Normally the second week of college football is full of the big schools playing cupcake teams to help pad their records, but this year things were much different with the two most notable games being Ohio State vs. Tennessee and third ranked University of Michigan vs. 20th ranked Notre Dame.

Sitting in the dome watching the Gophers dismantle Colorado State in what was supposed to be a close game I had my eyes glued to the ìout of townî scores to see what was happening at The Big House in Ann Arbor.

Sure things were tense in the Dome as the Gophers ended the first quarter with a slim 28-10 lead, but fans were happy to hear the announcement that Notre Dame was beating Michigan 14-3.

By halftime of the Gophers game, the TVs in the press box were turned to the Notre Dame-Michigan game as we watched the Irish march to victory. As of Monday the Irish were ranked 10th in the AP poll and Michigan dropped to 14th.

The other huge Big Ten game of the week was between number two Texas and number four Ohio State. Not only was this game huge because both teams were ranked so high, but it was also the first time these two storied teams met. Thanks to a late comeback Texas won what turned out to be probably the most thrilling game of the day by a score of 25-22.

The Horseshoe in Columbus was packed to record numbers and football fans were glued to their TVs for this game. I myself, who doesnít like Ohio State just to make an uncle of mine from Columbus mad, enjoyed the game and was rooting for the Big Ten team in a game that may have national title fallout as the season wears on. The loss dropped Ohio State to ninth in the AP poll.

Number eight Iowa was shocked by un-ranked Iowa State who demolished them 23-3, dropping Iowa all the way to 22nd in the polls.
In other Big Ten games Indiana had trouble defeating Nicholls State 35-31, Northwestern narrowly beat Northern Illinois 38-37, Michigan State pounded Hawaii 42-14, Illinois beat San Jose State 40-14, Penn State defeated Cincinnati 42-24, Purdue beat Akron 49-24 and the Gophers got their game plan figured out and beat Colorado State 56-24. The other big surprise of the day was Wisconsinís 65-0 blanking of Temple.

With four Big Ten teams in the AP top 25 and four other teams (one of them Minnesota) receiving votes, itís a clear indicator that the Big Ten is just as competitive as any other year and we can expect some entertaining football once the conference schedule gets into full swing in two weeks.

Looking at the Gophers schedule they should beat Florida Atlantic Saturday. The Gophers open Big Ten play with Purdue, but being homecoming I think the Gophers will pull out a close victory and climb into the top 25. A win over Penn State in Happy Valley will help, but their trip to Ann Arbor should be interesting, Iíll leave the predicting of this game up to you.

The Gophers host Wisconsin in the border battle and since theyíll be in the dome Iím picking the Gophers. Unfortunately I think theyíll fall the following week to Ohio State. Indiana should result in a victory, and the Gophers should triumph over Michigan State at the dome on Nov. 12. The trip to Iowa will be interesting, but Iím leaning towards Iowa to win that game in the elements.

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