Sep 14, 20233 min read

B1G Dawg/Pussycat of the week

Updated: Sep 14, 2023

Each week I will bring you the Dawg/Pussycat of the week from the Big 10. This could be a player,

coach, or school who had an outstanding performance, a great recruiting week, or just an amazing week in general. Opposite of that will be the pussycat of the week. This will be the player, coach, or school who failed to get the job done from the prior week. The only rule is it must be an event that has happened inside the B1G (including the teams joining in 2024) from the previous week.

Home of the Michigan State University Spartans, East Lansing, Michigan — Spartan Stadium Credit Ken Lund via Flickr

Awards for the week of September 4th to the 10th, 2023:

The B1g Dawg of the week is Michigan State Quarterback, Noah Kim for his 3-touchdown day.

Noah Kim has MSU fans asking Payton Thorne who? When Thorne transferred after spring practice, no one knew who was going to be the starting quarterback for the Spartans to start the year. Noah Kim was able to beat out Katin House in camp and take the starting job. After a slow start in the first half of the Central Michigan game, and with fans starting to ask for House, Noah Kim was able to pick up his play in the second half and never look back.

Kim showed off his talent in week two, helping Michigan State to beat the Richmond Spiders 45 to 14. Kim looked impressive in the game putting up 292 yards and 3 touchdowns on an 18-for-22 day. Kim had such a good game he took home the honor of offensive player of the week for the conference. Kim is the main reason this Michigan State team is off to a 2-0 start.

Moving forward with everything surrounding the MSU program, Kim is going to have to keep his play at a very high level if MSU wants to accomplish any of its goals this season.

The Pussycat of the week is Nebraska Quarterback, Jeff Sim for being a turnover machine.

Matt Rhule had his team ready to play on Saturday as they went up against one of the most hyped coaches and teams in college football, the Deion Sanders-led Colorado Buffaloes. Rhule Defense kept it scoreless early, giving Nebraska fans hope that they might be able to pull the upset. Even after Sims’ first fumble on the Buffaloes 31-yard line in the first half Nebraska “D” was able to keep putting together stops.

Then with under 6 minutes to go in the second quarter, Sims took over helping Colorado to take the lead, a lead that they would never relinquish. At 5:38 of the second quarter, Sims fumbled for the second time in the game this time on his own 28 that led to a Colorado field goal to go up 3-0. Nebraska fans got to watch their starting quarterback do everything he could to help the Buffaloes win the game. Sim's third turnover came at 2:44 in the second quarter, he threw an interception that would lead to a Colorado touchdown bringing the score to 10-0.

After a turnover-free third quarter, the Nebraska QB went back to his old way to start the fourth. The Cornhuskers were down 23-7 and Sims botched the snap and gave the ball back to the Buffaloes for the last time to complete his 4-turnover day.

The way Jeff Sims has been turning over the ball in the first two games for Nebraska is nothing new. At Georgia Tech turnovers were a problem, he had 23 interceptions while only throwing 30 touchdowns. Matt Rhule's decision to keep him in the game for as long as he did should be a concerning sign for fans that the Cornhuskers QB room may be lacking in talent.