Rematch of last season's College Football Playoff championship game highlights Big Ten slate

 

[October 03, 2024]  By STEVE MEGARGEE

Things to watch this week in the Big Ten Conference:

Game of the week

No. 10 Michigan (4-1, 2-0) at Washington (3-2, 1-1), Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET (NBC)

It’s a rematch of last year’s national championship game that Michigan won 34-13, but a whole lot has changed in the nine months since.

Both head coaches are gone, as Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh left for the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers while Alabama hired Kalen DeBoer away from Washington. The quarterbacks from that game have departed as well after Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. went eighth and Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy went 10th in this year’s NFL draft.

The teams combined for three losses by the end of September. Last year, they both carried unbeaten records into the championship game.

Michigan lost 31-12 at home to No. 2 Texas but has won three straight since. Sherrone Moore’s Wolverines are relying on a Kalel Mullings-led rushing attack, as they totaled just 118 yards passing the last two weeks in victories over Southern California and Minnesota.
 

Washington has lost two of its last three games, including a 21-18 setback at Rutgers last week, as the Huskies endure growing pains under new coach Jedd Fisch.BetMGM Sportsbook still has the Huskies as 2 1/2-point favorites.

The undercard

Iowa (3-1, 1-0) at No. 3 Ohio State (4-0, 1-0).

The Hawkeyes have scored at least 31 points in three of its first four games under new coordinator Tim Lester, a big step forward for a team that exceeded 26 points just once last season and got shut out in its final two games. Ohio State allows the fewest points per game (6.8) of any Bowl Subdivision team. Iowa’s a 19 ½-point underdog, according to BetMGM, and will need another big performance from Kaleb Johnson, who ranks second in the nation in yards rushing (685) and is coming off a 206-yard performance against Minnesota.

Impact players

Penn State DE Abdul Carter had four tackles for loss, two sacks and a forced fumble in No. 7 Penn State’s 21-7 triumph over No. 24 Illinois. He was the first Penn State player to have four tackles for loss in a game since 2018.

Penn State defensive end Abdul Carter (11) celebrates following a 21-7 win over Illinois during an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger)

Indiana LB Aiden Fisher had 12 tackles in a 42-28 victory over Maryland. He has collected at least eight tackles in each of No. 23 Indiana’s first five games and has a Big Ten-leading 50 this season.

Oregon WR Tez Johnson caught 11 passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns in the sixth-ranked Ducks’ 34-13 victory at UCLA. After setting a school single-season record with 86 catches last year, Johnson already has 33 receptions through four games.

Inside the numbers

Wisconsin will try to beat Purdue for an 18th straight time on Saturday. Purdue’s last victory over Wisconsin came in 2003. … Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith has plenty of familiarity with Oregon – the Spartans’ opponent Friday - as a former Oregon State quarterback and coach. Smith went 2-4 against Oregon as Oregon State’s head coach and was 2-2 in his years as Oregon State’s quarterback. … Purdue QB Hudson Card has thrown as many touchdown passes to the opposing team (3) as to his own over the last three weeks. He has thrown a pick-6 in each of Purdue’s last three games. ... Minnesota is allowing just 96.8 yards passing per game, the fewest of any FBS team.

Now don’t get upset

Indiana is 5-0 for only the third time in program history and the first time since 1967. The Hoosiers enter Saturday’s game at Northwestern as a 13 ½-point favorite, according to BetMGM. That number seems a bit large, considering the history of this series. Indiana has lost each of the last eight times it has visited Evanston and hasn’t won at Northwestern since 1993.

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