First and Ten – Week Five

Ten takeaways from the fifth weekend of Big Ten Football. You can follow along all season on SiriusXM Big Ten Radio (Ch. 372). SHINY AND NEW Northwestern’s new Ryan Field made its impressive debut Friday night in a prime time matchup between the Wildcats and Penn State. The state-of-the-art stadium ushered in a new era for the Northwestern football program and immediately became the envy of more than one school/program around the country. CATS ON THE PROWL The night couldn’t have gone better for the home team as Northwestern pounced on the Nittany Lions in a hurry and led by a relentless ground game rolled to a 34-13 victory. It didn’t matter quarterback Aidan Chiles had less than 100 yards passing when the prolific running game was so good. RANKINGS SNUB Despite the 3-1 start and Friday night’s solid win over Penn State, Northwestern did not crack the AP Top 25. But head coach David Braun made it very clear, it doesn’t matter to his squad. “That’s bait,” Braun told reporters Monday. “Those are things that just turn into a distraction. And if you asked any of our players about the message this morning, I was very direct on all that.” HUGE TROJAN COMEBACK Speaking of USC, the Trojan...