Around the Big Ten – Week Four

Week three of college football was the final tune-up for the Big Ten before the conference schedule began. This week, we’ll talk about Iowa’s 55-0 victory over Northern Iowa, Northwestern’s final game before moving into Ryan Field, and the showdown in Southern California between USC and Oregon.

Iowa Hawkeyes

It’s usually not hard to find something to make fun of Iowa football for.

Against Northern Iowa though, the Hawkeyes played as close to a flawless game as you’ll ever see. I left Kinnick Stadium on Saturday night without a single bad thing to say about Kirk Ferentz’s team, and with a genuine belief in their chances against Michigan this weekend.

This is exactly what non-conference games are supposed to do. All of a sudden, the annual “Iowa just needs to beat X and X to make the playoff” suddenly sounds feasible. It’s a foreign feeling to me. The Hawkeyes have me playing the role of optimist for the first time as a fan.

But if they fall flat at the Big House this weekend, that eight-hour drive back from Ann Arbor might be pretty quiet.

Northwestern Wildcats

While waiting in the tunnel of Northwestern’s temporary stadium last weekend, the Colorado Buffaloes huddled together, shouting vaguely encouraging affirmations at each other, like “bring your own juice!” and “gotta have it!” 

Then Colorado defensive back Ben Finneseth took a turn. “This place f— sucks!” he screamed. After a few chuckles from his teammates, he continued. “S— sounds like a f— library!”

The Buffaloes proceeded to lose 41-7 in a game that was never close.

Though it dutifully served as home base for two seasons, the 15,000-seat library that is Martin Stadium hosted its final Northwestern football game last week.

The Wildcats’ new Ryan Field opens its doors to football on October 2nd, billing itself as a first-of-its-kind stadium in college football. “Bigger stadium. Fewer seats. By design,” the website reads. In other words, “We know this team can’t sell out a real stadium, which was our main consideration when we built this place.”

The $870 million venue is the most expensive college football stadium ever built, so it makes perfect sense that it would go to a team like Northwestern, which would occupy the role of Rutgers if Rutgers didn’t exist.

This week, the Wildcats travel to Bloomington to take on the Indiana Hoosiers on Friday night.

USC Trojans vs. Oregon Ducks

It might be week four of college football, but there’s already a season-on-the-line kind of game shaping up between USC and Oregon this weekend.

The Trojans beat Rutgers in a less-than-satisfying 42-35 shootout last weekend, especially considering UMass beat the Scarlet Knights by nearly three possessions.

Head Coach Lincoln Riley has spent his entire Trojan tenure roughly winning at the rate of the reviled Lane Kiffin (.660 vs .651). And like Kiffin, once the seat gets hot in Southern California, it tends to stay that way. Riley keeping his job genuinely could come down to the result of this game against the Ducks.

Even if he does get fired, USC might opt for a pat on the back and a gift basket as opposed to a dramatic midnight firing on the tarmac this time. They just don’t can ‘em like they used to.

But make no mistake, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning needs this win as well. That week two loss to Oklahoma State will loom large on the Ducks’ playoff resume for the rest of the season, meaning there’s zero room for them to slip up again.

Winning 84-0 against Portland State last week was a step in the right direction, even if it’s the college football equivalent of beating a preschooler in a street fight.

Roundup

I’m excited to have more than one actual interesting college football game to look forward to this weekend. In addition to the ones I’ve already mentioned, Minnesota vs. Washington could be a sneaky good game out west, especially as it concerns two teams Iowa faces next month.

This weekend, the Hawkeye hype train either hits stratospheric levels or comes crashing back down to Earth. There is no in between.

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Ryan Paris