Instant reaction to Week 10 developments on the field ...
1. Big Ten (partial) clarity Ohio State and Oregon handled their business on Saturday afternoon in State College and Ann Arbor, respectively, and did the Big Ten a huge favor in the process. As November dawned, there was an intriguing scenario looming for the conference.
The Ducks were atop the standings with a 5-0 mark, along with Penn State and Indiana. Three teams, all undefeated — and with no head-to-head matchups between them on the schedule. You didn’t need to squint to see the giant mess that would have materialized if an undefeated team had been boxed out of the conference championship game in Indianapolis.
Then the Ducks and Buckeyes walked into Week 10 with the power washer and cleaned everything up. Sure, Oregon’s 38-17 victory over Michigan was impressive, but let’s not overstate the significance. After all, the Wolverines have four losses — all of them by double digits and two of them at home.
But the performance pushed the Ducks one step closer to locking up a berth in the conference title game without need for a tiebreaker. They will be heavily favored against Maryland, Wisconsin and Washington and should run the table. Meanwhile, the Buckeyes were in desperation mode for their latest victory over Penn State, which both cleared their path to Indianapolis and knocked the Nittany Lions out of the three-way tie for first place.
It’s easy to envision Ohio State stomping Purdue and Northwestern, o.
