CBS, FOX and NBC all banked on Massive Ten soccer driving sufficient viewership to warrant a mixed $7 billion in broadcasting rights. The networks’ ROI should still be decided, however Week 7 underscored that for sheer leisure worth, the Massive Ten is surpassing expectations.
Underdog tales, thrillers and feel-good buddy adventures make up only a portion of the must-see B1G lineup on a given Saturday. Right here’s what aired in Week 7 on the coast-to-coast convention.
“Sad Halley”
School soccer has no cleaning soap opera extra full of jaw-dropping twists than the drama at Penn State. The Nittany Lions are at a crossroads after Week 7 with an injured quarterback and more and more embattled head coach.
For each marquee recreation Penn State misplaced underneath James Franklin, there was an assurance that got here from this system’s consistency. A loss to a prime 10-ranked opponent like Oregon, which the Nittany Lions endured on Sept. 27 in extra time, could also be predictable however no much less of a heartbreaker.
Two weeks later, it appears to be like extra like a backbreaker.
An completely confounding loss on Oct. 4 at beforehand winless UCLA may realistically have been deemed the nadir of the Franklin period, however lasted just one week. In dropping a 3rd straight, and to struggling Northwestern, the season’s change into an unmitigated catastrophe made all the more serious with the lack of quarterback Drew Allar.
From preseason Massive Ten favourite and a preferred nationwide championship choose to staring down a possible dropping season, the longer term is unsure for Penn State and Franklin.
“Skipper and Jerry”
Michigan State’s Wayne Matthews III, proper, tackles UCLA’s Nico Iamaleava in the course of the second quarter on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. PHOTO USA TODAY SPORTS IMAGES A contemporary-day spin on the basic buddy-action automobile like Starsky & Hutch, UCLA interim head coach Tim Skipper and offensive coordinator Jerry Neuheisel burst onto the scene in Los Angeles with an understated flashiness.
Skipper left a delicate message for the Bruins after their 42-37 upset of Penn State, as shared by Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Occasions. They answered emphatically no in a 38-13 rout of Michigan State.
With Skipper on the helm and the younger, fresh-faced Neuheisel calling an offense that went from moribund to prolific nearly in a single day, UCLA is enjoying its most impressed soccer in its two seasons of Massive Ten membership.
“I do not like boring, so if I do not really feel the juice, then we will begin the day over,” Skipper stated following the Week 7 romp. “We’ve not had to do this or something, however vitality and keenness is the way you’re purported to play soccer. That is the best way we will follow, that is the best way we meet, that is the best way we play.”
Not solely is Skipper and Jerry essentially the most entertaining midseason substitute in school soccer, it’s additionally a feel-good comeback story. Co-star and quarterback Nico Iamaleava has flipped the script on his personal narrative with 5 landing passes and eight scores complete over the 2 wins.
“Making Lemonade with Lemon”
In case you miss a second of USC soccer, there’s a chance you’ll miss huge receiver Makai Lemon doing one thing unimaginable.
Lemon’s confirmed himself essentially the most thrilling pass-catcher within the recreation this season, including extra to his sizzle reel within the Trojans’ 31-13 win over No. 15 Michigan.
First, he walked the tight rope to usher in a key reception as USC was driving late within the second quarter in a 7-7 tie. Then, quarterback Jayden Maiava completed the drive with simply 18 seconds earlier than intermission discovering Lemon once more.
With three white and blue-and-maize-trimmed jerseys close by, Maiava fired a move into a good window. Lemon laid out for the seize, hauling in a pivotal landing that ignited a 17-0 run. The win was an enormous bounce-back for USC after its final-second loss two weeks prior at Illinois — a recreation wherein Lemon caught two fourth-quarter touchdowns — and likewise essentially the most vital Trojans victory of their temporary time within the Massive Ten.
“Hoosier Champion?”
Nov 9, 2024; Bloomington, Indiana, USA; Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti reacts within the recreation in opposition to the Michigan Wolverines at Memorial Stadium. Obligatory Credit score: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Photos Irrespective of how a lot school soccer adjustments on the impetus of the TV community, followers maintain coming again with the promise of seeing one thing they’d by no means witnessed earlier than.
And fairly actually nobody had ever seen an Indiana crew beat a prime five-ranked opponent on the street earlier than Saturday’s 30-20 defeat of Oregon. Simply if you assume soccer can’t presumably do one thing new…
The Hoosiers reached final season’s School Soccer Playoff with out successful any regular-season video games of a lot consequence. That can not be stated of the 2025 squad, which has now completely blasted a then-top 10-ranked opponent in Illinois and got here by means of within the clutch at some of the hostile environments within the sport, Autzen Stadium.
Fernando Mendoza getting back from a game-tying pick-six to steer the Indiana offense on a pair of essential, late-game scores is the type of subplot that simply didn’t occur for Hoosiers of the previous.
Then once more, there’s by no means been a personality fairly like Curt Cignetti on the helm.
Cignetti could possibly be described as school soccer’s Rodney Dangerfield, and never only for the one-liners which have change into his trademark in TV interviews. At 64 years outdated and after a training journey by means of Div. II Indiana (Pa.), FCS program Elon and main James Madison in its transition to FBS, Cignetti’s reaching his profession peak late within the recreation like Dangerfield.
And, like Dangerfield as soon as famously quipped, Indiana received no respect. That’s the case not after Week 7.