Boilermakers Country

Overreactions from Week 7 in the Big Ten

A feud between Bret Bielema and Ryan Walters, James Franklin ruins Penn State's fun, an Iowa fan takes a football to the face and more in the overreactions.

Dustin Schutte

Penn State Nittany Lions safety Jaylen Reed (1) is congratulated by head coach James Franklin
Penn State Nittany Lions safety Jaylen Reed (1) is congratulated by head coach James Franklin / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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Well, well, well, it turns out teams in the Big Ten can travel across the country and win football games. Although Ohio State couldn't beat Oregon at Autzen Stadium, Penn State and Minnesota invaded California on the weekend and escaped with wins, defeating USC and UCLA repsectively.

That brings the total up to just three teams who have gone to California and won. Indiana defeated UCLA earlier in the season. So, arguably the best road warriors in the Big Ten are Penn State ... and Minnesota and Indiana. Just as we all expected, right?!

But enough about travel in the Big Ten. Let's jump into the overreactions from the weekend.

FamILLy Feud?

For two years, Ryan Walters was part of the "FamILLy" at Illinois, serving as the defensive coordinator under coach Bret Bielema. But apparently the two now have an estranged relationship.

Following Illinois' 50-49 overtme victory over Purdue on Saturday, Bielema hinted at some frustrations towards Walters and the Boilermakers. He wouldn't get into specifics, but he had no trouble telling reporters he was "pissed off" heading into the game.

Just a hunch, but I'm guessing the two former colleagues won't be exchanging greeting cards during the holiday season.

We Are ... absolutely not doing that

James Franklin runs a classy operation. So, when a handful of players go against that culture, the authoritative father figure is there to shut that sh ... i mean stuff ... down pretty quickly.

After Penn State's 33-30 win over USC, a handful of players tried to plant a "We Are" flag on the midfield logo. When Franklin caught them in the act, he pulled the flag out of the ground and carried it around like a disappointied dad punishing his children.

We probably won't see anyone wearing blue and white trying that again.

Spittin' mad

We had an all-time dumb moment in Saturday night's Oregon-Ohio State game. Wide receiver Traeshon Holden was tossed from the game for spitting in the face of Buckeyes defensive back Davison Igbinosun.

I don't really have any other commentary to add to this other than it was incredibly dumb and disrespectful. Hopefully we don't see stuff like this again.

Football to the face

If you're going to be on the field during the game, you have to be ready AT ALL TIMES. Iowa fan Joe — I have no idea if that's actually his real name but that's what we're going with — learned that lesson the hard way.

The Hawkeye fan was in the area of the football on a kickoff and tried to make a catch — clearly trying to make a name for himself inside Kinnick Stadium. That attempt went woefully wrong, taking a ball right to the kisser.

We all know how good Iowa's special teams unit is, so that probably hurt like hell. But Hawkeye Joe seemed to take the embarrassment well, even joining the radio broadcast after the incident.

Onside kick week?

Apparently, successful onside kicks were a thing in Week 7. Who knew?

Purdue got it started with their game against Illinois, recovering an onside kick at a critical stage in the game. The Boilers would score a touchdown and take the lead after the recovery, but it wasn't enough to get the win.

Then, in the night game, Oregon's special teams unit went for the "kick it off the opponent" play, which worked out to perfection. The ball bounced off an unsuspecting Buckeye, the Ducks recovered and turned it into three points, taking a 15-14 advantage.

Turns out, that was enough to get a 32-31 win over Ohio State.

So, moving forward, I have a message for Big Ten teams: Keep working with the hands team!

Apologize, you Cowherd

FOX Sports personality Colin Cowherd tried to get the Big Ten to apologize to Lincoln Riley for accusing him of fraudulence. He made this plea during halftime, when USC owned a 20-6 lead.

But the game is 60 minutes for a reason, Mr. Cowherd. Now, how about you apologize to US for trying to get us to apologize in the first place. Everyone in Big Ten country will wat.

Mr. 200

Yes, most of these overreactions are meant to be goofy. However, let's take a minute to shoutout Kirk Ferentz, who won his 200th career game with Iowa on Saturday. That's an impressive accomplishment.

Kudos to the longtime Hawkeye leader.

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BIG TEN WEEK 8 POWER RANKINGS: Oregon defeated Ohio State in one of the biggest games of the 2024 college football season. That puts the Ducks in the driver's seat in the Big Ten. CLICK HERE

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Dustin Schutte
DUSTIN SCHUTTE

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