Another week in the Big Ten produced some surprises. Actually, the only series I thought was surprising was Wisconsin-Minnesota. but I’ll get to that later. The Gophers swept the Badgers by a combined score of 13-2. After shutting out Wisconsin on the first night, Minnesota won 9-2 the second night.

The Buckeyes and Nittany Lions split their series. Penn Statewon 3-2 on Friday before Ohio State won 5-1 on Saturday. Michigan and Michigan State both had exhibitions games against the NTDP. Michigan won 5-2, while Michigan State won 3-2.

Michigan is still the highest Big Ten team in the PairWise at No. 6. The Gophers are 15th while Penn State is 16th. After the losses, Wisconsin stands at 44. Next weekend features another little break in some Big Ten play, as the Gophers get their last non-conference tests in the North Star College Cup.

(After the jump: What’s wrong with Wisconsin, the truth about Penn State and limiting dangerous hits)

What’s wrong with Wisconsin?

I was in Wisconsin for the border battle between the Gophers and Badgers – a once great rivalry reduced to an easy dismantling of Wisconsin. While the stands were pretty packed (I was told by regulars the crowd was the best of the season, but not great for a border battle), it was a difficult atmosphere. How long do expect students to sit through a 9-2 loss?

I still can’t believe the Badgers lost 9-2. This team isn’t so young anymore that you can blame youth, and this team has too much talent to be losing so badly. Over the weekend, Wisconsin couldn’t connect their passes. After a first game characterized by sloppy play, the Badgers resorted to a physical game with some illegal hits.

When a team with that talent is playing so badly, something has to change. This usually starts with the coach.

The truth about Penn State

A loss to Ohio State may have been alarming to some, but it’s not very surprising. The Nittany Lions have a pretty solid record, but haven’t earned many “quality” wins. The best wins Penn State earned were probably a 5-3 win against Notre Dame and the 3-2 win over Minnesota. Other than that, Penn State has played a weak schedule. I know I talk about this every week, but Penn State has one of the easiest schedules in the country (it ranks 41st in schedule strength.).

Penn State always has one of the easier schedules. As a new team, I understand the need to have a weaker schedule, and Penn State has progressed faster than expected. They’re not helping themselves by schedule much weaker opponents though, and it’s part of the reason why they’ll struggle against a team like Ohio State.

Limiting dangerous hits?

It seems that Big Ten players get suspended more when in-conference play has started. I’m not sure if it’s because of the rivalries, but there’s a troubling trend of dangerous hits. This weekend, three players were suspended – Wisconsin’s Eddie Wittchow, Aiden Cavallini and Ohio State’s Josh Healey.

Both hits from Cavallini and Wittchow were both on Minnesota’s Tommy Novak, both on Friday. Wittchow earned two additional games for his hit, as he should. It was a pretty bad shot at Novak, and Wittchow has a history of throwing questionable hits. So does Josh Healey, who earend a two-game suspension for contact to the head against Penn State.

This is just one weekend after the Ohio State-Michigan brawl resulted in some punching and suspensions.

Tuesday, January 26th, 2016 - 11:00 am | Big Ten, Blogs, Notes, Thoughts, Ramblings