Northwestern, Penn State, Indiana, and Michigan all had the weekend off before they open up their Big Ten conference schedules this coming weekend. One of the more surprising results of the weekend was not that Buffalo beat UConn, but it was more of a surprise of how badly they beat the Huskies. Since Buffalo beat UConn by 29 and Michigan only beat UConn by 3, that means that Buffalo would beat Michigan by 26, right? I kid, I kid, but it was still an impressive win for the Bulls, and helps to make the Buckeyes win over the Bulls in the season opener look tad bit better.
Buffalo (2-2), WIN vs. UConn (41-12), NEXT GAME: vs. Eastern Michigan, Saturday 12:00 PM
After dropping their first two games of the season, Buffalo has now won their second game in a row with a blowout win over UConn in Buffalo on Saturday. Buffalo quarterback Joe Licata passed for a career-high three touchdowns as the Bulls cruised. At halftime Buffalo had a 28-12 lead, adding 49 and 50 yard field goals from Patrick Clarke in the third quarter before Licata's third touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter capped the scoring. The Buffalo defense shutdown the struggling UConn offense, holding them to only 220 yards of total offense to go along with the four turnovers that the Bulls forced the Huskies into.
The win was Buffalo's first over a BCS school since they beat Rutgers in 2002. The Bulls will open up MAC conference play this week when they face off against Eastern Michigan.
San Diego State (1-3), WIN vs. New Mexico State (26-16), NEXT GAME: vs. Nevada, Friday 9:00 PM
While there was a lot of hype around Aztec running back Adam Muema coming into the season, Donnel Pumphrey took all the headlines during Saturday night's game. Pumphrey rushed for a career-high 167 yards and three touchdowns as the Aztecs erased a 16-5 halftime deficit to defeat New Mexico State. Pumphrey scored all three of his touchdowns in the second half. Muema only rushed for 25 yards on 10 carries when Pumphrey wasn't running wild. Quarterback Quinn Kaehler added 229 yards through the air to compliment the work that Pumphrey was able to do on the ground to help San Diego State to get into the win column for the first time this year.
Now the Aztecs will try to string together wins when they host Nevada on Friday night in a game that will broadcast on ESPN.
California (1-3), LOSS vs. #2 Oregon (55-16), NEXT GAME: vs. Washington State, Saturday 4:00 PM
A pouring rain really waterlogged California and their offense on Saturday night as Oregon jumped out to a 41-3 halftime lead and cruised the rest of the way. Conditions were so bad that quarterback Jared Goff was replaced by Zach Kline in the first quarter because Goff was having a hard time gripping the football. Goff was leading the nation with 435 passing yards/game but he was only able to pass for 11 yards before exiting. Cal could have kept things a little closer if they didn't keep shooting themselves in the foot during the game. The Golden Bears turned the football over five times and committed 11 penalties for 97 yards. Oregon only accumulated one more first down and just over 50 more yards of offense than Cal, but they did use two punt return touchdowns from Braion Addison to their advantage.
Now California will return home (and hopefully drier conditions) to battle another team that was beaten soundly be one of the top teams in the Pac-12. Washington State will visit and try to atone for the 55-17 loss they suffered on Saturday to Stanford.
#23 Wisconsin (2-2), LOSS vs. #4 Ohio State (31-24), NEXT GAME: vs. #16 Northwestern, October 12th 3:30 PM
Wisconsin must have been hoping that Braxton Miller was going to show a little more rust in his return after missing the last two games with an MCL sprain. Miller tied a career-high with four touchdown passes as they Buckeyes were able to top the Badgers and extend the nation's longest winning streak to 17 games. For a more in-depth review of this game, Jeanna posted a post-game recap and also Luke compiled the best GIFs from the game.
Now Wisconsin will have a week off to watch their opponent from last week take on their opponent for next week. The Badgers will be hoping that Northwestern can do them a favor and knock off the Buckeyes to help the Badgers get back into the Leaders Division race.
#16 Northwestern (4-0), Bye Week, NEXT GAME: vs. #4 Ohio State, Saturday 8:00 PM
Northwestern had a week off so they could watch the Wisconsin/Ohio State game and get a little time to prepare for the Buckeyes. Saturday will see College Gameday heading to Evanston for the very big B1G clash. The Buckeyes will be trying to avoid the same result as 2004 when they went to Evanston for a night game and ended up falling to the Wildcats 33-27.
Iowa (4-1), WIN vs. Minnesota (23-7), NEXT GAME: vs. Michigan State, Saturday 12:00 PM
In the rivalry matchup between the two schools, Iowa was able to win Floyd Of Rosedale and give Minnesota their first loss on the season. The Hawkeyes were able to use an effective balanced offense, 246 yards on the ground and 218 through the air, to top their rivals. Mark Weisman continued his strong campaign, carrying 24 times for 147 yards and a touchdown. The effectiveness on the ground allowed Iowa to finish the game with just over a 12 minute advantage in time of possession. Iowa was able to jump out to a 17-0 halftime lead behind a Jake Rudock four-yard touchdown run and then a 74-yard touchdown pass from Rudock to Damond Powell. Minnesota's rushing attack was never able to get on track, with Iowa holding them to only 30 yards on the ground in the game.
After only winning four games last year, Iowa has now won four in a row after dropping their season opener to Northern Illinois. The Hawkeyes are now just two wins away from bowl eligibilty this year and will host Michigan State on Saturday afternoon.
Penn State (3-1), Bye Week, NEXT GAME: at Indiana, Saturday 12:00 PM
Penn State was another Big Ten team on a bye this week. The Nittany Lions had some extra time to try and formulate a plan to stop the Indiana offense in Bloomington this coming Saturday. This will mark the first true road game for Christian Hackenberg in his young career as Penn State quarterback.
Purdue (1-4), LOSS vs. Northern Illinois (55-24), NEXT GAME: vs. Nebraska, October 12th
The Boilermakers became the second Big Ten team to fall at the hands of Northern Illinois at home this year. The first week of the season Iowa lost to Northern Illinois, and Purdue was no match for the MAC power. The margin of victory of a Big Ten school ties the MAC record with Toledo when the Rockets beat Minnesota by 31 in 2001. Rob Henry was pulled late in the first half and replaced by true freshman Danny Etling in the first half. By that time it was too late though, as Northern Illinois went into the halftime break with a 27-10 lead. Etling didn't play bad in the time he was in there, although in comparison to Henry it probably wasn't too hard to look good. Etling threw for 241 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions in the time he saw on the field. Purdue actually outgained Northern Illinois 524-402 but the Boilermakers also committed five turnovers on the day.
Darrell Hazell and his team will have this week off, presumably to fully install Etling as their starter moving forward, before facing a tough test with Nebraska coming into West Lafayette next Saturday.
Illinois (3-1), WIN vs. Miami (Ohio) (50-14), NEXT GAME: at Nebraska, Saturday 12:00 PM
After last year's 2-10 campaign, Illinois has already topped their win total from last year. Nathan Scheelhaase threw a career-high five touchdown passes in the first half as Illinois raced out to a 36-0 halftime lead and never looked back against the Redhawks. After his performance in the first half and the lead that Illinois had, Scheelhaase didn't have to play in the second half. Illinois rolled up 601 yards of total offense compared to the 250 that Miami was able to put up as The Fighting Illini got a nice tuneup before heading into B1G play this week. Seemingly everybody on Illinois got in on the fun, with eleven Illini players catching passes in the game.
The competition will take a step up on Saturday when Illinois travels to Nebraska to try and keep their good start to the season going.
Indiana (2-2), Bye week, NEXT GAME: vs. Penn State, Saturday 12:00 PM EST
The Hoosiers had this week to look back on what went wrong the previous week against Missouri and also try and formulate a gameplan to try and top Penn State next week. The Nittany Lions come into Bloomington on Saturday afternoon, and Kevin Wilson will try to get his team back on the winning track. There was hopes of Illinois possibly getting bowl eligible this year, but they'll have to have a strong conference run after splitting their first four games.
#19 Michigan (4-0), Bye week, NEXT GAME: vs Minnesota, Saturday 3:30 PM EST
After squeaking out two close wins to Akron and UConn, Michigan had a week to take stock of where their team stands right now. Even though those last two wins haven't been impressive, you can't take away from Michigan that they are undefeated heading into conference play. Jerry Kill and his Minnesota team will come to Ann Arbor fresh off a loss to Iowa on Saturday, and will be looking to take back control of the Little Brown Jug.