Speaker 1: You are now listening to the Big Ten Paradigm podcast
here on the College GRIDIRN Coast to Coast Podcast Network.
Please welcome in Noah Drury's we cover the Big Ten
throughout this whole entire twenty twenty five college football season,
and welcome back here to the Big Ten Paradigm on
the College Gridiron Coast to Coast Network, available where you
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Speaker 2: My name obviously you heard it in the intro. No
A Dury happy to present the Big Ten Paradigm here,
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twelve sec Breakdown, the Yards and Stripes Pod, and much
much more. The Big Ten kind of an interesting week,
right There was no like super big games but there
was a lot of excitement. There was the big rivalry
game in East Lansing, which we'll get to that later
as I may or may not have been there find
out coming up soon. But first I wanted to talk
about the most surprising result of the day, Iowa versus Minnesota.
Minnesota was like an eight and a half point favorite.
The total was thirty nine and a half in Iowa
covered the over. You just don't see that in Iowa games,
but they did it. And credit to their special teams
and defense getting a touchdown when you get fourteen points
off just not really playing offense, Yeah you're gonna score points.
Whattmer got the pick six for Iowa and then also
getting a was it a punt return? Caiden Wigen, who
is also a fun weapon on that offense in this game,
watching it more and more and through set on a
lot of motions, put on a lot of crosser and
short routes. Fun fun player. I wouldn't say he's like
Cooper Degene because obviously Cooper Degene was a corner, but
he might be like the wide receiver equivalent in terms
of also making an impact on special teams. Mark Gronowski
looked good. In my notes from this game, I was like,
Tim Lester's really made this Iowa offense. While the players
aren't necessarily particularly amazing in the skilled positions, it's creative.
They do a lot of different things, and I think
that's what you want to see from Iowa as they
continue to build more personnel, and Tim Lester, if he
continues to stay there, you know gonna have fun with
that offense. I think having Gronowski healthy compared to earlier
in the season makes a big difference for this Iowa team.
You remember that Iowa State game. Gronowski was not healthy
at the beginning of the year, and also there was
a lot of speculation if he was going to start.
In the first week. They scored seventeen points in the
first quarter, which was ridiculous, and I think they had
like what thirty one by halftime. It was it was
not not good for the Minnesota Golden Gophers. They think
get a first down until ten forty one in the
second quarter. It's just ridiculous to see Minnesota, after having
such a good game and an extra day of preparation,
to uh lose by so much after beating Nebraska. So
they had a fun game against Northwestern. We'll get to
that coming up shortly. Minnesota their offenses Darius Taylor or
bust and Neli had one carry in this game, so
someone assumed he got hurt. But yeah, I mean Drake
Lindsay a bad day. Sixteen to twenty eight, one o nine,
three interceptions, Just not a good day for And he
also had a fumble that was recovered by his own team.
But just not a good day. And Drake Lindsay weill
as he's young. Minnesota is not a great team on
the lines of scrimmage per se, at least on the
offensive side. They just got worked in this game in
Minnesota is probably the most confusing team the Big Ten
because it's like you beat Nebraska, you get House, you
have a close game with Rutgers, you get House by
Cal Like what is Minnesota football in the year of
twenty twenty five. I don't know. They're gonna most likely
get to a bowl game, but still like they they
have a game against Oregon in a game against Northwestern
like those are could be two losses Michigan State. They're
five and a half point favorites going into next week.
We'll touch a little bit more on the specifics in
that game in the latter part of this episode, and
then you play Wisconsin. Okay, it's Wisconsin, but I mean
then that's a rivalry game between those two schools. So
it's like, Okay, what is this Golden Gophers team this year?
And my assumption is it's daily Darius Taylor or bust
has been their whole entire alletst offensive identity. And you know,
when your defense is on the field for the majority
of the first half and I was just continuing to
put up points, points, points and more points, you're gonna
have a tough time. So that's my thought about that
Rutgers per Due in the noon window. It was a
fun game between both these teams. It was a get
right spot for Athy and caliik Manis He had three
hundred and fifty nine yards thirteen point three yards per
attempt and a touchdown. And Antoine Raymond he got it
back done going on the ground again one hundred and
sixteen yards and a touchdown. Only four yards per carry,
but still he's still someone that was able to be
productive in kJ Duff six receptions, two hundred and forty
one yards and a touchdown, averaging forty yards per reception,
which is just insane stuff, right. kJ Duff's been someone
kind of talked about on this team for Rutgers, and
he looked he's a pretty good receiver. He is a
only a sophomore too, so there's a there's a solid
chance either he stays with Rutgers or we see him
in a highlight spot for another team. Rutgers out gained
perdue in this game. Purdue could not get really much
through the air. On the ground, they were able to
actually run it a decent bit. Devin Macaby ran it
good and Malchai Thomas broke out one huge run and
like Purdue really didn't get sacked all that well. But
it was just like it was a big ted football
games between two below two mediocre teams, and when you're
in the game that came. The thing that came down
to it was the fumble with seven seconds left for Purdue.
I was like, Oh, because someone I knew who had
the over, I'm like, oh, maybe you'll just go tie,
you know, twenty four to twenty four and overtime, and
the over was fifty eight and a half. And he's
like I'm just like oh yeah, And then I'm like oh, hey, Purdue,
because we're tailgating yesterday and the beautiful East Lancing there's
like TVs everywhere around in our tailgating spot, and it's
just like, oh so Perdue fumbled it and Rutgers has
great field position. They're like down at like the I
think it was the Purdue twenty five. It's like they
got a great chance with Rutgers, by the way, earlier
in the game, missed a forty four yard field goal
that could have been the difference early on, but end
up doing it getting out the outright win and Rutgers
and Bruce to four and four. Purdue falls to two
and six, And I thought Purdue was gonna be like
a much better team than two and six, and looking
at their games, like, I mean, a one score game
versus Minnesota, they like kind of went back and forth
with Illinois, kind of back and forth with the under game,
like they're not a great team, let me say that,
And they're most likely gonna get killed by Michigan next
week and may not get to win the rest of
the season. Look, it's a pretty hard schedule, Like Rutgers
was one of the only games you could probably get
a winning So yeah, I mean they still have Ohio State, Indiana, Washington,
Michigan left on the schedule, and they played Illinois, Notre Dame,
and USC and Northwestern Man. That's a that's a tough road, man, geez,
one of the tougher schedules. But I mean it's a
first year coaching Barry Odom and look, Purdue has not
been this historically great program. Jeff Brohm, I think really
kind of overshot my expectations of Purdue and just like, oh,
they can win, No, not really, They're they're they're they're
Mississippi State, which I mean, they're not even a bad
team this year, but they're still not good. I'm just
like trying to think, like who's a bad team in
the well, not North Carolina. It's North Carolina gets the bull.
It's tough to say like what they are, but they
are just consistently a bottom of the conference team and
kind of like Wake Forest almost like the situation they're in,
Like I know, they're still winning games here and there,
and they had the recent success with Dave Austin, who's
not the head coach, it's Dicker, who was the former
Washington State coach. But when they had Sam Hartman too,
Like they were pretty solid then. I think they made
the ACC Championship. I think that was the Kenny Pickett
fake slide. Yeah, Like Purdue is just not going to
be a great football program unfortunately. I'd love to see
the boiler Makers be more spectacular. And yeah, the Oregon
Wisconsin game obviously, bad weather in Eugene, it's a night game.
It's a kind of a oh, we're Oregon and we
kind of want to get out of this game and
go into the bye week. And you know, they won
twenty one to seven, and Dante did go out in
the third quarter with that ugly bloody nose, and Brock
Thomas came in and only threw four passes. Davison and
Whittington are two, Uh, it's two really good backs, and
I think those are gonna be the one two punches
for this Oregon team. We saw Lamar earlier in the season,
but I think it's gonna be these two guys. And
deer Hall Hill got a couple of touches as well.
They couldn't get anything in the receiving game, and when
it's raining hard, obviously it's going to be tough to
get your get your you know, pass catchers involved to
Coreyan Moore kind of quiet. Mc McClellan had a couple
of nice catches early, Jamar Johnson was wide open on
a play, but yeah, I mean it was just kind
of like Wisconsin's just really bad. Udica had a couple
of nice runs but nothing really too impressive. Hunter Simmons
is like the worst Big Ten quarterback in my opinion,
Like if this was Iowa with like Deacon Hill, like
I don't even know if Hunter Simmons would start over him, right,
Like this is just bad. And you know, Wisconsin had
a turnover on downs early on in the game. It
was very slop early on, and Oregon just looked off
beat and I think they were just like, real, let's
get healthy, let's get into the bye week. What's kind
of reset and get ready for the final season stretch
that includes going to Kinnick and playing Iowa, hosting Minnesota
on a Friday night, hosting USC and then going to Washington.
Like this is going to be a tough stretch for
the Ducks, And I mean, they could drop one game,
but if they drop too then it gets really scary
because it's like, what's your most impressive win? Penn State,
which doesn't look good anymore. Obviously a really great win
at the time. Northwestern looks good, but like they wouldn't
have really any impressive win. So it's not like they're
gonna be a three loss team unless the committee you know,
wants to do this, like, oh well, it's just this
ensumingly huge brand and we can't lose them because the ratings.
We're not gonna put in a team like Virginia or
whoever you know in that twelve slot. We gotta have
the big brand in the Ducks. Like obviously that could happen.
I don't think it will to be hones. I don't
think Oregon's gonna drop two games in four weeks, especially
with hosting USC and USC really not being good in
big games. And I don't think like I think Washington
can pose a threat, but I think Oregon's defense is
a lead enough where we'll talk about it in the
Washington Illinois game actually coming up next year. I don't think,
you know, Oregon is a uh. I don't think they're
gonna lose. I think Iowa they could handle pretty well
as long as they can. I think score twenty eight
against that team. I think They're put themselves in a
great position. I think I'd say even twenty four. But
they do have a bye week before they do play
the final stretch of their schedule, and it will be
interesting to see, you know what will the Ducks do?
And will Dan Lanning take LSU? Because every head coach
that has had prominent success so far wherever they are,
no matter what the age or how long their tenure
has been or whoever. Hell I heard Nick Saban's gonna
come out of retirement and go back to LSU or
Maier where yet. I know you have a nice gig
on Fox. Yeah, if you didn't hear the news Brian
Kelly got fired. It's like the second largest buyout in
college football history, behind obviously at Jim Bo Fisher, which,
funny enough, the ad at LSU was the eighty at
tex A and M that fired on Brian Kelly, which
I mean Texas A and M did a really good
job with Mike Elco and shout out to the Aggies
being ranked number three in the country and getting that
big win and Death Valley last night. But yeah, we're
not We're not that hot. We're not They're not big ten,
although we will you see Brian Kelly in the Big
ten again because being a part of the Michigan State
fan base and you know, just observing a lot and
being at the game last night, Yes, I did go.
That does answer your question. Earlier into the show, there
was fire Jonathan Smith chance in the stadium. There has
been any time a coach gets fired since I want
to say James Franklin, there has been like, oh, we
need to fire fire this guy. And they're like, when uh,
I forget the Oregon head coaches name. They are like, oh,
to seven, I know the name. I know is the
former defensive coordinator. I just it's not coming to my mind.
When he got fired, They're like, oh, Jonathan Smith, here's
the perfect opportunity to go back home. And that's not
like Jonathan Smith's the super unlikable guy that nobody gets
along with. He's just not in the right school in
my opinion. But well, more on that conversation later. Yeah, Oregon,
you escaped with the win. Get into the by focus
on those final four games. The next one, the next
one Illinois Washington. This was a fun game. Demon Williams
is one of those dudes I know he had kind
of had a bad game versus Michigan, and he didn't
play up to par against Ohio State, which I think
more of that was one. Washington was missing their starting
left sackle in that Michigan game last week. And look,
Washington on the line of scrimmage and especially on the
defensive side, is just not that great this year. They're solid,
They're alright. I was very impressed by Clark, the defensive back.
I've put in my notes on this game. Clark made
one of the most textbook pass breakups that you can
make when you want. It was like that Mikey Sandra
still play in I think twenty twenty two when Donovan
Edwards had that huge game versus Michigan or Michigan had
that huge game against Ohio State and Donovan Edwards had
like three hundred something yards. I don't know if it
was that much, but it was crazy, right. They had
like five to seven really explosive plays. And in that game,
Mikey Sandra's still on Cade Stover made a huge pass breakup.
Well I'm pretty sure he was on coverage on Hank Beatty.
He makes one of those textbook pass breakups. And credit
to Washington's defensive line Altmeyer took some shots in this game,
and also he threw four I and t's, two of
them were called back, two of them stand in and
just the three headed monster of Boston Coleman and Williams
is just one of the most fun trios to watch
with quarterback, running back, and wide receiver and they have
a couple other weapons. Roebuck had two receiving touchdowns for Washington,
and look, they're a fun team. They're probably one of
the most enjoyable teams for me to watch just in
terms of them being fun and on the Illinois side
of things, like Altmeyer is just not that great of
a quarterback, you know what. They could run in this game,
but they were facing deficits for the majority of it
and they just they didn't get any pressure. Two tackles
for a lost, zero sacks like Washington. They killed it
on the first drive of the game. They had like
eight or nine yards all the way down until they
got into the red zone, and they just did a
really good job of just kind of just staying on
their feet and keeping it pushing the whole entire game.
Like Demon Williams twenty six for thirty three two eighty
four touchdowns with also getting sixty six yards on the
round and Cole Look, Denzel Boston threw a touchdown in
this game as well. He had ten receptions one hundred
and fifty three yards and a receiving touchdown too. Like
this team is just so fun. And they had six
pass deflections in the defensive back room. That's crazy. I mean, look,
Washington didn't get a sack either, but it was noticeable
the pressure they were putting on Luke Altmeyer. He was
throwing it instead of taking sacks. Had a lot of
contested passes, I mean four balls that should have been picked.
And also to go along with six pass deflections, Like
you know, that's a dream for a dB to constantly
put plays on their highlight tape and you know, being
able to because sometimes they don't get the ball thrown
at them at all. So they're like, oh, hey, you
know a quarterback that's going down to chuck it. Like
we liked that. I mean, yeah, it's just like Washington
just schemed it up better in this game, and I
think they had the better athletes at home and they
pick up a seventeen point win. Pretty impressive. Ah, what
do we move on to next? What's next on the agenda? Oh? Hey,
Northwestern in Nebraska. One of the weirdest games ever. This
game was chaos. That's how I would it was like
uncontrollable chaos. It's like this is a game where Nebraska
would lose it with Scott Frost. That's the best way
I could describe it, right, Just a chaotic game. Turnovers
all over the place. Preston Stone had two picks. They
Northwestern had a fumble. Riola had a pick. He also
had a fumble and a very crucial one at halftime
as well as the score was and by the way,
in this game FS one in Fox Sports overall, what
the hell are we doing with a six seven graphic?
Everyone's like, oh, this joke is done. No, it has
it because everyone keeps making it. And I'm gonna be
honest with my friends sometimes, like, you know, just be like, oh,
how tall is this guy? Suxcept No, we need to stop.
We can't be putting this in a professional broadcast setting.
I know it's supposed to be fun. I can't stand
it seeing it on social media or any sort of
television or any sort of broadcast on whatever platform. We
need to stop making this joke it will be done
being made on this show. It probably won't. I'm lying
to you. I'm immature too, but like, seriously, you have
a whole graphic for it because the score was six
to seven and there was a couple of others that
had six and seven. Oh my god, can't run away
from it Anywhay, alright, I'm just gonna shut up about it. Oh,
back to football. Isaiah Hunter is a damn good pass catcher.
He is someone that I don't think it's talked enough
about around the country. He was at Cal last year.
I don't know, okase stat line, he's almost got as
much yards as he did at Cal last year with
Nebraska having four more games to play. Either, Nebraska's got
a payout for him unless Matt row leaves to go
take the Penn State job, which you know no one's
talked about recently, but remember, I like to remember those things.
I still think Matt Campbell too, not gonna be like
Giffing anymore, because heck, he's got Florida and LSU and
also the option to stay at Ole Miss. But yeah,
and also one more thing I wanted to touch on,
Emmitt Johnson Man. He is such an animal one hundred
and twenty four yards, two touchdowns, just just great, great player.
Nebraska needs to learn how to, uh, how to have
a good line line of scrimmage. I think they're really
just a good offensive defensive line honestly from being like
and Riola kind of just cleaning up some of the
you know, oh, he's almost like he has a gimmick
of just this, like Patrick Mahomes bootleg right, Like he
plays into it so much it's like so cringey to watch.
And Ryola's had an interesting recruiting upbringing. He like transferred
to four different high schools in four different years, and
people are like, oh, well, maybe he's just gonna transfer
from Nebraska, which I thought he was committed to Ohio
State before, which, honestly, if you're Ohio State, you're probably
more happy that you have saying than Ryola at this point.
Not that Ryola is a bad QB. I mean, he's
had a solid season, but he just does so much
of these like gimmicky things that you're just like kind
of just putting your hand on your head, especially if
you're a Nebraska fan, and it's just like, dude, if
you just cleaned it up and try to stop looking
so cool, like you're too cool for school, which a
lot of these athletes are because you know, spoiler alert,
there's a lot of academic advisors on these teams to
really help players, and a lot of their classes are
online trying to get their degrees. Not saying it happens
for every single player at every single program, but you know,
I would love to see a picture of Dylan Royola
in a classroom, you know, learning something in his jet
ads or whatever his major is. Right, and Dylan Royola
is most likely going to be a professional quarterback. I
don't doubt it. He's definitely got the tools for it.
But I think if he can clean it up in
Nebraska really could get an offense and defensive line because
they took some guys in the portal and it's like, ah,
those guys are kind of missing, right, So you just
have to be able to be identified talent a little
bit better on the Nebraska side. For Northwestern, I mean, look,
it was an okay game, come alof great game on
the ground, but yeah, Preston Stone as your quarterback and
there's a reason why you got bench for Kevin Jennings
after winning an American Championship. Keep that in mind. But
you know it's just like you feel bad for him, right,
But you know some new quarterbacks. You look at Tanner Mortarcai,
now you look at Preston Stone, you know when they transfer,
dude just don't look that good. I'm a big fan
of Kevin Jennings too, so I was glad he was
able to play. Uh, UCLA comes back down to Earth.
Oh man, Yeah, this was a I remember watching this
game at noon because it's like, okay, well I want
to watch the noon o'clock window before we go tailgate
and maybe see some of the TV's on the other screen.
End up leaving at like all right, I turned this
game off after his twenty eight nothing, I'm like, okay,
well you see alwa, he's not coming back down to nothing. Yeah,
they just came back down the earth. Nothing was working
this Indiana defense. If it wasn't quite clear enough, is legit.
Mendoza didn't really even have a great game. I was
impressed by him be and Black just being able to
just dominate in the backfield, you know, just running physically
and really just you know, it wasn't It was impressive
to see EJ. Williams kind of a coming out party
for him. He's someone while he's been good on this team,
it's mainly been Elijah Suratt and Omar Cooper. And while
Williams has been like that third target, you might be
one of those weapons, especially in a playoff game where
it's like, oh, you might have one hundred and fifty
yards and two receiving touchdowns and you're like, oh, what
the hell that came out of nowhere. But he's a
really good football player. They were able to get pressure
and this team, I mean Aiden Fisher had a pick
six to begin the game and Mendoza threw a pick
in this game early. I'm like, Okay, UCLA might know.
They didn't do anything. They never will. They're back to
being the not good for almost I didn't want to.
They're back to being you know, UCLA football in the
Big Ten. So far what they're short life in the
Big Ten has been. Look. I still think Tim Skipper
and Jerry Neuheisel will be good hires for through UCLA
in the long term, and you'll get players that want
to play for you. But this year, yeah, it's just
it's just not good. Okay, all right? Is it? Time. Yeah,
the the Paul Bunyan Trophy almost played for Last Night
and East Lansing. It was a seven thirty game on
NBC in prime time on one of the main major
whether it's CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox. So wait, NBC, CBS, Fox,
those are the three main networks, right, I'm not an idiot,
I hope so I don't know. Yeah, this game was
played in prime time and a major network. That 'll
just say that. I guess ESPN would be like the
four one two, But regardless, this was played on a
major network. And look MSU like they I will say this,
the defense played hard. I know, they gave up like
two hundred and seventy three yards, which is the most
yards in the game since like nineteen ninety three, I
think when they had like three point fifty in the
rivalry game. Like in the first half. They played hard,
like it was what ten to seven at halftime, like
Michigan State, you know, if they could do anything worth
a damn on offense. And look, both quarterbacks played bad
in Chiles and Bryce Underwood. I mean Underwood didn't play bad.
It just didn't really have to throw it because you know,
Justice Haynes and Jordan Marshall just decided to like be like, oh, yeah,
there's just these wide open holes we're gonna run through.
And they weren't even really open in the first half.
But watching it in the second half, it's like just
watching Justice Haynes and Jordan Marshall just run downhill through
wide open holes in the third quarter. I left at
like the end of the third quarter. I'm like, dude,
wasting money coming to this game because I went with
a bunch of my friends that go to stay or
were up for the weekend, and it's just like, yeah,
I literally was like, oh, maybe I'll just buy tickets
this morning, because who know what the hell is gonna happen.
It's a rivalry game. No, nothing great happen for State fans.
And look, Michigan's a good ball club this year. I
think defensively, this is still a Michigan team that's capable
of competing at a high level. I just think offensively,
I mean, look, I think Andrew marsh is a great
receiver and if they could just get some supplemented pieces
around him, because look, he's a freshman and he's got
two more years. Like mccoley wasn't a bad transfer per se,
but he's not gonna be there next year. Obviously you
don't watch Samash Morgan. But if they could find a
couple of more receiving targets, or even find someone in
the portal who really Underwood to have consistent options in
the passing game, I think this Michigan team can hit
a different stride because there they got two good running backs.
And look, Justin's Haynes is a junior, right, but I
feel like he'll be a four year guy. I don't
think he's leaving after this year. You also have Jordan
Marshall too, who is only a sophomore as well, and
he's someone that's really started to hit his stride, especially
when Haynes went down with the injury. Right, and look
on the Michigan State side, like Mackai Frazier had a
nice long run, he stayed relatively consistent throughout the game.
They put Milojevitch out there, you know, he led a
touchdown driving garbage time. Nick marsh is like, while he
still is always the leading receiver, it's like, dude, we
need to give him like fifteen targets per game at
the minimum, or it's just like like don't get me wrong,
Kelly and McCrae aren't bad receivers, but if you don't
really utilize your number one receiver, that's capable of being
an Alts Big Ten probably second team type guy. Maybe
if Jeremiah Smith didn't exist in the Big Ten, maybe
a first But he's just kind of kind of been
like mid this year and it's really not his fault
because you know, he's getting missed a decent amount and Kelly,
you know, it's just like you get two TFLs in
a sack. And by the way, Jaydon Bell was not
off sides on that play watching it back and the
one that they forced the fumble and it got called back,
which they didn't call it on the field, they called
it after the fact, right, So it's just like, dude,
whatever I knew the game was lost then. Also, Michigan
State had a ton of penalties called on them early on,
which a lot of it's just them being, you know,
a poorly coached team. And yes, Jonathan Smith, look, I
think he's a good ball coach. I think he knows
the game of football really well, just not for East
Lansing standards. You need to have some sort of wittiness
to you. You need to have some sort of like edge,
some like a little bit of a chip on your shoulder.
And Jonathan Smith's just like, oh, I'm happy to be here,
coach football, run my West Coast offense that doesn't do anything.
It worked at Oregon State State. He had plenty of talent,
like he had DJ Lee Ugly, which I know at
Florida State and Clemsony wasn't good. People forget he was
good with the Beavers. They had Deshaun Fenwick and Damian Martinez,
two really good running backs on the time. They had
Silas Bolden who was like the five to seven receiver
that ended up transferring to Texas. Like he had a
good season. They had a great defense as well. I
know one of the safeties from that team's now on
the Green Bay Packers who are playing tonight. Cooper was
his last name. But they had a bunch of good
players on that Oregon State team and credit to him,
he's the one that built that program. They have like
one win in their first season with him there. I'm
not saying Jonathan Smith's a bad coach. I'm saying he's
a bad coach for Michigan State in the Midwest and
the big ted footprint. Now there's two guys available that
are pretty familiar with the area, right James Franklin obviously
Penn State not too far from East Lancing. And Brian Kelly.
Now you know he coached at GVSU, he coached at
Central Michigan. He's very familiar with the Midwest and also
coach had a couple of other gigs. It's like you
got two prime candidates looking for, you know, to come back,
and obviously Wisconsin's probably gonna open up too, unless Fickle
they want to really run it back with him one
more season. I don't know anything that has been proven
since in the last was he two or three years ago?
Regardless in his tenure, nothing's been proven that you know,
he's really able to I think it's been three because
it was Tyner Mordecai than Tyler Van Dyke, and then
they tried to run it with Billy Edwards. Maybe they
should recruit their own quarter back, maybe instead of trying
to figure it out with the transfer on, maybe just
get someone that's you know, homegrown and developed. Regardless. Yeah,
it's a uh yeah, I uh sorry, I lost train
of thought. Yeah, Michigan's bow eligible. Now congrats to them. Yeah,
Michigan State's bad football team. That's the simple truth of it, right.
I mean, look, I love Michigan State athletics basketball seasons.
Right around the corner. I know, they just played their
I can't talk exhibition game versus Bullingreden State, and yeah,
I mean they won. It didn't look great. Hockey's also
ranked number one in the country, so you know, it's like,
it's not all bad, but it's not. It's not great. Hey,
you know it is great. This episode of The Big
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Think smarter, tickets smarter. And with that being said, we said, man,
we're in the double digit weeks. It's it's closing in
a little bit on us. We stole a lot of
season left to be played. These games will actually all
be played on November first, because there are no Friday
games and where to kick it off. Ohio State and
Penn State will play on Big Noon this Saturday. And
this one, Wow, it's been a classic in recent years
when program's not good and the other ones almost like
the death star of college football. Ohio State coming off
of by believe. Penn State is as well, not playing
last week their last game against Iowa, which is a
twenty five to twenty four loss. Ohio State is the
host team. They have a spread of twenty and a
half forty three and a half over under. Is Penn
State just gonna let the season kind of fizzle out
and just really you know, be knocked in the back
of their memory and just not care anymore. I look,
they also play Indiana next week, they go to Michigan
State on the fifteenth, host Nebraska travel to Rutgers. I
don't think you're gonna gonna win in the next two weeks,
but if they want to make a bowl game, they
gotta win those last three games. Just not ideal for
Penn State. And yeah, I think that Ohio State's gonna
do really well. I think they'll be able to just
take care of business kind of you know, keep pushing
ahead because obviously they have their big game left. They
go to Purdue, host UCLA, host Rutgers, and then travel
to Michigan like three really four kind of just not
tune up. But like, as long as they take care
of business and you know, win the first half by
a good margin, they'll be fine. In Smith's saleing and
be able to get a lot of younger and underclassmen players,
you know, some good valuable reps for the Michigan game,
because who knows what's gonna happen in a rivalry game,
And obviously injuries play a part and everything too. I
think they're gonna be able to get healthy and you know,
just be able to do well. But who knows Penn
State might be able to show up. They still have
a lot of talent on that team. Rutgers in Illinois
play at noon on NBC Rutgers, so they can play defense. Man,
they would have a chance in this over under is
at sixty three and a half. My goodness. Yeah, Illinois
defense hasn't been great either. Let's not like act like
they've been shut down. I mean they just had forty
two hung on them. USC up thirty two against them,
Ohio State had thirty four. I mean Perdue even had
twenty seven. Like, yeah, they did shut out Western Michigan,
but Western Michigan Duke had nineteen Duke with not If
they had less turnovers, they would have probably uh probably
done a better job, you know, scoring some points in
that game, but it kind of flipped. I still think
Illinois is the better team overall when you look at
it at a roster perspective, I think Calaia Kamanis has
potential to have a good game. And look, if they
can run the ball against this team and really kind
of maintain the time of possession, I mean they have
a chance. You gotta force Altmeyer into mistakes. I just
don't know if this Rutgers team defensively is capable of that.
CBS three thirty Indiana and Maryland will play each other.
Indiana could be Wow, they have the third bibe weeks
not until the twenty third weekend. Wow. They will travel
to Maryland and play against me Malik Washington and company.
Mendoza looking like a Heisman candidate, an opportunity to put
up big stants. I you favored by twenty one and
a half, would not expect them to uh. I would
expect them to cover probably in the first half, fifty
one and a half over under total. Look, I just
I watched Maryland. We've talked about this team. Not really
a run game, no elite receivers, not really great on
the defensive side either, and they haven't won a game
since what September. Maybe they figured things out in the
bye week, but they took three straight losses to Washington, Nebraska,
and Ucla in the month of October. Can they do
anything in the month of November. Five games coming up.
Your first one is a really tough one against Indiana.
Indiana just kind of handled Ucla. So it's not like,
you know, a team that Maryland struggled with. It's not
like Indiana. It's just like battered and bruised from the
week before. And it's not like they have too much
to look ahead too, because if they played Penn State
next week and then Wisconsin and Purdue, like I feel
bad for Turps fans everywhere. Yeah, it just won't be good.
Michigan State Minnesota play game is at three point thirty
on the Big Ten Network. MSU is a five and
a half point dog against Minnesota traveling to what they
play in Minneapolis, right, yeah, Huntington Banks Stadium over under
forty four and a half. Look this, see these are
two teams that kind of have had weird seasons. Michigan
State obviously worse, not having a single win in Big
Ten play up until this point. They went three and
zeroe out of conference and have struggled in conference. On
Minnesota coming off a demoralizing loss to Iowa, you know,
in a rivalry game there, but the week before they
BEAATENCA and Purdue. So who knows Michigan State, what will
they do if Darius Taylor is healthy and you know, intact,
I don't know how much success Michigan State's going to have.
If Michigan State can you know, kind of light this
Minnesota team up through the air and on the ground.
You know, Mackai Frazier, he's been someone that's been pretty
solid on the season. They need to really find a
way to get Nick marsh get involved. But Michigan State
doesn't force any pressure. They're leading sac guys Malik Spencer,
a safety, like the defensive line really front seven overall
has just been super disappointing this season, and uh yeah,
Minnesota actually has guys in the front seven to make place.
So I think Minnesota will win this game. And if
you're MSU, look you could beat Penn State in Maryland
and get to a bowl game, but it's gotta start
with Minnesota or the door's closed, because I just don't
think they're beating Iowa and Kinnick. So yeah, there's that
Michigan host Purdue twenty one and a half point favorites
at home in ann Arbor. I think they'll take care
of this Purdue team. I think after losing the way
they did versus Rutgers, you know, a team that they
should have won against, I think you might see a
little bit of quit watch here from Purdue. And I
think the offense can completely get you know, shut out
in this game. They look Purdue, Like we mentioned earlier
in the show, they got a tough, a tough road
ahead and they got shut out by Northwestern, And like
Rutgers isn't a good defense, Minnesota's like okay, not great,
Illinois not good. Surprise Notre Dame allowed so much as
they did. But yeah, like I just I don't think
they're gonna have much success, Like I do believe this
Michigan team, Like, no, they're not college football playoff caliber
in my opinion, and obviously if they beat Ohio State,
you know what, they'll deserve to be there, right, But yeah,
I don't think they're like particularly amazing on offense. But
I think they're good on defense this year, especially as
the seasons continued along Northwestern Maryland and Ohio State remaining.
It's not manageable like they could slip up against Northwestern.
I just don't think they will. And then the seven
thirty game on NBC. This will be a fun one
between USC and Nebraska over unders at fifty eight and
a half, that could get really interesting. USC is six
and a half point for favorites going to Lincoln. Two
really good quarterbacks in Jane Mayeva and Dylan Ryola. I
think Waymont Jordan will hopefully play em at Johnson obviously
one of my favorite receivers. They got Kobe Landam McKay
lemon playing Isaiah Hunter and Dane Key, and two defenses
that like confuse the crap out of me. Nebraska not
really good on the defensive line. USC started off the
season really strong and they still remain decent, really in
the front seven, but kind of in the back end.
You know, the secondary is not particularly amazing, other than
with Kamari Ramsey, I think it's a kind of a
standout player. But other than that, I don't think they
look too impressive in the back end of their defense.
But you know, that will be a fun game at
seven thirty. That's all I can say, And that's what
you want to see, right It's getting into the spooky season.
As well. Halloween's next weekend, obviously, you know it's going
to be it's going to be a fun time for everyone.
And you know, if you're an older gentleman or lady,
because you know there are women college football fans, believe
it or not, I don't know how much there is
listening to podcasts, especially about the Big Ten. But if
you are hello, and I'm glad to be presenting the
show to you, or if you're even listening with your
boyfriend or husband or even friend in the car, you
know you guys are taking a trip wherever, the grocery store, anywhere.
Really one thank you for tuning in to the show.
Make sure you check out all the other shows on
the network. Make sure you follow and also follow on
Twitter as well at Gridiron Coast and follow me at
Drew Reno as well. But the moral consensus of this
is that it's a great sport. There's only so much
time left in the season, and just don't take it
for granted because a lot of the fans I believe
there's only gonna be there could be four Big Ten
teams that get into the college football playoff. I think
there's three really solidified in that conversation, and obviously with Oregon,
Indiana and Ohio State, a lot of seasons already lost
at Michigan State, Penn State, Purdue, you know, Rutgers still
trying to play for a bowl game at the end,
Michigan obviously trying to make a college football playoff push,
and just so much happening, Washington trying to sneak in
there as well. Like it's just been a really good season, man,
and I could not be more appreciative to be covering
the Big Ten this twenty twenty five college football season.
But that's gonna do it for us on the Big
Ten paradigm once again. Glad you could listen here on
this whatever day this comes out of, assuming it will
be mon Monday, but you know I'm not the one
that publishes it. Make sure you follow, subscribe, do everything
in your power to keep up to date with not
only the Big Ten paradigm, but the rest of the
college GRADIRN Coast to Coast network. And until next time,
I will see you here back for the week set reaction.
Have a great week, everybody,