Week 11 in the Big Ten was not short on drama. Two top-10 teams had to pull off some late-game heroics to avoid being upset on the road, one top-25 team couldn’t come away without being upset on the road, and Ohio State made sure Purdue wasn’t about to play spoiler this time around.
Here is a quick rundown of what happened in the Big Ten this weekend, a look at the updated conference standings, the updated bowl eligibility tracker, and a glance at what is on deck in Week 12.
No. 1 Ohio State 34, Purdue 10
Ohio State’s passing combo of Julian Sayin and Jeremiah Smith proved to be too much for Purdue, which was to be expected. Sayin passed for 303 yards and a touchdown and Smith caught 10 passes for 137 yards with a touchdown as the Buckeyes overcame a slow start to take firm control before halftime. Ohio State trailed 3-0 after the first quarter but scored 24 points in the second quarter, and later put the game away for good in the fourth quarter.
No. 2 Indiana 27, Penn State 24
If you have not seen it already, then you simply need to see the replay of Indiana’s game-winning touchdown against Penn State to believe it.
Penn State battled back from a 13-point deficit to take a 24-20 lead in the fourth quarter against No. 2 Indiana with a thrilling fourth-quarter effort led by a couple of touchdowns by Nicholas Singleton. But the offense failed to pick up one more first down while getting Indiana to burn their timeouts, and Fernando Mendoza went on a Heisman Trophy-caliber drive to lead his team 80 yards with no timeouts in the final two minutes, capped by the catch of the year candidate by Omar Cooper to give Indiana the lead in the final minute.
It was a somewhat familiar story for Penn State and continues to show why Indiana is so difficult to put away.
No. 9 Oregon 18, No. 20 Iowa 16
Late-game heroics were needed by Oregon on the road against Iowa to overcome another upset bid in the making. With rain roaring through Iowa City, this was not a pretty game, which would have been perfect for Iowa. The Hawkeyes took a 16-15 lead on the Ducks with a short touchdown run by Mark Grownowski with just under two minutes remaining in the game, but Dante Moore led the offense down the field and the Ducks walked off with a game-winning field goal from 39 yards as time expired to improve to 8-1 overall and keep their Big Ten title hopes alive, as well as protect potential seeding in the College Football Playoff. This should remove Iowa from playoff consideration and will make it extremely difficult to play for the Big Ten championship.
No. 19 USC 38, Northwestern 17
USC proved to have too much offense for Northwestern to keep up with on Friday night out in Los Angeles. Jayden Maiava passed for 299 yards and 2 touchdowns and ran for another touchdown in the win. USC running back King Miller led all players with 127 rushing yards and receiver Makai Lemon caught 11 passes for 161 yards and a touchdown. Maiva may have had the defensive play of the game with a touchdown-saving tackle after having a pass picked off by Najee Story, who returned the football 25 yards before being tripped up. Story fumbled the football and the ball dribbled out of bounds for a touchback, giving the ball right back to USC.
Wisconsin 13, No. 23 Washington 10
Penn State and Iowa may have fallen short of pulling an upset at home, but Wisconsin managed to do it. In a week when the school showed support for head coach Luke Fickell, the Badgers won a truly defensive battle with Washington. Wisconsin won this game with 48 combined passing yards on just 6 completed passes and 205 total yards of offense. The Badgers also forced two Washington turnovers in the game.
In Scores of Other Games…
- Rutgers 35, Maryland 20
- Nebraska 28, UCLA 21
Updated Big Ten Conference Standings
| B1G W | B1G L | W | L | |
| Indiana | 7 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| Ohio State | 6 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| USC | 5 | 1 | 7 | 2 |
| Oregon | 5 | 1 | 8 | 1 |
| Michigan | 5 | 1 | 7 | 2 |
| Iowa | 4 | 2 | 6 | 3 |
| Minnesota | 4 | 2 | 6 | 3 |
| Nebraska | 4 | 3 | 7 | 3 |
| UCLA | 3 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Washington | 3 | 3 | 6 | 3 |
| Illinois | 3 | 3 | 6 | 3 |
| Northwestern | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| Rutgers | 2 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Maryland | 1 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| Wisconsin | 1 | 5 | 3 | 6 |
| Michigan State | 0 | 6 | 3 | 6 |
| Penn State | 0 | 6 | 3 | 6 |
| Purdue | 0 | 7 | 2 | 8 |
Big Ten bowl eligibility tracker
- Bowl eligible: Indiana, Ohio State, USC, Oregon, Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Washington
- Next up for bowl eligibility: Northwestern, Rutgers
- On the brink of bowl ineligibility: Penn State, Michigan State, Wisconsin
- Ineligible: Purdue
Week 12 Big Ten Schedule
- Oregon vs. Minnesota (Friday) – 9 p.m. ET, Fox
- Indiana vs. Wisconsin – 12:00 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network
- Northwestern vs. Michigan – 12:00 p.m., Fox
- USC vs. Iowa – 3:30 p.m., CBS
- Michigan State vs. Penn State – 3:30 p.m., Big Ten Network
- Illinois vs. Maryland – 3:30 p.m., FS1
- Washington vs. Purdue – 7:00 p.m., FS1
- Ohio State vs. UCLA – 7:30 p.m., NBC
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