Congratulations to Northwestern and Rutgers, which proved last week that Big Ten teams can, in fact, at least score three touchdowns in a loss.
No losing team scored more than 14 points in a Big Ten game in Week 8 as Washington sat idle. Losing teams were a touch more potent last week, as the Wildcats managed 26 points in their eight-point loss to Oregon, and Rutgers scored 21 in a seven-point loss to Michigan.
Otherwise, it was more of the same, with six other losing teams scoring 18, 17, 17, 16, 10 and 0 — an average of 13 on the dot (and UCLA also pitched a shutout of Nevada in a nonconference game). The Huskies, meanwhile, claimed the honor of scoring the fewest points (17) among winning teams in Week 9.
Remember when it was a big deal that Washington went four consecutive seasons (2015-19) allowing fewer than 20 points per game? At present, nine Big Ten teams — half the league — are holding opponents below that threshold. That group includes three of the top five scoring defenses in FBS (No. 3 Indiana, No. 4 Iowa and No. 5 UCLA), and all nine of the aforementioned schools rank among the national top-25 in scoring defense (Washington, at 21.1 per game, ranks 42nd).