I'm In A Glass Case of Emotion!!!

Yeah that was me and Jer after watching Northwestern punt our Rose Bowl dreams off the bridge. We hit the man with a burrito. But you know what? We weren't alone Saturday. Not by a long shot. Every game involving Big 10 schools were decided by a touchdown or less, with three of them being won with less than 30 seconds left. All of them were gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, stomach punch losses. Misery loves company. "The Man punted Baxter! He punted him! Aghhhhhhhhhgggggaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"

Michigan State 25 Wisconsin 24
The Badgers racked up 281 yards rushing, outgained the Spartans 430 to 312, and held the nation's leading rusher Javon Ringer to just 54 yards on 21 carries...and still lost. Wisconsin back John Clay galloped 32 yards to put his squad up 24-13 with nine minutes left, yet Michigan State would score the next 12 points, including a 44 yard Brett Swenson field goal with 7 seconds left.

Purdue 48 Michigan 42
Remember when I said on Friday I was glad I wouldn't have to watch this game? Well it was one of the many games on at Senser's, and between plays and commercials of the Gophs, this was the one I kept going back to. It seemed like every time I looked up, somebody was either making a big play, or scoring on a big play. So much for the boring defensive slugfest. Michigan's offense was still average at best (just 300 total yards with QB Steve Three throwing completing 9 of 21 passes for 123 yards. I've probably asked this before, but I'm asking again just in case: why on God's green earth would Rich Rodriguez insist on running a spread offense when he doesn't have the personel to do it? He couldn't have transitioned to the spread over a couple of years until he had the recruits to run it? Hey he's the big time football coach. What do I know?), but they kept pace with the Boilermakers suddenly resurgent offense (after watching Brandon Siller I'm glad he didn't have a game under his belt before he played the Gophs. I'm going to go out on a limb and say Curtis Painter won't be getting his job back whenever he's healthy again), tying the score at 42 with just 1:20 left. Purdue then did what the Gophers tried to do, driving for the winning score on a perfectly executed hook and ladder (wait we need a ruling on this: I've heard both "hook & ladder" and "hook and lateral" to describe this play. Anyone? Hang on I'll ask wikipedia...ok it gives both. Thanks wikipedia. Thanks for nothing. Glad we cleared this up) with just 26 seconds left.

Illinois 27 Iowa 24
Like Scony, Illinois led big (24-9) in the fourth quarter, only to see the lead slip away. Unlike the Badgers Illinois rallied late as kicker Matt Eller booted a 46 yarder to win it. Still Juice and the Illini struggled as Juice got picked twice and ran for just 30 yards, the same as the rest of his teammates combined. Iowa wasn't much better as QB Ricky Stanzi struggled (just 11-29 191 yards and 2 picks), but tailback Shonn Greene- aka the Big 10 offensive player of the year thus far- rushed for 103 yards and a TD, giving him at least 100 yards in every Hawkeye game this season.

Central Michigan 37 Indiana 34
The Hoosiers broke the first two rules of Big 10 football. The first rule is you do not lose to the Chippewas at home. The second rule is YOU DO NOT LOSE TO THE CHIPPEWAS AT HOME!!!! I'd have to look it up, but if the third rule was "Don't give up 485 yards passing to the Chippewas" then Indiana broke that one too.

Finally, the craziest ending of the weekend, and probably the season, was Texas Tech's upset of #1 Texas. If you didn't see it, you've gotta see the ending here.