LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Most Big Ten offenses are struggling when they move inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. The 14 teams have combined for the conference’s lowest scoring rate in at least 10 years in the so-called red zone. Big Ten offenses have scored on 81% of their trips inside the 20. That includes touchdowns on 56%. Both marks are lowest among the Power Five conferences and ninth among the 10 FBS leagues. Ohio State is the outlier. The Buckeyes lead the nation with touchdowns on better than 79% of their red-zone possessions and they’re tied for fifth in overall scoring at almost 97%.
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Maryland could really use a steady, clean performance when the Terrapins host Indiana after losing three straight games following a promising start. It was one thing when Maryland was routed by Iowa and Ohio State in back-to-back games, but last week’s 34-16 defeat at Minnesota felt different. It came against the type of good-but-not-great Big Ten team the Terrapins need to be able to beat if they’re going to make progress under coach Michael Locksley. Maryland will celebrate its 2001 ACC football championship team this weekend. That’s a team Locksley was a part of as a running backs coach.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa was glad to get some time off last weekend after its home loss to Purdue on Oct. 16. The defeat knocked the Hawkeyes out of the top 10 in the AP Top 25 for one week. The Hawkeyes are back in at No. 9 this week. They’re preparing for the final five weeks of the regular season still in control of their own fate in the Big Ten West. Iowa and Minnesota lead the division. Wisconsin and Purdue are tied for third at 2-2 and Illinois is fifth at 2-3. If the Hawkeyes win out, they win the West.
UNDATED (AP) — The Associated Press preseason women’s All-America team is out and Paige Bueckers of UConn is a unanimous choice. She was joined by fellow sophomore Caitlin Clark of Iowa; junior Aliyah Boston of South Carolina; and two seniors, NaLyssa Smith of Baylor and Rhyne Howard of Kentucky. Boston and Howard were on the preseason team last year. Bueckers was the first freshman to win the AP’s Player of the Year award as she helped UConn reach the Final Four last spring.
UNDATED (AP) — New Texas coach Chris Beard has assembled a virtual all-star team of transfers from across the country. The fifth-ranked Longhorns’ list of transfers includes Timmy Allen, Dylan Disu, Christian Bishop, Tre Mitchell, Devin Askew, Marcus Carr, Tristen Licon and Avery Benson. Allen, Carr and Mitchell each earned first-team all-conference honors for their former schools last season. Disu was the Southeastern Conference’s leading rebounder last year while playing for Vanderbilt. Transfers are a way of life now in college basketball, though the Longhorns stand out. The season begins Nov. 9.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Illinois quarterback Artur Sitkowski will miss the rest of the season after breaking his left arm against Penn State. Brandon Peters will start the Illini’s home game against Rutgers on Saturday. Coach Bret Bielema announced Sitkowski would have surgery on his arm Wednesday and have another operation in two to four weeks to correct a chronic problem in his right shoulder. He is expected to miss spring practice and should be full strength next fall. Sitkowski’s arm was broken when he was hit as he threw a pass in the fourth overtime of Illinois’ nine-overtime win at Penn State.
