Week 7 Football Release

BIG TEN FOOTBALL RELEASE - WEEK 7 | STANDINGS | MEDIA GUIDE | SCHEDULE

Week 7 of the 2024 college football season features eight contests between Big Ten Conference opponents. Conference action kicks off on Friday when Maryland travels to Northwestern before No. 3 Oregon hosts No. 2 Ohio State on Saturday in a battle of conference unbeatens. Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State and Nebraska will enjoy byes this week, with the complete schedule appearing to the right.
Ten Big Ten teams appear in the AP Poll this week, including three of the top five. Ohio State leads the conference at No. 2, followed by No. 3 Oregon, No. 4 Penn State, No. 18 Indiana, No. 23 Illinois and No. 24 Michigan. Iowa, Nebraska, USC and Washington are all receiving votes.
Four Big Ten teams remain undefeated through five weeks of the 2024 season. Indiana, Ohio State, Oregon and Rutgers rank among the 12 NCAA FBS teams sporting perfect records entering Week 7.
On Monday, the Big Ten announced its Football Players of the Week, presented by IFS.ai. Indiana’s Kurtis Rourke and Ohio State’s Emeka Egbuka shared Offensive Player of the Week honors. Rourke Completed 25-of-33 passes for 380 yards and three touchdown passes to help Indiana become the first bowl eligible team in the nation. The Oakville, Ontario, native became the first Indiana quarterback with three or more touchdowns in three Big Ten games in a single season since 1967. Egbuka Caught a career-high tying nine passes for 71 yards and a career-high three touchdowns, leading Ohio State to a 35-7 victory over Iowa.
Oregon’ Jordan Burch earned Defensive Player of the Week accolades with a career-high 2.5 sacks, four tackles and a fumble recovery in the Ducks’ 31-10 win over Michigan State. Burch is the first Duck since 2007 to record at least 2.5 sacks in a game at Autzen Stadium.
Special Teams Player of the Week honors went to Nebraska’s Brian Buschini. The senior averaged 50.2 yards on five punts, including punts of 61 yards (into 25 mph wind) and 69 yards, to help the Huskers defeat Rutgers, 14-7. Buschini also chipped in with his arm, throwing a 30-yard completion on a fake punt in the third quarter to extend a Nebraska drive.
Wisconsin’s Trech Kekahuna was named Freshman of the Week after recording six catches for 134 yards and a pair of touchdowns to help the Badgers defeat Purdue, 52-6. The newcomer hauled in his first-career touchdown on a 69-yard catch and run to open the second-half scoring versus the Boilermakers.
Indiana and Ohio State currently rank among the top 15 nationally in both scoring offense and scoring defense. The Buckeyes lead the nation in scoring defense (6.8 points per game), while ranking fourth in scoring offense (46.0 points per game). The Hoosiers rank third nationally in scoring offense (47.5 points per game), while ranking 14th in scoring defense (14.8 points per game).
Eight additional Big Ten teams rank in the top 25 in terms of scoring defense: Nebraska (7th, 11.3 points per game), Penn State (8th, 11.4 points per game), Washington (10th, 13.2 points per game), Illinois (12th, 14.2 points per game), Minnesota (16th, 15.7 points per game), Rutgers (17th, 15.8 points per game), Oregon (21st, 17.0 points per game) and Iowa (25th, 18.0 points per game).
The top two teams in the regular season standings will meet in the 2024 Discover Big Ten Championship Game on Saturday, Dec. 7 at Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis, Ind. The game, which will be broadcast on CBS for the first time ever, will be the first in conference history to match the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the overall conference standings.