It is going to be difficult to top the best Big Ten – and college football – game of the season last Saturday between the Ohio Buckeyes and Oregon Ducks. The good news is that there is two games that deserve your eyes during Week 8.
14 Big Ten teams are in action Week 8, with the majority of them far from appealing. That said, only one matchup features a double-digit favorite, and it’s an island game! The Oregon Ducks head to Indiana to take on the Purdue Boilermakers Friday night.
It’s also safe to eliminate the UCLA Bruins-Rutgers Scarlet Knights and USC Trojans at Maryland Terrapins. All four teams are playing meaningless football in terms of the College Football Playoff, and only USC and Rutgers have legitimate bowl aspirations.
The Iowa Hawkeyes heading to East Lansing to face the Michigan State Spartans would be more interesting if MSU was playing any sort of good football.
If you watch the Wisconsin Badgers at Northwestern Wildcats, enjoy the view of Lake Michigan.
Nebraska Cornhuskers at Indiana Hoosiers
Saturday, October 19 at 12:00 p.m. ET
When looking at the best games in Big Ten conference play, this was the game every fan and pundit circled.
Bad jokes aside, this game has an excellent defense taking on one of the best and most surprising offenses in FBS. Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti has had as good of a start as an FBS coach as possible, and is vying to take Indiana and his stature to new heights.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers should be able to move the ball and play keepaway. Their top 50 third down conversion rate should help, but Indiana’s offense is top 10 in the same category.
Neither team can afford a slow start, an issue that has plagued both teams in each of their past two contests.
A win for Nebraska would pull them even with Indiana in the Big Ten standings (3-1).
Michigan Wolverines at Illinois Fighting Illini
Saturday, October 19 at 3:30 p.m. ET
This has been a one-sided history between the two teams. Illinois has not won against the Michigan Wolverines since 2009 (1-6). That win 15 years ago gave the Illini a two-game win streak against Michigan, their first positive streak since 1957-58.
Illinois almost upset then No. 3 Michigan in Ann Arbor in 2022. A game-winning Michigan field goal with nine second remaining was the difference.
Michigan has dropped in terms of talent since then, while Illinois came back to 2022’s level of talent, and then pushed past it with complete efforts on both sides of the ball.
An extra week of prep gives the Wolverines a small edge, but some of that goodwill is lost knowing that no matter which of the quarterback trio is starting, they are likely going to be ineffective.
That puts a target on the Illini run defense that allowed the Purdue Boilermakers and Penn State Nittany Lions to rush for 239 yards each over their past two games. Michigan is currently averaging 191 rushing yards per game.
Of Illinois’s 23 wins against Michigan since 1898, only 12 have been in Champaign, Illinois.