Last week I broke down the best three Big Ten games to watch while waiting for Oregon's late kickoff against UCLA. This week, the Ducks are the first in action, hosting Michigan State on Friday night for their first-ever Big Ten home game. After Friday night's game, Oregon fans will have a full slate of Big Ten matchups ahead of them on Saturday, so let's break down the three best ones to watch.
1. No. 3 Ohio State (4-0, 1-0) vs. Iowa (3-1, 1-0) - 12:30 PM on CBS
After disposing of Michigan State in a 38-7 thrashing, Ohio State is once again faced with their toughest challenge of the season to this point, the Iowa Hawkeyes. Iowa will be rested coming off a bye after beating Minnesota 31-14 for its first Big Ten win of the season. This is not the same Iowa team that we have seen in recent years entering week six. The Hawkeyes' 32 points per game are the most they have averaged since 2002 — when they were a top 10 scoring offense. Iowa's offense is based around a strong rushing attack led by the Big Ten's top running back this season, Kaleb Johnson, who leads the conference in both rushing yards and touchdowns. Additionally, the Hawkeyes' lone loss this season came in a tight 20-19 defeat at the hands of their in-state rivals, the Iowa State Cyclones, who are currently ranked 16th in the nation. Ohio State is still favored by over 20 points, but this will be a good test to see their fourth-ranked scoring offense against Iowa's top-15 defense before the Buckeyes come to Eugene next week for one of the most anticipated games in Autzen Stadium's rich history.
2. Nebraska (4-1, 1-1) vs. Rutgers (4-0, 1-0) - 1 PM on FS1
Despite this game taking place between a pair of Big Ten teams the Ducks won't face this season, this is still an extremely intriguing matchup in the conference. Nebraska got off to a hot start behind true freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola before hitting a speed bump at home against an even hotter Illinois team. They bounced back nicely with a win over Purdue last week, but that might not be saying much considering Purdue's -31.3 average point differential against Power Four (and Oregon State) opponents. Rutgers, meanwhile, is coming off wins against the two teams I grew up rooting for, the Virginia Tech Hokies and Washington Huskies. The Scarlet Knights are a program on the rise under head coach Greg Schiano, coming off their first winning season last year since 2014 — their first year in the Big Ten. A win over a Virginia Tech team that gave No. 8 Miami everything they could handle is a strong out-of-conference win, while last Friday night's win over Washington could be a good sign for the Ducks' Thanksgiving weekend rivalry clash. If the Scarlet Knights were to lose this weekend at Nebraska — which would be my prediction — that would give even more meaning to their win over the Huskies for Oregon fans.
3. Washington (3-2, 1-1) vs. No. 10 Michigan (4-1, 2-0) - 4:30 PM on NBC
While this game may be a rematch of last year's national championship, these are two completely different than the ones that met in January. Washington is off to a shaky start under new coach Jedd Fisch, losing the Apple Cup to Washington State in week three before dropping last week's game at Rutgers. The Huskies did pick up their first-ever Big Ten win between those games against Northwestern, and while the Wildcats are coming off their first non-pandemic winning season since 2018, it's still Northwestern, a program with just a .361 all-time Big Ten winning percentage. This is nowhere near the same Washington team as the one that beat the Ducks twice last year en route to a CFP runner-up finish, but if they want to remain competitive in the Big Ten, will need to pick up wins like this, especially when they have home-field advantage. After this week, the Huskies still have four more games against currently ranked opponents, with three of them coming on the road. Michigan seemed to bounce back nicely from its week two loss to No. 2 Texas with an exciting week four win over No. 11 USC, but looked precarious again last week in a surprisingly-close win over Minnesota. The Wolverines clearly have a quarterback problem, already having swapped starters. They rank 130th in the country in passing yards per game. Alex Orji has gotten the start for Michigan in each of the last two weeks but has struggled to move the ball through the air, failing to total 100 yards in either contest. This will provide a significant advantage to the Huskies, whose defense ranks sixth in the country, allowing just 128 passing yards per game. This game will likely be a low-scoring affair between two teams with tough defenses and will come down to which quarterback can make a play when his team needs him most, either Washington's Will Rogers through the air or Orji on the ground. The Ducks will meet both of these teams in the final month of the regular season, the Wolverines first on Nov. 2, and the Huskies to close out the regular season on Nov. 30.
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