BTN.com’s Tom Dienhart is offering his thoughts and analysis from every Big Ten game today. In this post, you can find his Snap Reactions from the Big Ten’s four afternoon games. Here are his Snap Reactions to the three early games. See what Dienhart has to say about Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern and Penn State’s victory here.

Venric Mark ran for 117 yards and three touchdowns to lead Northwestern to an easy 38-7 victory over South Dakota on Saturday afternoon. This one figured to be a breather for the Wildcats (4-0), and that’s exactly what it was. They barely broke a sweat against a FCS opponent after tight victories over Syracuse, Vanderbilt and Boston College, building a 28-0 halftime lead with Mark going off for 97 yards and doing all his scoring.

Northwestern racked up 84 rushing yards in the third, and the margin is still 28, as the Wildcats lead 35-7. Northwestern made its lead 35-0 when Treyvon Green pounded in a 33-yard touchdown run on the last play of a six-play, 71-yard drive. The Wildcats kept the ball on the ground during the drive, throwing only one pass.

Northwestern gained 62 yards on the ground in the second, and the Wildcats now lead 28-0. Northwestern added to its advantage when Venric Mark pounded in a six-yard touchdown run, putting a bow on a six-play, 57-yard drive to give the Wildcats the lead, 21-0.

Thanks to a mean rushing attack, Northwestern leads 14-0 at the end of the first quarter. The Wildcats rushed for 82 yards in the quarter.

It’s time for my weekly ranking of the Big Ten’s slate of games and Week 4 holds some intriguing matchups. See where your team’s game ranks on my list and get my complete preview of all ten Big Ten games (Purdue and Indiana are off this week).

Last week, I opened the column by dwelling on the negative. Not happening this week. We’re starting with the positive – the Big Ten’s three unbeaten teams.

As I do every Wednesday, I have questions that I hope are answered Saturday. One week away from the start of Big Ten play, here are my most pressing queries for the 10 Big Ten teams in action this week.