Washington and
the Apple Cup yesterday, While like Washington State hung around,
Demon Williams is a freaking beast sixteen to nineteen two
ninety eight, almost sixteen yards per attempt in four touchdowns
and also being able to get eighty eight on the
ground in a touchdown with Jonah Coleman with him in
the backfield. I mean, that's just gonna be a recipe
for success. They looked really good yesterday throwing it out
through the air. Defensively, it's a little concerning that I
don't know how good they are gonna be in coverage
or really they They were able to stop the ground
game from Washington State, but it's typically an air raid team.
I know only I don't have our buckle or dicker anymore.
But regardless, like I don't know, they need they need
to actually legitimately be tested because Colorado State, UC Davis
and Washington State aren't gonna test you. But hey, they
have Ohio State next week, which we'll break down that matchup,
and then one more game I wanted to get to,
Like Oregon beat Oregon State forty one to seven. Whoopty doodue.
Notre Dame did beat Purdue fifty six to thirty. Purdue
might be a fun team to watch this year. They
run a lot of different trick orations in their offense.
And look, uh, Ryan Brown, he's gonna he's gonna play
quarterback for this team. I don't know how great he
will be. They also try to use mcobe and Singleton
throwing around the ball a little bit. And look, I
think Purdue's on a lot better spot than they were
ever in the Ryan Walters tenure. I don't know how.
I don't know how low of b bar that is.
But like, I mean, Notre Dame look good. CJ. Carr
look phenomenal. Jeremiah Love was able to run all over
the field, and hey, Notre Dame picks up their first
win of the season. They'll play Arkansas, who just took
a loss to Memphis in a close game that they
shouldn't have lost. But that's besides the point. I like,
I was watching that game. It was on the lower
left side of I mentioned the quad box that you know,
I watch a lot of games on. But yeah, I
mean they it was There's a lot of offense, and
you know what, Perdu like they can get the four
or five wins, they could be good bye week Illinois, Minnesota, Northwestern, Rutgers, Like,
there's a chance I don't know if a bowl game,
but four or five wins set this program in the
right direction. They won't have to take in eighty new players. Sorry,
my throat keeps getting clogged up. And then Michigan State USC.
I mentioned that late night game. USC just simply dominated
on the line of SCRIMMAGEIM seven TfL's two sacks, but
they were really able to push Michigan State around. Michigan
State couldn't generate any pressure. No tackles for a loss
in that game. Keep that in mind, no tackles for
loss in the game. And Joe Rossi was supposed to
be this great defensive mind. He had a lot of
success coaching defensively at Minnesota before he transitioned over to
the defensive coordinator at Michigan State. And I'm like, hey,
maybe we'll have a good defense, because the tenure before
not good at defense at all. Even in the state
or the season twenty twenty one, Michigan State was good.
They still ranked like in the one hundred and thirtieth
in past defense, Like they were not good. And you
remember when CJ. Stroud and all those receivers did to us. Yeah,
that was which, to be fair, they did that to
a lot of teams, but especially aust Wind. We were
a top ten ranked team. I mean that just was embarrassing.
Jane Mayeva, he might be a legitimate Heisman candidate. Waymon
Jordan is the running back. They didn't want what he
marks what he mars went to the draft and then
Quentin Joyners now on Texas Tech and Waymon Jordan, dude,
he makes his way through the field. That's all. That's
all I know. He was a Juco product actually that
transferred over to USC, and they really liked him and
he's been phenomenal. McKay lemon had a huge game. Yeahs
USC looks pretty good offensively. I was very impressed with
the play of Aidan Chiles, even though he wasn't the
most accurate. At the end, he started throwing some deeper bombs.
He had that nice touchdown pass to Amari Kelly and yeah, look,
I mean we were able to do some stuff on
the ground. I see we. I do this every week.
We it's it's Michigan State, not we. I'm not affiliated
with the team. I just watched him as a fan.
Like Makai Fraser did a decent job. And look, I
don't know where this team does finish. We have Nebraska
as our next game after the bye week, than UCLA,
which should be a winm and then Indiana Michigan. Like,
I think I'll see where this team is around Nebraska,
because USC could also be a very very solid team
in the Big Ten. I don't know if they're a
college football playoff team, but yeah, I don't know. It's
kind of like a trial and air process for USC.
Coming up. They will take on Illinois next week. That
will be big noon, and then Michigan, Notre Dame Nebraska.
That's a tough four game stretch that they're gonna have
to be prepared for. But Zach Browning is going to
join us here on the Big Ten paradigm coming up next.
So yeah, let's go have that conversation about right now
and welcome back here on the Big Ten Paradigm. I
have a special guest joining me from Hoosierville down in Bloomington, Indiana,
Zach Browning. Zach, talk a little bit about yourself, what
you do and why you do love doing it well.
Speaker 2: I am a senior at Indiana University. Noah, thank you
so much for having me. First off, I am a
writer for the Hoosier dot Com, which is Indiana's on
three outlet on three site, I guess you could call it.
I also do some play by place. I'm broadcasting as
well for IU student radio station as well as Big
ten Plus, which is the kind of ESPN plus equivalent
of Big ten Network. So keeping myself busy down here
in Bloomington, and I just love doing it. I love
telling stories, So I love being around the game of sports,
whether it's basketball, football, base or whatever it is. I
just love being around sports, and I love talking about him,
writing about him. So I'm in the perfect field.
Speaker 1: Well as working for Indiana University as long as being
a student one, you're very busy. But so you got
to witness a very very uh fifty three point victory
yesterday that the Hoosiers tuck. I wanted to start off
with Fernando Mendoza. He was someone that I really liked
when he played at Cal last year and watching you
know those after dark games, which Michigan State had an
after dark game, yes ironically, and everyone knows that listens
to the show that I'm a big sparty guy. I
talk in a wi when I really shouldn't be. But
you know, it's a team that I root for. But
I want to talk about Fernando Mendoza and his performance
yesterday and kind of just how he's been all season,
kind of just described from your point of view. You know,
you being at these games, watching this team super intently,
what has really impressed you about this kid so far?
Speaker 2: He's just so intelligent the way he sees the game.
He's a perfectionist. He strives, he wants to be perfect
each and every week. And it was funny we were
talking to him after the game last night or on
Saturday night, after the Illinois game, he goes, what was it,
twenty one for twenty three, two d and sixty seven
yards and five touchdowns. Yeah, and without anybody even asking,
without any of us asking, you know, what you want
to work on or what you want to get better
on or anything like that, he brings up himself his
two incompletions and how he feels like he has to
do better on those two specific throws. He's got to
get back in the film room and iron out those kinks.
Dude went twenty one for twenty three over his last
two games, dating back to the Indiana State game in
Week three. He's doing three in completions. He's forty for
his last forty three passing the football, and it's just
the ability to throw the football. I mean, it's simple,
but he's just got so much arm town and I
know that's a little bit of a buzzword these days,
but he really can make some special throws. I was
talking to a national writer for the NFL Draft, a
Sports Illustrated National Football League Draft guy last night, and
I didn't even have to get the entire question out.
I was basically going to ask, you know, your thoughts
on Fernando Mendoza as far as an NFL prospect goes,
And he said he will be a riser this week.
And he is one of those guys that really helped
his case this week, and he showed it against the
top ten team. And I think it's really impressive what
he was able to do last night and what he's
been able to do all season. Fourteen touchdowns to no
interceptions this season, being able to take care of the ball,
being able to spread the ball out evenly, is not
relying on just one wide receiver. It's been mallt different guys,
and he is playing like a guy that'll be a
first round draft pick in next years in a fel draft.
Speaker 1: Yeah, when he entered the transfer portal, I thought he
was someone that's like, why is not like I know,
I didn't really know where Indiana was going to project
on the season coming in. I thought they were going
to be, you know, fighting anywhere in like that fourth
to seventh spot in terms of a team, which they
might be higher. Now I like him more than a
Penn State at this point, But what I was like,
I was thinking, like, why is he not getting more
buzz in more hype, like been big ten focused podcasts
and like media were like, oh, yeah, you know Fernando Mendozo,
like he might be an upgrade from Curtis Work, even
though Curtis Work did his job last season. Then ask
him to do that much. He raises the ceiling of
this Indiana offense, not only in the passing game, but
I mean his ability to extend plays and get outside
the pocket. Like that's one of the things I really
was impressed with him as cal Is. He was getting
out of the pocket, he was making jump passes, he
was doing like a bunch of different things that like
you would see from a day one, day two prospect
in the NFL draft, and with not there, with not
very many quarterbacks and pressing us so far, he might
be a guy that might be the second or third
QB taking off the board. I think him and Sawyer
Robertson out of Baylor the two biggest risers going into
this draft process so far.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, after you look at a guy like
the Noora Sellers, there's not He's might be the consensus
top quarterback right now in the NFL draft. But for
Nano Mendoza, he's got to be right there. And you
talk about kind of the jump throws and that kind
of exotic stuff at Cal, there was a play in
that Illinois game where he got pressured. It wasn't necessarily
the pocket collapse, but he went through all of his raids,
rolled out to his left, and there was a situation
there's a receiver out on the boundary, out on the
sideline five fish yards downfield, there's a quarterback on him,
a defensive back on him. Mendoza's rolling out left. He
can either run for the first down or he can
kind of he's gonna likely run for the first down.
It's like third and three or third and four or something.
Like that thunder sucks in collapses on Mendoza, and Mendoza
like side arm flips it out to the receiver for
like a six to seven yard game in a first down.
And that's the type of NFL improvisation that he has
shown and has in his bag. I think that is
one of those things that really stood out to me
last night. I turned to the guy that was sitting
next to him and he we just stared at each
other for a couple of minutes. It was like, Wow,
that is a type of play that an NFL first
round guy makes. That's a special play. You see that
play on Sundays and it was Saturday night when we
saw that one from Mendoza. But he is a special talent,
and I think the way he reads the game is
so special as well. Churse Netti talked about it even
after the game. He's like, he's just such a smart guy.
He's such a good person. And the way that he
reads the game and the things that Indiana can do
with him, as far as getting to a fourth and
fifth grade or running exotic plays and doing things like that,
it's just something that not many offensive coordinators, not many
head coaches had the luxury of being able to do
with their quarterbacks at the level. He is just so cerebral.
He understands the game, he understands his reads on each
and every play, and he's just so smart. And that's
even just a side from the obvious talent that he
ooses with.
Speaker 1: I wanted to transition into the front seven. So some
notable stats. There's forty four tackles in this game, right
and ten of them are TFLs and seven of them
are sacks. Their front seven was something as a point
of strength coming into this season, and it looks like
they continue to improve on This group is just I mean,
Luke Altmeyer did not have a good time yesterday, and
while he didn't look impressive, neither did his offensive line.
And keep in mind, this is an Illinois group that
is like all senior led on the offensive line kind
of just elaborate. You know, what is some of the
special like I guess play calls or just schematically like
what makes this defense in the front seven so impressive?
Speaker 2: I think it really starts with Brian Haynes. He's the
defensive coordinator, and Indiana new going into the game that
there was a chance they could get pressure I mean,
the film from that Duke Illinois game was pretty evident.
Duke was able to get pressure on Luke Altmeyer. He's
not super mobile, he's not super evasive in that pocket.
So INDI NFLT confident they could get pressure on alt
Meyer on Saturday night, and that's exactly what they did.
And it wasn't necessarily just getting pressure with four guys
rushing their quarterback. There actually wasn't a lot of pressure
when Indiana just brought four guys. But when Brian Haynes
dialed up some pressure, brought in some linebackers, brought in
some guys off the edge from that cornerback spot, that's
when Indiana kind of raked have it. And something that
we've seen so far this year is Mikyle Kamara, who
preseason All American told us before the season he wants
twenty sacks. He's only got one through the first four
weeks of the season. But I think that's a byproduct
of teams, and we saw with Illinois they're sending two
guys plus maybe a running back Kamara's way. He's drawing
so much attention and even on the opposite side of
the line too. Stephen Daley Kell and White. They're drawing
so much tension at the edge spots Indiana from a
pass rushing standpoint, it's allowed the defensive tackles Mario Landino
Tyrek Tucker, two defensive tackles for Indiana have combined for
six sacks already this season through four weeks. And those
are two guys that weren't necessarily expected to contribute that
much in the pass rushing game. So I think the
attention that a guy like Kamara Garner's is leaving up
so many opportunities and opening up so many opportunities for
some of these other guys on Indiana's defense, specifically the
defensive line. Isaiah Jones has been a revelation for Indiana
this week or this year really in the linebacking room.
He's been fantastic coming down. It's the blitzes, it's the
funkiness of kind of the Indiana defensive pass run. And
I think one thing I'll hit on too, Bryant Haynes.
He wants his defense to be aggressive. Yes, he wants
them to be sound from a gap standpoint. He wants
them to make sure their rush fits and their pass
rush fits are sound, and they're sticking to those, but
he has no problem with a who is supposed to
keep contained on the outside if he sees an opportunity.
If Kamara has the opportunity to make a spin move
or a swim move inside and beat his guy and
get to the quarterback, Brian Hayes has no problem with
that guy leaving his gap or leaving his run fit,
so to speak, to try and make a play. And
I think that's what makes us Indiana defense a little
bit special coming into the week. They were number one
according to Pro Football Focus, and the havoc rate is
what it's called, and that showed on Saturday night. This
is a defense that wants to get after the quarterback
and that's what they did against Luke Altmeyer in Illinois.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think getting of a quarterback like Altmeyer,
you know, someone wants to say poise, wants to stay
in the pocket, you know, make reeds at all three levels,
and Indiana kind of just disrupted that. Not to mention
the Indiana defensive back room really led by Di'angelo Ponds,
who was someone that I was impressed with last year,
ended up recovering a punt blocked punt for a touchdown
and really just this whole group defensively kind of just
took Illinois out of this game. A couple other stats
I wanted to point out there. It was three hundred
and twelve rushing yards on the game. I feel like
that's something that kind of just went unnoticed. But I mean,
it's really a three headed monster back there with Kobe Martin,
Kaylon Black, and Roman Hemby. And Kaylan Black was someone
that I really liked coming into the season, and these
other two guys are really stepping up and weren't really
on my radar all that much. I know the offensive
line was pushing them around good and held good blocks
on the run and pass game all game, But what
is it like for a quarterback of Mendoza's talent to
have such a strong supporting running game against an Illinois defense. Now,
I know Gabe Jackis was on the sideline for most
of the game. I know there was that targeting call,
but regardless, still, I mean, the average six point four
yards to carry against an Illinois defense that is supposed
to be pretty sound. What does that mean for this
Indiana group.
Speaker 2: It's hard to put into words what it means because
this is now the fourth consecutive game for Indiana rushing
for over three hundred yards. And obviously first three games
were non conference games, ode U, Kanisas State, and Indiana State,
so you can maybe take those numbers with a grain
of salt. But to come in against the number nine
team in the country and rush for three hundred and
twelve yards, and again, maybe some of that is due
to the fact that there was a lot of running
late in that third quarter and in that fourth quarter
because Indiana was up by three, four, five, six, course
late in that second half. But I think it speaks
to the offensive line. Even dating back to last year.
It's one of those situations where no matter who the
running back is or who the running back has been,
Indiana has had success on the ground, which to me
that speaks to the offensive line, because the offensive line
for the most part has stayed the same outside of
center and right tackle. So if you can consistently no
matter the running back, whether it's Roman Hemby who was
an All Big Ten honorable mention at Maryland, or whether
it's Kaylon Black who had a great year last year
in Indiana, or even it's a red shirt freshman in
Kobe Martin who coming into the year was number four
on the running back depth chart, and now after an
injury to lead Bebe has been thrust to slightly a
slightly higher workload. No matter who it is, Indiana's having
success on the ground and it's a testament to the
offensive line and not just the offensive line the Titans
as well. Riley Nowakowski he had a forty three I
think yard touchdown catch on Saturday, but he was in
Week three named Indiana's offensive Player of the Week for
his work he did as a run blocker at the
tight end spot, and I think that's something we saw
a lot last year with Indiana. Was Zach Horton. He
was asked to do a lot of run blocking and
Riley Nowakowski, I mean, he was a former fullback at Wisconsin,
and if you're going to be a fullback at Wisconsin,
you have to be able to run block a little bit.
And he is showing that this year so far at Indiana,
this offensive line has done wonders. There was a quote
last year I think it was Justice Ellison, who's now
an assistant, a graduate assistant or something along those lines
with Indiana in the running back department. He said there
was something he had another day where he rushed like
one hundred and fifty yards and he was asked, you
know what it's like running behind an offensive line like
Indiana has. They said it was like the Red Sea
parting every time he got the ball. That's kind of
the set. That's kind of the gist that you get
from these Indiana running backs. They're thankful, they understand for
random and those understands that they provide them time. The
offensive line really cannot be The impact they have cannot
be overstated, because that is part of the reason Indiana
is able to have so much success is the play
of the offensive line, both in the run end pass game.
Speaker 1: I also wanted a note I looked because I remember,
you know, I watched the first quarter kind of like
here and there I was doing, so I came back
from dinner and was kind of paying attention. After the
last punt in the first quarter, Indiana scored every time
they touched the ball until the end of the game
is fourteen to seven, and they ended up scoring what
is the math on that sixty three minus fourteen forty
nine points straight and and the Illinois got a field goal.
They didn't score in the second half. That that's just
mind boggling to me. Illinois, Like, I still think they're
a top twenty five caliber team. I think they just
get versus an Indiana team. And look, Indiana, they play
Oregon and Penn State still on the schedule. You gotta
go to Iowa next week. That game is gonna be
a three thirty game. What is something you need to
see before they play Oregon. They'll have a bye week
going into that game October eleventh. What do you want
to see from this Hoosiers team or what do you
think the keyster victory are for the Hoosiers? You know,
two weeks down the line or I guess three weeks
down the line.
Speaker 2: Yeah. It's interesting because going into the game against Illinois,
it was like, all right, Indiana probably needs to win
this game for the College Football Playoff because going into Oregon,
going into Penn State doesn't seem too feasible for anybody
to go into those places and win. So if Indiana
lost against Illinois, they would have had to probably do
that to kind of get into the College Football Payoff.
But the dismantling and the evisceration of that Saturday night
in Bloomington, it's led to some questions, and there's talk
about it this morning, there's talk about it over the
last you know, a couple of hours. Can Indiana go
in there and compete at Oddson and Eugene against Oregon?
Can they go into Beaver Stadium and compete with Penn
State on the road. We won't know until obviously those
games happen. But when you go out and you beat
a top ten team by fifty three, those questions start
to come up, you know, how good is Indiana because
we just don't really know at this point. Obviously. I
agree with you. I think Illinois is still a top
twenty five team. I think they're good. I think that
win speaks more to how good Indiana is better than
the fact that Illinois isn't good. I think Illinois is
still a really good football team. But I think if
you go into if you're Indiana, you go into Kinnick,
you go on the road to Iowa, you take care
of business, you win that game by multiple scores. I
think that would go a long way in setting up
kind of a colossal clash, a big time showdown, a
big time matchup that two weeks after I guess in
autsin against Oregon because the best teams in the country,
the top tier teams, if you're talking about the Big ten,
the Ohio States of the world, they go into Kinnick
and they go into places like Iowa City and they
win those games by three or four scorers. So, if
you're Indiana and you want to be one of those
teams that last year, let's face it, they weren't on
the level of Ohio State. They weren't on the level
of Nerd name. They were good, but not quite on
that level. If you want to be on that level
this year, which Indiana very well could be based on
that game against Illinois, if you want to be on
that level, you have to go into Iowa City and
take care of business by a score or two, maybe
even more against an Iowa team. That's good. But again,
if you want to be taken seriously as a team
that could go into Oregon and beat them, if you
want to be taken seriously as a team that could
go into Penn State and beat them on the road,
those are the types of games you kind of have
to dominate and you kind of have to prove that
you are one of the top teams in college football.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think really, Gronowski for Iowa's played good
ever since the Iowa State game. Granted it's again UMass
and Rutgers. Not that I think Rutgers they have a
solid offense this year. I think defensively, they're just gonna
get shaken up too much where they're not gonna have
a chance to compete, which is not really typical to
say for a Rutgers team. Greg Ciano typically has a
good coach defense. But regardless, like I think Gronowski like
he was someone that I thought was going to be,
you know, like a stable quarterback for Iowa, and he was.
Last game. He was twelve of eighteen, one hundred and
six yards over ten yards per attempt. But a lot
of that is him sitting back there dancing around. And
I think if Indiana's really just able to force the
pressure like they were versus Illinois, I don't think really
Iowa stands a chance. And then my thing with that
Oregon game, I think it's gonna be a great matchup
of quarterbacks. Dante Moores looked pretty poised so far coming
into this year. He was someone that went to Detroit
king like I've mentioned multiple times, down there in Detroit,
it's like literally like the schools take like two miles
from Ford Field and look, he went to Ucla. I
thought he looked okay. But I think Ucla is just
in a very bad place, not to not to beat
on a dead horse, but just not a great football
program at this point in time. And what I think
that game's gonna speak a lot about both of these teams. Now,
Oregon does go to Penn State next week, that's going
to be a very tough matchup, but I think they'll
get a bye week. Both teams will have a bye
week and then play each other, and really the adjustments
they'll make going into that bye week and what the
game plans will be. I think it's gonna be a
great coaching matchup, great quarterback matchup. I think that we'll
see who really is gonna be that second or third
Big Ten team, maybe even the first team to get
into the College Football Playoff and potentially play for a
Big Ten title game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that game will probably be the biggest game of
the season and the Big Ten out. It's difficult because
there's so many I mean, you got the Oregon Penn
State game next weekend, but for both of those two teams.
Depending on what Oregon does against Penn State, that could
define whether or not you have a buy in the
College Football Playoff come the end of the season. It
could define if you're hosting a game in the College
Football Playoff or if you're out of the College Fotble
Playoff altogether. So that will be a massive game for
both of those two teams. And I agree. I really
like Dante Moore. I saw him play in high school.
He came down Detroit King, came down to play Carmel
when I was at Carbonate. Fantastic game, by the way.
That was an awesome game between Detroit King and Carmel
that year. But Dante More, he's had a fan of
me ever since that game because he showed me that night. Again,
he was just a high schooler at that point, but
he is the real deal. He is a legit guy.
And it helps that you're in a Dan Lanning offense
and an Oregon offense that you could throw a twelve
year old into, it feels like and he could have success.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a lot of receivers that are unknown. I mean,
they had to Corey and Moore, who is their highly
touted freshman, But with Evan Stewart getting hurt for that
Ducks team, I mean, there's a lot of opportunity for
players to kind of suit themselves in and kind of
earn their mark and spot on that team. So it's
gonna be a great matchup because the Indiana receivers and
Omar Cooper and sarat are both really good guys that
you know, they'll probably play on Sundays at some point
or at least be on a practice squad. I don't
know if they're gonna be first or second round talent.
We'll see how the draft projects, because everything changes and
then everyone runs a forty yard dash and all of
a sudden, everyone forgets about what actually happened on the fields.
I make that remark in just terms of I think
some of the physical stats that are tested, while they
are important, I think film is just the most important
thing when it comes to a quarterback or really any
skilled position. I guess any position overall. Maybe you can,
like defensive linemen, you can you know, work in more
because look at Trayvon Walker. He was a guy that
had great physical testing and then eventually, you know, transcended
to be pretty good defensive end. Slash linebacker for the
Jacksonville Jaguars, So it is possible, I guess. But there's
also the Anthony Richardson case where he looks terrible and
getting beat out by Daniel Jones. But you're a Colts fan,
so I bet you know more about it than I do.
But uh, you know who do they? Who are they
playing today?
Speaker 2: The Titans?
Speaker 1: Okay, so cam Ward versus Daniel Jones, solid solid court.
I mean Daniel Jones. Look, he's been good.
Speaker 2: He's gonna keep playing like this. Then I won't say
anything about whether or not I thought Anthony Richardson should
have gotten the starting job or not.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean it's tough, but I assume most
of the time, the NFL gms and personnel directors and
you know, coaches, you know what they're doing, hopefully, I
mean they're getting paid good chunk of good chuck that.
But AnyWho, this is Zach Browning joining us here on
the Big Ten paradigm. Zach, thank you for your time
so much. And look at that Oregon game goes very
goes well in the rate of the Hoosiers direction direction
or even later on in the season, they they're in
the Big Ten title game. Well, I'll be having you
back on the show because I liked our conversation. I
thought went pretty well.
Speaker 2: I do too. It was a great time being here.
I always talk about Indiana football, all right.
Speaker 1: When we return, we'll discuss what's going to happen in
that Penn State Oregon game, and so on and so forth,
and Week five of the college football season here in
the Big Ten. Once again, want to think Zach Browning
for joining us here on the Big Ten paradigm, as
we love all our guests that join us. But man,
Zach was a very nice guy, and we had a
great conversation before, and like you mentioned, you know, he's
a big Reds fan, big Colts fan, which recording this
later after I believe the Colts won versus the Titans
in yeah, the one o'clock game. I was just mainly
looking at my fantasy team earlier, but yeah, forty one
to twenty and the Reds one today and they're in
the wild card. So he's got to be a pretty
happy guy. His his Hoosiers get it. He's on Red's
looking to make a push and the Colts are still
undefeated with Daniel Jones, so some really impressive stuff. I'm
not an NFL guy, but man, has Daniel Jones made
a career ARC or made a big change in his
career ARC because there was a talk about he was
gonna play safety last year. So but regardless, let's take
a look at the AP top twenty five pole and
then we will talk about week five on the way out.
Ohio State is number one, still, Miami jumps Penn State,
Penn State falls down two three, Oregon sits at six
in the Big Ten. Indiana moves up to the eleven position,
just sitting behind Texas, A and M and Texas and
then moving farther down. Michigan is at nineteen, jumping up
two spots. USC jumps up to twenty one, Notre Dame's
twenty two. Illinois still stays in the top twenty five
at twenty five three. And then for the other Big
ten teams and receiving votes, Hey, Maryland, shout out to Yeah,
shout out to yeah, they got six votes or six points,
I should say, But yeah, and no one, no other
Big ten team is being considered, especially after the Nebraska loss.
But hey, you know, still a lot of season left
to be played. We're not even close to being done.
More dramatics and more things will happen, and we have
a big, big game next week. Hey, all the Big
ten games will be on Saturday. That's cool. We're obviously
talking about ucl No, I'm kidding UCLA in Northwestern do play,
So yeah, that that'll be a game, will be good.
I don't know. I at to be such like a
hater about it, but it's just like like Northwestern, I guess,
isn't the most terrible thing, and they think they're seventy
chance to win according to the ESPN analytics. But yeah,
that that'll be you know what, I'll probably watch it,
but let's be real, I'm gonna watch it. It's on
Big ten network. Why not? Why not? Only it looks
like six games total next week with a lot of
teams being on bye weeks. First game I wanted to
start out with Penn State versus Organ down in Happy Valley.
Penn State favored by three and a half. So the
power ratings thing, well, I guess would you give Happy
Valley probably a four point? Like? I think these teams
are so even on like a power rating and talent
composite scale. In a lot of the position groups drew
Aller versus Dante Moore. A lot of criticism about Drew Aller,
including for me, I'm not gonna say I'm innocent in
this situation. I don't know if he's been that great.
I think Dante Moore has looked pretty good. Almost a
thousand passing yards already, eleven touchdowns to one interception. Who's
gonna step up in this running game in this big
game for Orgon? I think that is my biggest question
for the Ducks coming into this game, because they haven't
really proved that they have a number one back. They
got Lamar Hill Whittington. They're also supposed to be using
the Kai Hughes as well. Dante more can run it
a little bit in the ground game, and then look
Malik Benson, he made a nice catch last week. You
also have Decory and Moore, who is technically leading in
receiving yards. You goat Sadik at the tight end position,
Bryant like this. This this Oregon team, Yeah, they they
they haven't been challenged yet, and neither has Penn State.
Really neither of these teams have been significantly challenged, and
that that's gonna change. That's gonna change this game. I
think it'll be whatever team could keep it cleaner, because
I think there's just gonna be mistakes being in this game.
Considering that out of the two, yeah, Penn State's played Nevada,
f i U and Villanovo. Like, I think, while there's
a lot of experience, especially on the Penn State side
compared to the Oregon side, I think who's able to
force miss stas? Yeah, two prolific edge rushers and denied
Denis Sutton and Mateo ou Yugoy, both guys are gonna
be playing on Sundays. Like it's going to be a
great game between both of these teams, and I think,
like I don't see it getting outside of like a touchdown. Like,
I think both of these teams are gonna do a
good job of, you know, really applying that pressure, doing
a good job in coverage, Like whoever's able to kind
of just win. I don't think any either team's gonna
really get any separation either in terms of like a
talent advantage, because I don't think the Oregon receivers are
that much the panya and the other guys at ross
at Penn State. So like this is going to be
a very interesting matchup and I'm excited to see, you know,
one of these big time. Like I know, the Illinois
Indiana game was big time technically, even though it wasn't
because Indiana beat the crap out of them. But yeah,
I mean, it's going to be interesting to see what's
going to happen in that game. Seven thirty NBC Penn
State three and a half point favorite over under a
fifty three and a half. It could really go either
way because I think that the Oregon offense could get
up and Penn State's got to respond. But I also
think Penn State can set the tone defensively. Not to
say that Oregon's a bad defense. I just think Penn State,
you know, has a little bit better of a defensive
identity this season, kind of why they've been able to
dominate so far this season. But look, there's some players
on this Oregon team obviously mentioned Ui Augi. They have
a linebacker and bouchetter that I think could be a
big crucial part. It'll be interesting to see, you know,
the dbs step up in this game as well, because
on both sides, you don't really know, you know, who's
gonna be playing or who's gonna be that standout guy
in the secondary for both of these teams, So it
will be interesting other games USC Illinois this one in Champagne.
USC is a six and a half point favorite. They
think that the ali and I I bet a lot
of things are gonna drop down for the Aliani And look,
I mentioned I still think Illinois is a top twenty
five team. I don't think they're that like as bad
as they got beat by Indiana, I think if they
were to play that game again, while I'd probably still
take it Indiana, I don't think they lose by fifty
three points. I think it's like a seven point game.
It was just weird. Indiana also played the best football,
so but look like I think a big problem in
that game versus India that really didn't get talked about
too much from Illinois. They didn't run the ball at
all and they were playing from behind, but like they
averaged point. I know Sacki Yarde comes into play, but
if he can only had three point six yards per
carry and Valentine only had one point eight Like their
longest run literally was thirteen from Luke Almeyer in that game. Now,
I think they'll be able to do a better job
versus USC. But I mean we saw what the Illinois
into the Illinois secondary, and I think Majava is that
good too. And I think the receivers for USC are
pretty good. At McKay Lemon, like he's a he's a
really good player. And also Jacoby Lane, he's a big
play guy. He's averaging like twenty seven yards per reception.
I mean they've really only used Lemon, and they've also
really gone to the ground with Sanders and Jordan this season.
And look, hein't been looking really prolific on offense. And
I would take that spread with USC. I know it's
it's gotten bet up to uh by the way it
started out one and a half, it's now up to
six and a half, so five points, and I think
it probably could get bet up to like nine or
ten and a half. Not that I think that Illinois
is that much worse, but they really have to prove
it this weekend. If they don't, I mean a lot
of people are gonna be like, oh, well, this team
was a preseason fraud. I don't like, like, yes, but
they also have good talent on this team, like Gabe
Jackets is still gonna be a first round linebacker. I
don't know about the rest of the team in terms
of their draft projectability, but over under a sixty one
and a half. Hey, I don't think USC is gonna
do it by themselves like Indiana did, but yeah, I
think I think we'll see a good game there. Indiana
Iowa happening on Peacock three thirty, which, by the way,
why is WWE on ESPN? Now I've totally forgot about
that whole media contract signing and whatnot. Can we, like,
why does everything have to be changing all the time?
You can just make it simple, Like I know, cable
TV is probably never gonna exist again, but at least
mostly everything was on there. Now, WWE was pay per
view at the time. But like, why can't we just
make all network like you pay like fifty bucks a
month not fifty Why don't you just pay like eighty
to one hundred bucks a month to have like every
single streaming app? Like someone needs to come up with, right,
It's ridiculous to have so many individual payments for so
many different like sources of entertainment. It just doesn't make
any sense. But that's a rant for another day. Indiana
is a three and a half point favorite at can't
open at three and a half. Now they're at six
and a half. Oh okay. Anyways, like this Iowa team
got lit up in the secondary by Calai Kvanis. Now,
like Raymond wasn't able to run the ball, but this
is a three headed monster, and when they had Bbie,
I mean it was also a really good run game
as well. For Indiana, I think that they're gonna be
able to just kind of pressure this Iowa defense too much,
and I don't think they have the talent to really
push the ball against this Indiana defense between their secondary
and pass rush. And with that being said, I think
Indiana's gonna win by like twenty in this game. I
know Kiddick's a hard place to go play and pull
out a win. And I'm not trying to disrespect Iowa
in any manner. I'm probably drinking the Signetti kool aid
a little bit too much, but I like, I seriously
think that this Indiana teams like really legit, and I
think that yeah, they they are. They are a problem.
And look, I just when Iowa plays teams that are that,
the talent is better. On the other side, it's just
hard to pick them because of the style football they play.
And I'm not gonna go on this Kirk Farrench change
up because that's that's how they've been. They've gone to
Big Ten championship games. Like I can't really criticize the
Hawkeyes all that much. Rutgers plays Minnesota. I don't know
what the status is on Darius Taylor because even with
him being out, he's still their leading rusher even being
out a game. Drake Lindsay, he's been okay, CALLI comandis Look,
he might be the most underrated quarterback in the Big Ten,
not really talked about, not that Rutgers is really gonna
be talked about in like a national light, but he's
he's been really good. I like, I don't know, uh
if that has a chance to even go anywhere. Five
and a half point favorites the home team of Minnesota,
and I think it'll be a good, like middle of
the pack Big Ten matchup, like to see you know,
both these teams trying to make a bowl game and
maybe trying to get like seven eight wins in a season.
I think this is a good game in terms of,
you know, fighting for the middle of the Big Ten.
And I'll probably be on my TV uh Ohio State
and Washington Ohio State. It's only a nine and a
half point favorite. It opened at thirteen for OSU, thirteen
and a half for OSU and Mon Williams. I mean,
he's one of those guys where he could really change
a game by himself. He's like, I don't think his
name has been talked about enough now. He was kind
of hiped in the preseason, especially people around Big Ten
media days, and I remember listening to him talk about
he has such a good relationship with his offensive lineman
and one of the things that they did is like
team bonding, was go golfing. He's like, while I'm not
eight a golfer, you know, it's still something we enjoy
around being each other and really just trying to understand
each other. And that's something you love to see out
of a leader at the quarterback position. Look, Husky Stadium
is a tough play to go, tough place to go play,
and I would love to see Ohio State really be
able to air it out because Sayan hasn't looked particularly
amazing so far to start out this season. I don't
think he's been bad by any means. I just don't
think he's looked particularly amazing. They got people's and Donald
Donaldson and also Jackson backfield. Obviously we know the receiver room.
We're not blind. I'd love to see Max Claire really
get used in this game. He's only got four receptions
on the season. Tate and Smith have been the leading guys.
Love to see Innis maybe get involved a little bit
more as well. And will this just Ohio State team
be able to apply pressure more and more really trying
to break in that defensive line unit. We have really
talked about this team since the Week one game, after
the Week one game with Tyler Danberg, which we'll talk
to you again at some point. That'll be a great
road trip or I guess, I don't know if they're
probably not driving, they're definitely flying. I mean they might,
they might drive. It could be fun. Maybe I'm kidding, uh,
but yeah, that'll be a great game between both of
those teams. And then, like I mentioned very jokingly, UCLA
and Northwestern play football. They're playing at the the the
beautiful looking medicine field at Martin Stadium, the very small
practice field for Northwestern. That'd be a fun game to watch.
Maybe I don't know. Regardless, that's everything to cover here
in the Big Ten. I want to thank you for
tuning into this episode on the College Gridiron Coast to
Coast network. Make sure you go follow and listen to
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so long, everybody enjoyed the coming week, and we will
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and following all the action