Chicago Sports Then and Now

#1 Iowa Hawkeyes (#4) [defeated Indiana 42-24 in Iowa City]

Iowa continues its extraordinary winning streak.  Although the Hawkeyes trailed in the fourth quarter, they struck back like lightening to fry the Indiana Hoosier’s hopes of an upset in Iowa City.  Ricky Stanzi threw for over 300 yards for the first time in his career while also setting a career record for interceptions at five, four in the third quarter alone. This was one great Halloween special with plenty of tricks and quite a few treats for the discouraged Iowa crowd in the fourth quarter.  The Hawkeyes delivered one quintessential rally special of the year.

#2 Penn State (#11) [defeated Northwestern in Evanston 34-13]

Penn State also had its hands full and had to resort to fourth quarter heroics to win this game.  Northwestern led the Nittany Lions 13-10 at the half but the Penn State team shut out Northwestern in the second half and used a late surge in the fourth to put this game away. Northwestern quarterback Mike Kafka was forced out of the game in the second quarter with a left leg injury.  Subsequently the Penn State defense denied the Cats further scoring and in time the Nittany Lions offense roared to life – better late than not at all.

#3 Ohio State (#16) [defeated New Mexico State 45-0 in Columbus]

The Buckeyes spent this past Saturday “treading water,” waiting to pack their bags and head off to Happy Valley to face Penn State on November 7th in a pivotal contest in the Big 10.  New Mexico State showed up in Columbus to take a beating and they did.  The Aggies did it for lunch money – what a deal!  It proved nothing, except that Ohio State can flex their muscles when they face minimal opposition.

#4 Wisconsin (#21) [defeated Purdue 37-0 in Madison]
Idle last weekend, Wisconsin made a decision on Saturday to win out and go to a decent bowl game rather than to let the back to back losses to Ohio State and Iowa flatten their season.  Their game against Purdue made a statement as the Badgers shut out the Boilermakers completely.  Purdue gained only 141yards on offense for
the whole game while Wisconsin produced more yardage than that in the first quarter alone.  With the Badgers traditionally winning big at home against unranked opponents, this smackdown had some real sting.

#5 Minnesota [defeated Michigan State 42-34 in Minneapolis]
Minnesota also decided to reclaim their season this weekend.  Behind the leadership of quarterback Adam Weber who passed for 416 yards and 5 touchdowns, the Gophers got back on track and back into the Big 10 race.  Minnesota had been shut out in Happy Valley followed by a similar performance in Columbus against Ohio State.  In the process the Gophers lost their most talented receiver, Eric Decker.  But they held off a very potent Michigan State team and steadied themselves for Illinois next week.

#6 Michigan State [lost to Minnesota 42-34 in Minneapolis]
In their previous game, Michigan State played Iowa right down to the wire only to come up short on the last play of the game, 15-13.  This week they traveled to Minneapolis to play the Minnesota Gophers. Although they played tough football, keeping the score close; in the end the Spartans could not finish it.  Saturday their miscues and turnovers cost them in the final quarter.  This seems to be a familiar pattern for the talented Spartan team.  Close, but no cigar.

#7 Northwestern [Lost to Penn State 34-13 in Evanston]
The Northwestern Wildcats took off in fine fashion against the mighty Penn State Nittany Lions.  They led at half-time 13-10.  But after their quarterback Mike Kafka was injured, the fight seemed to go out of the Cats and they failed to answer the bell in the second half. The Penn State defense stopped them dead in their tracks.  Although the Wildcats rolled up 371 yards of total offense,  246 of that came in the first half.  Life gets even more complicated.  Northwestern must travel to Iowa City for a play date with the Iowa Hawkeyes next Saturday.

#8 Purdue [Lost to Wisconsin 37-0 in Madison]
After defeating Ohio State and Illinois on back to back weekends, Purdue felt they had a  chance to defeat the Wisconsin Badgers in Madison last weekend; but, the Badgers had a different outcome in mind.  Purdue could not move the ball against Wisconsin, managing to scrape together a mere 141 yards on offense for the entire game.  Add to that miscues and turnovers and you end up with the recipe for
disaster which was exactly what the Purdue Boilermakers served last Saturday.

#9 Indiana [Lost to Iowa 42-24 in Iowa City]

The Hawkeyes raced past Indiana to stay at top of the Big 10 power rankins.

The Indiana Hoosiers shot out to a 21-7 half-time lead.  They played superlative football for three quarters, leading all the way.  But the Iowa defense pretty much shut them down in the second half and the Iowa offense came to life in the fourth quarter and scored 28 points.
Iowa won the game and Indiana left Iowa City with another loss.  Next week they host Wisconsin and the Hoosiers will be hoping for another win to edge closer to bowl eligibility.

#10 Illinois [defeated Michigan 38-13 in Champaign]
It was quite an afternoon for Juice Williams and company on Saturday. Most teams would have given up the dream of a win after losing their first five conference games.  But Illinois did not give up and they played hard-nosed aggressive football and won an important game.
Michigan turned the ball over to help the Illinois cause; but Juice Williams ran for 97 yards and threw for another 123.  Illinois still has a chance to achieve  respectability before the season ends.  Next week they travel to Minnesota.

#11 Michigan [Lost to Illinois 38-13 in Champaign]
Michigan played just good enough to beat Illinois, except that they didn’t win.  Illinois played better – enough so that they defeated the vaunted Wolverines and notched their first Big 10 win of the season. No one expected Illinois to win, and Michigan may have expected to face a team without fire, without execution and without a game.  But the Illini came out ready to win and they did that as Michigan
appeared flat-footed and uninspired on the afternoon.  Michigan turned the ball over and over.  It was a long afternoon for the Wolverines.