Week nine Big Ten review

The ninth week of the Big Ten season featured every team playing but some very shocking games.  The Leaders division is still open if Purdue or Indiana wins out.  Nebraska and Michigan are both up atop the Legends division after Nebraska’s win.  With that here is the week nine review in the Big Ten.  Indiana/Illinois: Nate Sudfeld threw for two touchdowns and Stephen Houston ran for two more as Indiana beat Illinois 31-17 on Saturday.  The Hoosiers made it a big priority to establish both sides of the ball as they were balanced offensively while forcing two turnovers on defense.  In the loss, Nathan Scheelhaase threw and ran for a touchdown each and the Illini continue to struggle all around.  Indiana improves to 3-5 and Illinois falls to 2-6 after the loss.  Indiana will host Iowa and Illinois will travel to Ohio State this weekend. Iowa/Northwestern: Kain Colter ran for three touchdowns and threw for another as Northwestern scored a 28-17 win over the Hawkeyes.  Colter and Venric Mark ran for 328 yards in the win as the Wildcats dominated on the ground to win the game.  James Vandenberg ran for two touchdowns but that was not enough for the spotty Iowa offense.  Northwestern is having a great 7-2 year while Iowa falls to 4-4.  Iowa will travel to play Indiana while Northwestern has a bye week.     Michigan State/Wisconsin: Andrew Maxwell’s touchdown to Bennie Fowler in overtime beat the Badgers 16-13 on Saturday.  The Spartans trailed late before Maxwell threw a pass to Le’Veon Bell to put them in a tie and into overtime.  Wisconsin struggled after Joel Stave was lost to a broken collarbone and managed only two field goals after halftime and only 190 yards of offense in the game.  With the win, Michigan State is 5-4 and Wisconsin falls to 6-3.  Michigan State will host Nebraska while Wisconsin has a bye week.     Purdue/Minnesota: Purdue’s slide continues as Phillip Nelson threw three touchdowns in the Gophers 44-28 win over the Boilermakers.  With Nelson, the Gophers had over 450 yards of offense in the win.  The Boilermakers high expectations have fallen by the wayside as Robert Marve threw for two touchdowns as Caleb TerBush struggled on the afternoon.  The win puts Minnesota at 5-3 and one game from bowl eligibility and Purdue falls to 3-5 on the season.  Purdue hosts Penn State this weekend while Minnesota hosts Michigan.        Ohio State/Penn State: Braxton Miller ran for two scores and threw for one more as Ohio State used a 21 point third quarter to beat Penn State 35-23.  While Miller struggled to throw the ball, he ran for 134 yards and powered the Buckeyes to a win.  Matt McGloin threw for over 300 yards and two touchdowns for the Nittany Lions in the loss.  With the win, Ohio State is 9-0 while Penn State falls to 5-3 on the season.  Ohio State will host Illinois this weekend and Penn State will travel to Purdue.     Michigan/Nebraska: Taylor Martinez threw for a touchdown and Ameer Abdullah ran for another as the Cornhuskers went atop the Legends division with a 23-9 win over Michigan Saturday night.  While Martinez and Abdullah did work, Denard Robinson’s backup Russell Bellomy was awful, going 3 for 16 with three interceptions in the loss.  Michigan’s offense was equally pathetic, with only 188 yards in the loss.  The win helps Nebraska go to 6-2 and Michigan falls to 5-3.  Michigan will travel to Minnesota while Nebraska will visit Michigan State this weekend.     Check out other great articles at Sports Blog. var switchTo5x=true; stLight.options({publisher:''});