Week 8 Football Release

• Week 8 of the 2024 college football season features seven contests between Big Ten Conference opponents. Conference action kicks off on Friday when undefeated Oregon travels to Purdue. Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State and Washington will enjoy byes this week, with the complete schedule appearing to the right.
• Nine Big Ten teams appear in the AP Poll this week, including three of the top four. Oregon leads the conference at No. 2, followed by No. 3 Penn State, No. 4 Ohio State, No. 16 Indiana, No. 22 Illinois and No. 24 Michigan. Iowa, Nebraska and USC are all receiving votes.
• Three Big Ten teams remain undefeated through seven weeks of the 2024 season. Indiana, Oregon and Penn State rank among the 11 NCAA FBS teams sporting perfect records entering Week 8.
• On Monday, the Big Ten announced its Football Players of the Week, presented by IFS.ai. Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel and Penn State’s Tyler Warren shared Offensive Player of the Week honors. Gabriel led the Ducks to a historic win over No. 2 Ohio State, completing 23-of-34 passes for 341 yards and two touchdowns while adding 32 rushing yards and a touchdown, while Warren set a Penn State and Big Ten tight end record with 224 receiving yards on 17 catches in the Nittany Lions’ 33-30 overtime victory against USC. 
• Iowa’s Aaron Graves and Minnesota’s Koi Perich split Defensive Player of the Week accolades. Graves Had two sacks and forced two fumbles in Iowa’s 40-16 victory over Washington, giving head coach Kirk Ferentz his 200th career victory, finishing with five tackles (two solo, three assists) and a pass breakup in the win. Perich recorded a pair of tackles and his team-leading third and fourth interceptions of the season in Minnesota’s 21-17 win at UCLA. His four picks are the most ever by a Gopher freshman, topping the three by Kyle Theret in 2007 and by Crawford Jordan in 1994. 
• Special Teams Player of the Week honors went to Northwestern’s Luke Akers. The junior served as the placekicker, punter and kickoff specialist for the first time in his career in Northwestern’s 37-10 win at Maryland, going 3-for-3 on field goals and 4-for-4 on PATs, while also punting five times for an average of 49.2 yards per punt. 
• Nittany Lions’ Ryan Barker was named Freshman of the Week after drilling four field goals, including a game-winning 36-yard field goal in overtime, Penn State’s first overtime game-winning field goal since the Nittany Lions took down Wisconsin on a Sam Ficken walk-off in 2012. Barker became the first Penn State kicker to connect on four field goals in a game since Tyler Davis in 2016 and went 3-for 3 on extra-point attempts to improve to 8-of-8 on the season. 
• Iowa team defeated Washington, 40-16, on Oct. 12 at Kinnick Stadium. The victory marked head coach Kirk Ferentz’s 200th career win as a member of the Big Ten Conference, moving him past passing Amos Alonzo Stagg and into sole possession of second place in league history, trailing Ohio State’s Woody Hayes’ 205 wins.
• Indiana and Ohio State currently rank among the top 15 nationally in both scoring offense and scoring defense. The Buckeyes rank fifth in scoring defense (11.0 points per game), while ranking six in scoring offense (43.5 points per game). The Hoosiers rank second nationally in scoring offense (47.5 points per game), while ranking 11th in scoring defense (14.8 points per game).
• Five additional Big Ten teams rank in the top 25 in terms of scoring defense: Nebraska (7th, 11.3 points per game), Penn State (9th, 14.4 points per game), Minnesota (14th, 15.9 points per game), Washington (18th, 17.0 points per game) and Iowa (24th, 17.7 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.  

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