Thanks to the above.
First bullet.
1. Wisconsin vs. Minnesota
The first point I wanted to make concerned this game.
This had to be the biggest moose push of the year. While it closed at -14.5 in many places, many others had -14.
Many posters here were too distracted with the Iron Bowl to care about this one on the Big Ten Network.
I watched it.
And what I saw, albeit it was one game, was not a team ready to go to major bowl and most certainly not one ready to go to the CFB Playoff.
Wisconsin trailed 17-10 with under 12 minutes to play in the 4th quarter.
Really, up until that point, Minnesota was superior on both defense and offense. Then Leidner imploded. That's really what won Wisconsin the game. Not the superior D but Leidner throwing 3 Int's in the 4th which were in or returned deep in Gopher territory and every single one turned into TD's.
A 17-10 lead evaporated into a 31-17 loss. It wasn't the least bit impressive. On top of this, I counted no less than 3 drops by receivers on what would have been counted as explosive plays when Minnesota could have taken a significant lead early. One pass went right through a receiver's arms for guaranteed TD. I counted at least 10-14 points left on the field in the first 1.5 quarters by Minny.
And this should worry Wisconsin backers. They weren't impressive in what many regard as a lookahead spot. It wasn't a lookahead spot because if you lose that game, you'll play for the conference Championship but will not be playing for anything more with 3 losses. And that is what really matters here (however much of a longshot Wisconsin is in this regard).
If I'm Wisconsin, I'm worried about the cluster of games to finish out the system and the "shock to the system" game Penn State will be.
Minnesota (Struggled for 3.5 quarters, Purdue (functions as a scrimmage), Illinois at home (scrimmage), @Northwestern (a bit of a challenge but not a serious one).
They struggled against Nebraska (and didn't cover as 8 point favorites) at home in a huge let down game for Nebraska (undefeated at the time) and didn't put much offense up against what was then, lowly Iowa.
Before that you have hard-fought losses against OSU and Michigan. Those games were nearly 7 weeks ago. Momentum happens in clusters and this team is a bit different from those.
Another issue with this game is that Hornibrook went down with the worst of all injuries: a head injury. In today's ultra concussion- conscious NCAA, I'd say he'd sit this game before he played.
While Bart Houston clearly is the better pocket passer, he cannot run and Wisconsin has gotten used to and excelled with the Hornibrook/Houston platoon. It's one less thing Penn State will have to gameplan for offensively against a team that won't blow anyone away in that area.
This was a big primer game for Wisconsin and the final score nowhere near told the tale for anything but the bettor who might have pushed. But for my money, after seeing some of the defensive lapses early against a mediocre Leidner, losing Hornibrook to a head injury, and needing Leidner impolosion to make the final quarter look far better than the product on the field, I'd be worried Wisconsin thinks it's a bit too prepared for Penn State when they really need...more priming.
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