Prior to the 2011 college football season, the Big Ten announced the creation of 18 new trophies, including two for the new Big Ten Championship Game and two for postgraduate awards. Each trophy honors the Big Ten’s rich history, with two Big Ten legends’ last names on it (i.e. Nagurski-Woodson Defensive Player of the Year).
Every week during the football season, Brent Yarina posts his latest Big Ten Power Rankings. Week 9 saw Nebraska hand Michigan State its first Big Ten defeat and Penn State remain unbeaten. As for the power rankings, they are not meant to mimic the Big Ten standings. What fun would that be? They aren’t scientific, either. They’re simply Brent’s thoughts on where each Big Ten team stands after its latest game and entering its next contest. Agree? Disagree? Tweet @BTNBrentYarina.
In arguably the biggest weekend this season in the Big Ten, Nebraska announced that it still is in the hunt for the Legends Division title with a dominating win over Michigan State, Minnesota carded its first Big Ten win and Penn State remained perfect in Big Ten play. Following is a look at who was hot and who was not in Week 9 action.
(AP) Fitzgerald Toussaint ran for a career-high 170 yards and tied a career high with two touchdowns, leading No. 17 Michigan to a 36-14 win over Purdue on Saturday. The Wolverines (7-1, 3-1 Big Ten) gave up a TD on the opening drive of the game, then scored 36 straight points to bounce back from their first loss of the season, two weeks ago at Michigan State. The Boilermakers (4-4, 2-2) haven’t won or lost consecutive games this year. Toussaint had 155 yards rushing through three quarters, helping Michigan find a rusher to take some of the load from quarterback Denard Robinson. Read the full AP recap, see the box score and check out our Big Ten scoreboard.