Week 7 Big Ten previews: Another defensive battle between Buckeyes, Badgers

Wisconsin's third titanic clash of the season is upon us.

After dominating against Michigan State and narrowly falling at Michigan, the Badgers play host to the Ohio State Buckeyes this weekend in Madison.

It's another battle between two of the top defenses in the country, but should we expect a similar outcome to the Michigan-Wisconsin clash a couple weeks ago?

Here's a look at that top-10 showdown and all the other games on this week's Big Ten slate. All games played on Saturday, Oct. 15, and all times are Central.

Illinois at Rutgers, 11 a.m., ESPNEWS

Two of the four teams without a Big Ten win thus far, one of them will be out of that group come Saturday afternoon. The Illini haven’t been getting blown out like Rutgers — which lost its past two games by a combined 136-0 score — but they are sharing a similar level of embarrassment after losing to perennial bottom-feeder Purdue last weekend. Illinois faces a question at quarterback with the health status of Wes Lunt unknown as of Thursday afternoon, but backup Chayce Crouch played real well in relief last weekend. The Illini’s problem has been finishing off games, and while you’d like to think that a date with the Knights would provide an opportunity to do so, the same was believed about last week’s game against the Boilermakers.

Meanwhile, Rutgers is looking to do, well, something other than nothing. Chris Ash’s team gained a total of 155 yards in those blowout losses to Ohio State and Michigan and obviously scored zero points. The Knights can have some confidence in the fact that the Illini’s defense — supposed to be the strength of that team — has allowed 65 points on 882 total yards in two conference games.

Minnesota at Maryland, 11 a.m., ESPN U

Another matchup between teams coming off losses. Minnesota will be without quarterback Mitch Leidner, and while the Gophers’ offense was ugly last weekend in a loss to Iowa, losing a senior quarterback and replacing hime with a backup (Conor Rhoda) who’s thrown two career passes is going to be quite the challenge. The bottom line is the Gophers need to get the run game going with Rodney Smith and Shannon Brooks after being held to 102 rush yards last weekend.

Maryland will surely also be looking to get the ground attack going again. The Terps were one of the best rushing teams in the country through their 4-0 start — and out-gained Purdue 496-205 in a 50-7 blowout win — but mustered just 270 total yards in last weekend’s loss to Penn State. Ty Johnson had 204 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries against Purdue. He had 11 yards on five carries against Penn State.

Iowa at Purdue, 11 a.m., ESPN 2

The Hawkeyes’ defense looked excellent in last weekend’s win over Minnesota, and one would guess that type of performance would have a good chance of replication against basement-dwelling Purdue, even with the fact that the Boilers racked up some serious offense against Illinois last weekend. But the offense is what Iowa needs to get fixed. It scored just one touchdown in last week’s win, gaining just 321 yards. The rushing attack that failed to put up any significant numbers against North Dakota State, Rutgers and Northwestern bounced back with 179 yards, but C.J. Beathard is clearly feeling the loss of top receiving target Matt VandeBerg.

Purdue has a slight amount of momentum after the win over Illinois, just the third conference win under Darrell Hazell, who’s now in his fourth season in West Lafayette. Offensive yardage hasn’t been a problem for the Boilers, who rank fifth in the Big Ten with 429.2 yards per game. But Purdue is allowing more yards per game to opposing offenses, which obviously is a problem. Throw in the fact that the Iowa defense is a lot more capable than the Illinois defense, and it could be a long day for Team Hazell.

No. 10 Nebraska at Indiana, 2:30 p.m., ABC/ESPN 2

You’d think this might be a one-sided affair, what with Nebraska holding a top-10 ranking and Indiana coming off a three-touchdown defeat. But this has the potential to be a real good game. Both these offenses are getting it done, with Huskers quarterback Tommy Armstrong playing like one of the best quarterbacks in the conference and the Hoosiers always potent under Kevin Wilson. Nebraska will be down a pair of its top pass-catchers, wide receiver Jordan Westerkamp and tight end Cethan Carter, who were injured in the last game against Illinois. Surprisingly, Indiana’s rushing attack isn’t as productive as it was expected to be behind Devine Redding, with the team averaging 160.6 yards on the ground per game, ninth in the Big Ten.

But, believe it or not, defense could tell the story in this one. Indiana is going through a relative defensive renaissance under new coordinator Tom Allen. It’s nothing close to the elite-level defense being played at Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio State. But it’s a huge step forward for a program that’s posted some of the worst defensive numbers in the country in the past several seasons. Nebraska, meanwhile, ranks just behind those three elite groups in total defense in the Big Ten, allowing just 346.8 yards per game, and is one off the conference-leading 10 interceptions of Ohio State.

Northwestern at Michigan State, 2:30 p.m., Big Ten Network

The Cats surely appreciated the bye week, but it was a momentum-halting week off after a big win over Iowa. The good news is Northwestern gets reeling Michigan State next and could pull off another upset on the road. The Cats’ offense was the star of the win over Iowa, not needing to do too much but still getting plenty of points and plenty of big plays from running back Justin Jackson and wide receiver Austin Carr. Asking a team to replicate its best offensive performance of the season and quarterback Clayton Thorson’s best game of his career, per Pat Fitzgerald, is a lot.

But again the Cats might not need to do too much. The Michigan State offense is scoring at a very low rate, too, averaging less than a point more per game than Northwestern. As surprising as it might sound, the Cats might be the team with the offensive edge in this matchup. And the banged-up Northwestern defense — an adjective that also describes the Michigan State defense — goes up against a Spartans offense in disarray. Three quarterbacks were listed as co-starters earlier this week, but it’s the rushing attack that’s failing to carry its weight, Michigan State averaging just 153.2 yards per game. It’s a matchup of two teams struggling to produce, but Northwestern has something Michigan State doesn’t: a win in the last three weeks.

No. 2 Ohio State at No. 8 Wisconsin, 7 p.m., ABC

It might be a tad unfair, but the first thing that comes to mind with this epic matchup is that it could be a mighty similar game to the top-10 tilt between Wisconsin and Michigan just two weeks ago. I say unfair because obviously Ohio State and Michigan are different teams, and a lot of things went Wisconsin’s way in that one, despite the loss — Michigan, you might remember, missed a trio of field goals while the Wisconsin offense struggled to do much of anything.

But much like Michigan and Wisconsin, Ohio State boasts an elite defense. The Wolverines, Buckeyes and Badgers rank first, second and fourth in the country in scoring defense. They rank first, fourth and 11th in total defense. So a repeat of Michigan-Wisconsin could very well be in store: a low-scoring affair with the defenses making the biggest plays and turnovers and mistakes making the biggest differences.

The Badgers should probably expect a similar performance on offense. For whatever reason, the Wisconsin rushing attack hasn’t been its usual self. And Alex Hornibrook, who impressed against Michigan State before having a really rough day against Michigan, is still finding his way leading the Wisconsin offense. The Badgers certainly have playmakers, but up against another out-of-this-world defense, they could again struggle to produce.

But let’s not short-change Wisconsin here, as the Badgers’ defense is also one of America’s finest. The Buckeyes haven’t faced a defense like this, and their poor habit of getting off to slow first-quarter starts might not be so easily overcome against a defense that can shut anyone down. J.T. Barrett didn’t have his best game throwing the ball last weekend against Indiana, completing just nine passes, and you wonder if that could carry over. But Barrett is still going to be the best player on the field Saturday, and the vast variety of things he can do make him a real threat to beat that vaunted Badgers defense.