September 22, 2025
Welcome, and thank you for visiting N.B. This weekend, there are six college football games featuring teams from the Big Ten Conference. Oregon and Penn State is the big one this weekend, but we also have the undefeated Buckeyes against the undefeated Huskies, and #21 USC against #23 Illinois. It’s going to be another great week of college football.
Saturday, September 27th
12:00 Noon
Rutgers (3-1) @ Minnesota (2-1)
Most recently, Minnesota had a Week 4 bye, and a Week 3 loss to Cal 27-14. The Golden Gophers are 2-1 overall, and this is a game they think they can win at home. We saw Rutgers lose a heart breaker to Iowa at home last week 38-28. It was their first loss of the season and definitely something the Scarlett Knights don’t want to make a habit of doing. Rutgers is explosive on offense, and Kaliakmanis to Ian Strong is one of the most dangerous QB/WR duos in the country, but Rutgers has a lot to overcome this week. Rutgers is banged up on both sides of the ball, they’re on the road, and Minnesota’s defense is pretty good.
(21) USC (4-0) @ (23) Illinois (3-1)
The Trojans are 4-0 overall, and 2-0 in Big Ten play. Last week, they beat Michigan State 45-31, and Purdue the previous week 33-17. USC is rolling, and they moved up four spots to #21 in the AP Top 25. Wide receiver, Makai Lemon is fun to watch. Lemon racked up 127 receiving yards against the Spartans.
Illinois is now 3-1 after getting abused and embarrassed by the Indiana Hoosiers. If you go back to last week’s preview, I called the game between Indiana and Illinois a “rubber-meets-the-road” game because both teams were unbeaten/unproven. Illinois was ranked #9 in the country last week before that game, and now they’ve fallen to #23 after losing 63-10. If they don’t watch out, USC is going to knock them right out of the national scene. Last week, Illinois was held to just 2 rushing yards! As a matter of fact, they could barely put a drive together (1/10 on 3rd downs). Defensively, it’s gut check time for the Fighting Illini.
3:30 P.M.
(11) Indiana (4-0) @ Iowa (3-1)
Indiana is now 4-0, and they’re riding high off of a huge win against Big Ten foe, Illinois. With that win, the Hoosiers moved up to #11 from #19! Quarterback, Fernando Mendoza, is hot. He completed 21 of 23 passes last week without an interception, and he threw 5 touchdown passes. Running back, Khobie Martin, carried the rock 12 times for 107 yards and 2 touchdowns. Offensively, the Hoosiers amassed 579 total yards, but the real story is their defense. They held Illinois to 2 yards rushing and 161 yards of total offense!
Luckily for the Iowa Hawkeyes, they were able to rediscover their defense last week against Rutgers before it was too late. They won on the road in New Jersey 38-28 and improved to 3-1 overall. This week against Indiana, they’re going to need their defense to continue right where it left off against Rutgers, and I can’t wait to see defensive ends, Hurkett and Llewellyn.
Running back, Kamari Moulton is real treat to watch. He’s an explosive-downhill type of guy. A feel lot better about Mark Gronowski as well. That guy doesn’t look like anything special, but he’s a winner. With Wetjen and Dayton Howard, that Hawkeye offense has life, but their defense will have to show up to stop an Indiana offense that put up over 500 total yards and 63 points last week.
I don’t know what happened to Indiana’s quarterback, Fernando Mendoza, but he has been playing on another level since his second game. Mendoza completed 18 passes out of 31 attempts for 193 yards in his first game of the season. In his last three games, Mendoza has been as close to perfect as you can get. His completion percentage is 85%, and he has thrown for 782 yards, 14 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions!
(1) Ohio State (3-0) @ Washington (3-0)
Ohio State had a bye last week, and now they’re on the road against Washington. The Buckeyes are the number one team in the country and 3-0 overall. Don’t forget, one of their three wins came against a Texas team who at that time, was ranked #1.
The Washington Huskies are 3-0 after defeating Washington State 59-24 during Week 4. Offensively, the Huskies look good. They’re led by their quarterback, Demond Williams. Williams is fast, he can definitely run the football, and he has good arm. Against the Cougars, Williams completed 16 of 19 passes for 298 yards and 4 touchdowns. He has one-hell-of-a receiver to throw to in Denzel Boston. Boston is 6’4″, and he’s a gamechanger.
Wow, so the Huskies are going to challenge the Buckeyes in ways they haven’t been challenged so far this season. Williams to Boston is a dangerous connection, but if Washington can establish a ground game early with their physical back, Jonah Coleman, who rushed for 107 yards on 6 carries last week, the Ohio State defense will be forced to show up. Not that they have a problem doing that, but this game has upset written all over it.
UCLA (0-3) at Northwestern (1-2)
Northwestern fell to 1-2 overall after losing to Oregon 34-14. The Wildcats were kind of capable of running the football against the Ducks, well, they had more rushing yards than passing yards. They just didn’t do very well on 3rd down and they turned the ball over twice. Those are two things you must do well if you want to win football games, but UCLA offers Northwestern a chance at redemption.
UCLA is the only Big Ten team that hasn’t won a game all season, and I’ve been hearing a lot of talk about sophomore quarterback, Nico Lamaleava, hitting the transfer portal. Lamaleava said, “I’m a leave ya!” LOL, well, no not really, but that’s funny.
Any-who, the Bruins are winless, but in their defense, Utah, UNLV, and New Mexico turned out to be a tougher three-game stretch than anyone would’ve imagined. Utah is 3-1, UNLV is 4-0, and New Mexico is 2-1. So, maybe the Bruins aren’t that bad? Maybe they just seriously underestimated their competition? We’ll see this week. If they lose to Northwestern, then the Bruins are who we thought they were.
7:30 P.M.
(6) Oregon (4-0) @ (3) Penn State (3-0)
Here it is, the Big Ten game of the week. The Oregon Ducks are sixth in the nation, and the Nittany Lions are number three. Oregon returns undefeated at 4-0 this week after crushing Oregon State in Week 4. Duck’s quarterback, Dante Moore, is steadily improving and getting better each week. He looked like a team leader against Oregon State, and that’s important. Also, he threw for 305 yards and 4 touchdowns with zero interceptions, and well, that’s important too.
Penn State had a Week 4 bye, which I’m sure they enjoyed after beating Villanova 52-6. The Nittany Lions haven’t faced anyone yet worth mentioning, but they’re still undefeated and ranked nationally. Personally, I have to be honest. I’m not a believer in Penn State yet. I feel like this is going to be another season where they get all hype and all the accolades before they play, but once the season starts, it’s mediocracy. We know about Drew Allar, and we know running back, Kaytron Allen, is a work horse, but what do we really know?
Week 5 Picks Strait Up
Minnesota, USC, Indiana, Oregon, Ohio State, UCLA
Week 5 Picks Versus the Point Spread
This week, the Big Ten Pick Sheet versus the point spread is $3.00. Please, email me at noonooz@noozbuffet.com, if you’re interested.
Overall Record
Straight Up: 16-4
Versus the Points: 10-7-1
Nooz Buffet 