Big Ten Quick Thoughts, Takes On Every Game: Week 11

Author:
Pete Fiutak
Publish date:
Nov 9, 2019

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Quick thoughts and takes on every Week 11 Big Ten game.

Purdue 24, Northwestern 22

All the breaks and all of the positives Northwestern enjoyed last year are all coming back in its face full force. It couldn’t come up with a two-point conversion and was up 22-21 in the fourth, and it left the door open for Purdue to kick it in with the JD Dellinger walk-off field goal. The Cats are still bringing the effort, though.

The kid came through. Purdue’s Aidan O’Connell might be the third-string quarterback, but he was solid, hitting 34-of-50 passes for 271 yards and two touchdowns. He threw two picks, but he got the win.

Northwestern’s offense finally found something that worked. Kyric McGowan ran for 146 yards and a touchdown, and Aidan Smith threw two touchdown passes and ran a bit. The O stalled in the second half, but at least it scored.

Purdue is still alive for a bowl game. It has to beat Wisconsin and Indiana, but at least it’s still fighting and it’s season pulled up out of the nosedive. Northwestern has a light scrimmage against UMass next week for its second win of the season, and then it gets Minnesota and at Illinois.

Ohio State 73, Maryland 14

Well that whole Chase Young thing didn’t seem to matter. The Buckeyes came out and played with the No. 1 team swagger going up 42-0 at halftime on a Maryland team that has absolutely nothing. The Terps were outgained 705 yards to 139.

Justin Fields completed 16-of-25 passes for 200 yards and three scores, and he ran for 28 yards and a touchdown. The ground game rumbled for 383 yards and six touchdowns, and everything was flawless. It’s Maryland, and everyone’s getting fat on this team, but if you’re ultra-focused and pushing for a national title, that’s how you play.

Ohio State’s game against Penn State still means everything. There’s a layup against Rutgers next week, and even with the loss to Minnesota, the Nittany Lions can still take everything away from the Buckeyes with a win. As long as Penn State doesn’t lose another game, it’s in the College Football Playoff.

Maryland is now ensured of a losing season. It has Nebraska and at Michigan State to go, but it has now lost its last three games by a combined score of 163 to 31.