Big 10 Dawg/Pussycat of the Week

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 from the previous week.

Awards for the week of August 28- September 3, 2023:

Husky Stadium — Photo Credit:Yair Shalev via Flickr

The Big 10 Dawg of the Week: Michael Penix Jr. for having a Video Game Type Day.

Michael Penix Jr. had one of his best days as a college quarterback for his Washington Huskies, leading the team to a 56-19 win over Boise State. The Washington QB went 29-40 for 450 yards and 5 touchdowns and spent most of the day showing off his arm talent. His performance in the first game of the season is making a case to be one of the top Heisman candidates.

After a slow start for the Huskie offense and being down 6-0 to Boise State, Penix and his Huskies turned it on in the 2nd quarter. Penix put up 4 touchdowns in this quarter seemingly putting the game away before the half. In his first TD pass of the day, Penix showed off his composure after he dropped the snap, then picked up the ball without any sense of urgency to find McMillan in the endzone.

With games coming up against Oregon, Utah, USC, and Oregon State, Michael Penix Jr., will have plenty of chances to show why he should be standing in New York at the Heisman ceremony. With the talent he has shown, there is no reason why he can’t lead his Huskies to the Pac-12 championship and a trip to the last 4 teams college football playoff.

The Pussycat of the Week is: Cornhusker football's New Head Coach, Same old ending

Cornhuskers fans were looking forward to new beginnings after having hired new head coach, Matt Rhule, to take over the program. For fans, it was time to put the tough losses from the past regimes behind them. With an experienced head coach like Matt Rhule leading the program their inability to close out games should be a thing of the past, or is it?

New head coach and a new season, but the same old Nebraska football with just another tough loss to Minnesota. Up 10-3 in the 4th quarter, Nebraska put the ball on the ground turning over the football again to the Golden Gophers. Minnesota was able to move the ball down the field, and then with 2:38 left, QB Athan Kaliakmanis found Daniel Jackson on the sideline in the endzone for a TD to tie the ball game at 10. As Jackson's one foot came down inbounds for the TD, Nebraska fans must have been thinking this can’t be happening again!

Then with 1:06 left in the game, Nebraska QB Jeff Sims throws his 3rd interception of the day and second to safety Tyler Nubin, giving the ball back to the Golden Gophers for a shot to win it. At that moment Nebraska fans must have turned their TV’s off already knowing how this game was going to play out. Then with a whole 0.06 seconds left, Minnesota brings out their kicker for a 47-yard field goal attempt, and Kesich drilled it right down the middle giving Minnesota the 13-10 win.