Around the Big Ten: Football - Week 3

Audio/Story posted September 13, 2019 in CommRadio, Sports by Jeremy Ganes

Host David Hadar, alongside Jeremy Ganes and Tommy Calpin, talk about the Colorado-Nebraska game, how Army gave Michigan one of the biggest scares of the season and how dominant Wisconsin has been to start off the year. They also preview the Keystone Classic and the Cy-Hawk Rivalry:

The third week of the college football season has arrived and the Big Ten had another solid week. Rutgers fell on the road to Iowa and No. 25 Nebraska lost at Colorado, the only two losses for the conference. The Big Ten is about a week away from getting into the meat of its schedule and these are the best matchups around the conference for Week 3.

Maryland at Temple

This game might be the most interesting matchup of the whole week, Big Ten or not. The Terrapins are coming off of a 63-20 dismantling of a Syracuse team last week that frankly can’t score to keep up with really anybody. Maryland is favored by a touchdown in the game.

Quarterback Josh Jackson passed for seven touchdowns and one interception, but that effective air attack is being outdone by a running game averaging 335.5 yards per game. Temple, on the other hand, has also been amassing an outstanding 695 yards per contest, so expect the Terps to win a high-scoring battle and roll into the Penn State game in week four undefeated and feeling confident.

Arizona State at Michigan State

This matchup might end up being a little closer than people think. The Spartans are favored by 15 points as the home team, but Arizona State comes into East Lansing 2-0 on the season and showed a lot of grit under head coach Herm Edwards during his first season. Determination might not be enough because Michigan State is so far showing up with the kind of physical play that is good enough to scare any team.

Quarterback Brian Lewerke has played some efficient football so far this season after struggling mightily for the duration of 2018, and their always impressive defense has allowed an average of negative three rushing yards in two games. Sparty prevails by forcing the Sun Devils to throw their way into oblivion.

Iowa at Iowa State

Iowa State has only played one game against Northern Iowa so far, so it is hard to tell how things are shaking out for them. The visiting No. 19 Hawkeyes have been solid so far. Balance on offense with a strong rushing attack lead by Mekhi Sargent and steadiness from signal-caller Nate Stanley has Iowa off to a good start. On defense, they’ve only allowed 185 total yards per game. Expect Iowa to hold the Cyclones in check just long enough to pull out the big rivalry win on the road.

Pitt at Penn State

The 100th and final meeting between Penn State and Pitt, it’s almost hard to believe that we may never see these two in-state hated rivals play each other again. With that being said, there is just a tad bit of excitement for a game that always seems to jack up these two fanbases this week.

The Nittany Lions have been scoring as well as almost anybody this season, while the Pitt Panthers have barely made a crack in the scoreboard with 17 points per game. While the defense for Pitt has kept games relatively in check so far, it is hard to imagine that quarterback Kenny Pickett, who sputtered in last year’s edition of the rivalry, will be able to keep up against a Penn State team with tons of weapons at every skill position. Penn State will take the final game against Pitt by a significant margin.

Other Big Ten games in Week 3:

Ohio State at Indiana

Eastern Michigan at Illinois

UNLV at Northwestern

Georgia Southern at Minnesota

TCU at Purdue

Northern Illinois at Nebraska

 

 

Jeremy Ganes is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jlgg6097@psu.edu.