Brent Yarina, BTN.com Senior Editor, November 12, 2011

BTN.com has a new staple every Saturday night. It?s called "United States Marine Corps: Leaders of the Week," and it?s a feature designed to honor the best from every weekend of Big Ten action. Find the top performances, quotes and tweets from Week 11 in this post.

Marvin McNutt, Iowa – Not only did McNutt haul in arugably the catch of the season (watch catch here), he became Iowa's all-time leading receiver with his 130 receiving yards, on eight catches, scored yet another touchdown and added 27 rushing yards.

Max Bullough, Michigan State – Bullough registered a game-high 13 tackles and two tackles for loss, which tied for the game-high, in addition to adding a sack in Michigan State's win at Iowa.

Kirk Cousins, Michigan State – Cousins more than made up for his thud of a game the last time he faced Iowa, throwing for 260 yards and three touchdowns in a victory that put the Spartans in the driver's seat for the Legends Division title.

Jeremy Ebert, Northwestern – One week after going for an 81-yard touchdown reception, Ebert scored on a 90-yard scoring strike and went for career-best 208 receiving yards to propel the Wildcats past Rice.

Dan Persa, Northwestern – Persa torched Rice for a career-high 372 passing yards and tied a career-high with four touchdown passes in a dominating 28-6 win.

Lavonte David, Nebraska – The Husker star linebacker tallied nine tackles, none bigger than his gigantic stop on 4th-and-1 to halt Penn State's final rally and seal Nebraska's 17-14 win at Beaver Stadium.

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Bruce Gaston, Purdue – Gaston came up clutch with the blocked extra point that denied Ohio State the win in regulation and sent the game to overtime, where Purdue won in the first extra session. The Boiler also added a tackle for a loss and a sack.

Robert Marve, Purdue – The stats weren't overwhelming, but Marve was the spark that helped the Boilers upset Ohio State for the second time in as many visits to Ross-Ade Stadium. Sharing time with Caleb TerbBush, Marve complete 10 of 12 passes for 94 yards and scored the game-winning touchdown on a 1-yard scoring run in overtime.

Fitzgerald Toussaint, Michigan – For the second time in three weeks, Toussaint set a career-high in rushing yards, this time with 192 yards at Illinois. The Wolverine, who went for 170 yards against Purdue two weeks ago, averaged 7.1 yards per carry and scored one touchdown (watch the TD).

Montee Ball, Wisconsin – Ball set the Big Ten record for most touchdowns in a season, with his third and final score of the day (watch and rate TD here), and went for 171 total yards against Minnesota. In 10 games, the Badger back has 27 touchdowns, including five games of at least three scores.

Russell Wilson, Wisconsin – What more can you say about Wilson? The star quarterback completed 16 of 17 passes (94 percent) for 178 yards and a season-high four touchdowns. That's good enough for a scoring strike on every 4.3 attempts, if you're scoring at home.

Nick Toon, Wisconsin – While Toon dropped Russell Wilson's lone incompletion of the day, he had a terrific day, catching two of Wilson's four touchdown passes and finishing with eight receptions for 100 yards, his first 100-yard receiving day since Sept. 24 against South Dakota.

QUOTES
"We've been the hunted the last two years. We are a program that people are hunting down." Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio, on how his team is viewed.

"In my opinion and a lot of others' opinion he's still going to be the best football coach who ever coached in college." Penn State WR Derek Moye, on former coach Joe Paterno.

"I'll be honest with you, going into this football game, I didn't think the game should have been played – for a lot of different reasons. I look at my job as a football coach is to educate, and to prepare the kids that come into the program for life." – Nebraska coach Bo Pelini, on his thoughts of playing Penn State.

"We talk about it all the time, but there's a standard at Michigan, and you have to live up to that, and you're judged by it." – Michigan defensive coordinator Greg Mattison, on his defense living up to Michigan standards.

"We are in a funk for some reason and it is something, particularly on the offensive side of the football, that we have not seen since I have been here." – Illinois coach Ron Zook, on his team, which has lost four consectuive after opening 6-0.

"I messed it up for him, but nobody's perfect." – Wisconsin WR Nick Toon, on dropping QB Russell Wilson's lone incompletion.

"Back in the driver's seat now. We control our own fate." – Wisconsin RB Montee Ball, on his team that controls its destiny following an easy win at rival Minnesota.

"You've just got to have amnesia, no matter how great things are going or how bad things are going." Wisconsin QB Russell Wilson, on keeping a level head following a 16 of 17, four-touchdown performance.