Elsewhere in the B1G: Au Revoir, Gopher

Photo credit: Michael Hicks

No. 25 Minnesota 7, No. 19 Wisconsin 20

When James White reeled off a 49-yard run on Wisconsin's first play of the game, Gophers fans had to be thinking one thing: Here we go again.

The No. 25 Minnesota Gophers met its cross-divisional rival, No. 19 Wisconsin, looking to keep Paul Bunyan's Axe for the first time since 2003. A week after James White ran for a 93-yard score on Wisconsin's first play against Indiana, it seemed like the Badgers were poised to run all over yet another Big Ten foe.

The Gophers proved their mettle after that initial burst from White, however, holding the Badgers to a field goal and then forcing them to go punt on their next two drives. Meanwhile, the Minnesota offense struggled to get going; luckily for them, the defense provided the first touchdown score of the afternoon for either team.

Faced with a 3rd & 6 from UW's 36, QB Joel Stave tossed an interception to Aaron Hill, who took it to the house for six. For a heavy underdog, that play was exactly what the Gophers needed to make it to halftime with life.

With that said, the Gophers failed to stay on the positive side of the turnover ledger in the first half. The Gophers lost a fumble on the first play of the second quarter, then another on a promising drive into UW territory. Following the latter turnover, the Badgers drove down to the Minnesota 1-yard line, where White punched it in to regain the lead.

Nelson later committed an intentional ground penalty, ultimately leading to a Wisconsin drive starting at the Minnesota 49. Once again, the Minnesota defense flexed its muscles, holding the Badger offense to a field goal after it had gotten all the way down to the Gopher 2-yard line.

Heading into the half down 13-7, the Gophers had to be mostly pleased with the first 30 minutes of football in TCF Bank Stadium. Whether the Gophers could ride those good feelings to an upset victory depended on the offense's ability to grind out long drives, just like they've done throughout their 4-game winning streak.

Elsewhere in the B1G: Badgers steamroll Hoosiers in the rain 51-3, White runs to career day

File photo (obviously)

Recent history indicated that the Badgers would roll through the Hoosiers with ease today at Camp Randall Stadium: in their last three meetings, Wisconsin has defeated Indiana by a combined score of 204-41.

But, facing an Indiana offense that has scored points against everyone --including 28 against Michigan State-- this game, on paper, presented a tricky test for a Badgers squad coming off a tough victory against a good BYU team last week. With Ohio State unlikely to lose a game (let alone two), the Badgers likely weren't headed for the Big Ten title game for a third time in as many years.

However, a BCS at-large bid remained a possibility. One way for the Badgers to continue their rise up the BCS rankings was, quite simply, to score a lot of points. As dynamic as the Indiana offense is, the IU defense could be most generously described as "malleable."

The first minute proved to be an eventful one. Indiana received the ball to start the game and drove down to the Wisconsin 45, where Nate Sudfeld had a wildly inaccurate deep ball --its trajectory seemingly altered by the wind and rain-- picked by Sojourn Shelton. On Wisconsin's first play, James White romped up the middle of the field untouched for a 93-yard touchdown score (the 44th of his career).

On the next drive, Sudfeld and tailback Stephen Houston botched a handoff, which Wisconsin's Brendan Kelly recovered at the Indiana 14. A few plays later, Melvin Gordon waltzed into the end zone with ease to  put the Badgers up 14-0 three minutes into the game.

The rain kept falling on the Hoosiers, literally and figuratively.

On the next IU drive, Sudfeld mishandled a shotgun snap, which resulted in a 3rd & 23, effectively killing the drive then and there. It's understandable for an up-tempo team like Indiana to maybe have some issues playing in the rain; nonetheless, it seemed as if the Hoosiers had never played in inclement weather before today.

After starting from their own 43 yard line, the Badgers drove down to the IU 13, met with a 3rd & 2. Somewhat surprisingly, the Hoosiers stuffed the White run for no gain, leading to just a Jack Russell field goal for UW.

Despite that small victory, the Hoosiers were down 17-0 with 6:25 left in the first quarter while having shown little ability to hold onto the ball in the cold November rain.

Badgers stave off second quarter surge, roll to victory as Gordon crosses 1,000-yard mark

After watching the relatively low-scoring Minnesota-Northwestern game at noon and Michigan's high-scoring monstrosity after that, I was looking for something in between from Wisconsin-Illinois. Given the final score, I suppose it technically was that.

The Illini looked to recover from the drubbing they took in Lincoln two weeks ago. At 3-2, a bowl game was still very much on the Illini's radar, especially with several winnable games remaining.

The bad news for Illinois is that the Badgers absolutely pasted Northwestern last week, spending most of the game without the services of Jared Abbrederis. Illinois would have to play its best game if they were going to prevent Melvin Gordon and James White from carving them up like Ameer Abdullah did in Lincoln.

Tim Beckman's squad stalled on offense after taking a 15-yard penalty. The Badgers forced a punt, then went on to score on their first drive for the first time since the second game of the season against Tennessee Tech.

After James White punched it in from two yards out, Melvin Gordon dashed into the end zone on a score of his own of 26 yards. With an early 14-0 deficit nine minutes in and any pregame esprit de corps in the stadium having evaporated, the Illini had to find answers fast.

On the ensuing drive, Nathan Scheelhaase mishandled an end around pitch from one of his wide receivers. Wisconsin's Ethan Hemer recovered the fumble, giving Gary Andersen's offense a short field. On third & goal, Joel Stave went to play action, hitting tight end Brian Wozniak a yard into the end zone. Very quickly, this game took on the feel of a Bielema era blowout of Indiana.

Once again, Bill Cubit's offense fell behind, this time looking at another 3rd & 13, which Scheelhaase couldn't complete. Through four offensive possession, the Illini had -11 total yards.

The Illini got their first good news of the game, however, finally stopping Wisconsin on third down. On the ensuing Illinois drive, Aaron Bailey took a Wildcat carry for 12 yards, their best play of the game thus far. Scheelhaase picked up another first down with his legs. On the next play, Scheelhaase bought time, rolled to his left and hit a receiver for a 20-yard gain.

For the first time, the Illini were on the move and looking good. Nonetheless, the Badgers took a 21-0 lead into the second quarter.

The long Illini drive ended with just a field goal, but the Illini added to their total with a touchdown score on their next drive, mostly via a 51-yard strike to Steve Hull, who badly beat Wisconsin cornerback Darius Hillary. The Illini cut the lead to 21-10, and were finally finding success, not coincidentally after UW's Chris Borland left the game with a right leg injury.

Wisconsin went back to its bread and butter on the ground, marching 75 yards in 10 plays, capped by a Gordon one yard plunge.

Scheelhaase continued to show improvement, tossing a 39-yarder to Ryan Langford to bring the Illini to the UW 4. On 2nd & goal, Illinois once again brought in Wildcat QB Aaron Bailey. Bailey took a half step forward, stopped, and hit a wide open Matt LaCosse in the back of the end zone.

After digging itself a 21-0 hole, the Illini regrouped admirably. Heading into the half down 28-17, the Illini offense and defense had much more to be positive about in the second quarter. Whether or not the Badgers would continue to struggle on defense without Borland in the second half remained to be seen; however, the Illini were beating UW through the air deep, not exactly Borland's domain.

The Wisconsin secondary was a problem against Arizona State and Ohio State, and it didn't fare so well in the second quarter tonight either.

A Game of Thrones: No. 4 Ohio State 31, No. 23 Wisconsin 24

If you told me Joel Stave would pass for almost 300 yards and two touchdowns against the Ohio State secondary, I probably would’ve told you the Badgers’ shot at pulling off the upset were pretty high.

Unfortunately for Stave, his one interception of the day allowed the Buckeyes to extend the lead to 31-14 late in the third quarter. Even taking into account the wildly productive connection between Stave and Jared Abbrederis all game long, Wisconsin is not built to operate at such a deficit.

With vague questions lingering about Braxton Miller’s ability to jump back into the action and operate like the fully operational Death Star—and not the partially built one in Episode 6—the opening minutes would prove crucial. Miller quickly dispelled any notions of rust, zinging a laser of a touchdown pass on a skinny post to Evan Spencer, who zoomed by freshman corner Sojourn Shelton as if he wasn’t there.

Later in the quarter, Stave found Abbrederis as the pocket began to collapse around him (who finished with a whopping 207 yards on 10 receptions), resulting in a 36-yard score and Bradley Roby on the ground in the 6'2'' receiver's wake.

Wisconsin defensive coordinator Dave Aranda’s side of the ball had a rough go of it in terms of getting pressure on Miller. A few minutes after the Abbdrederis score, Miller rolled to his left and rocketed yet another laser, this time to Devin Smith in the corner of the end zone for six.

The Buckeyes added a field goal with 4:33 to go in the second, extending the lead to 17-7 and necessitating a response from the Badgers. Once again, Stave was up to the challenge, as he found Sam Arneson for an 11-yard touchdown pass with 1:30 to go in the first half. Entering the half down 17-14, on the road, with Miller looking like he was picking up exactly where he left off, would have been a perfect outcome for the underdogs.

Of course, the half did not end without more fireworks. Miller hit the speedy Philly Brown on a 40-yarder with one second left, sending the Badgers into the half down 10 and perhaps reminding UW fans of Miller's late game touchdown heave in the same stadium two years ago.

Other than Miller’s ability to exploit UW’s vulnerable secondary with ease, the biggest issue confronting the Badgers was the inability to do much on the ground, which is of course where they do their business. Melvin Gordon finished the day with 74 yards on 15 carries, making for a respectable mark of 4.9 yards per carry. However, his longest gain of the day was just 16; for a player who has made a living busting off long gains, the absence of such in this contest was one of several death knells for the Badgers in Columbus.

In even worse news for the Badgers, senior tailback James White managed just 31 yards of his own, albeit on only eight carries. White is no slouch when it comes to making big plays either, as his dynamic touchdown run against Purdue last week showed. Nonetheless, with Gordon unable to shake free, the Badgers needed more tough yardage from their senior back.

With that said, as Michigan fans know, getting production on the ground is contingent upon good blocking. For most of Saturday night, a Buckeye front seven that has been universally deemed talented but young and “raw” stuffed the UW ground game, forcing Stave to beat the Buckeyes through the air.

To Stave’s credit, he often did just that, albeit mostly to just one receiver. On that front, I have to say that although I haven’t seen nearly as much of Penn State’s Allen Robinson—who many deem the best receiver in the conference—it’s difficult for me to say that Abbrederis doesn’t deserve that distinction.

With the Badgers down 10 entering the second half, an early third quarter score would be a healing salve on a 10-point wound that threatened to become fatal.

The Badgers forced a Buckeye punt, but proceeded to go three-and-out after failing to convert on 3^rd & 6. Wisconsin's front seven showed its resolve on the ensuing Buckeye drive, giving up three yards on first, second and third down before stuffing Carlos Hyde on 4th & 1. 

Wisconsin thus started their next drive at their own 39, but that field position was immediately squandered. Ohio State linebacker Curtis Grant sacked Stave on first down for a loss of nine. Then, the dam took on its biggest fissure in the game to that point. 

Bradley Roby reeled in Stave's only interception of the game, returning it to the Wisconsin 32. The Buckeyes rushed just four on the play, but Ohio State DE Adolphus Washington badly beat left tackle Tyler Marz to the outside. Washington hit Stave right as he threw, leading to a wobbly duck of a pass to an area of the field with nary a Badger to be found. In truth, you can't even fault Stave for this one; Washington is a great player, but you simply can't get beat like that, especially with the Buckeyes only bringing four. Easier said than done, of course.

Nonetheless, with an opportunity to hold the Buckeyes to just a field goal try, Wisconsin gave up a first down on 3rd & 8 at their own 15. This might not have mattered in the end, but being down two scores instead of three would have been a small victory there heading into the final quarter.

The UW defense had yet another chance to hold the Buckeyes, on third & goal from the one-yard line. Miller pulled the ball from Hyde, and with what appears to be LB Joe Schobert in his face, surgically darted a perfect low ball between Dezmen Southward and Darius Hillary, right into the hands of Philly Brown. 

From there, the game of catch-up took an extra order of magnitude of desperation. 

I don't remember what OSU was doing defensively (and don't have the game in my DVR), but the Badgers finally found some success on the ground, with Gordon and White picking up gains of eight, four, 10 and five on UW's ensuing drive. Following a holding penalty on Bradley Roby, White popped off a 17-yard score to give the Badgers life with 13:47 to go. The 9-play, 75-yard touchdown drive was Wisconsin's best of the night. 

Miller started the next Buckeye drive with a 15-yard scamper, an "oh no" moment if there ever was one. The Buckeyes drove down to the Wisconsin 28, where they were met with a 3rd & 4. Backup nose tackle Warren Herring brought Miller down on the play, forcing a punt. As the announcer in Little Giants said: Mr. Momentum may be changing his address. 

The two squads then traded three-and-outs, leaving Gary Andersen's team just 4:38 to score 10 points. Stave completed a big 3rd & 9 pass to Abbrederis (who else) to keep the drive alive. Stave hit Abbrederis again for 23 and Alex Erickson for 11, but the drive fizzled out at the Buckeye 24. This time, placekicker Kyle French put a 42-yarder through the uprights to cut the lead to seven with 2:05 to go. 

Fortunately for Andersen, the Badgers had all three of their timeouts, and he used every single one of them. The Badgers forced a punt, and were left with 1:29 to go 90 yards. Given Abbrederis's big play ability, this wasn't an inconceivable outcome. However, the Buckeyes certainly knew this; as such, Stave would need to connect with his secondary targets if the Badgers were truly going to make the Ohio Stadium crowd sweat in the Columbus night.

After an incompletion on first down, a fumble on second, a completion for 13 yards on 3rd down, the Badgers were met with a 4th & 4 for the ballgame. Stave was not able to target Abbrederis on his first three attempts, and the fourth would be no different; OSU's Doran Grant broke up Stave's attempt to Jeff Duckworth, ending the comeback effort in four efficient downs. 

The Badgers fought hard, but the Buckeyes were simply too much at the skill positions for the leaky UW secondary to handle, and the Badgers ground game never really took off. For the first time all season, the UW offense was without a single 100+ yard rusher. 

If the Badgers are to have a shot at a fourth straight Big Ten title, they will need to win out and hope for two Buckeye conference losses. The way things are going, that seems unlikely; Saturday was likely the coronation of the Buckeyes upon the Leaders division throne. 

Miscellaneous Notes: 

• Like Michigan, the Badgers' pass rush has been less than fearsome to date. Although Miller was able to avoid trouble a majority of the time, backup NT Warren Herring picked up two sacks on the day. 

• Chris Borland, the James Laurinaitis of Badger linebackerdom, picked up a whopping 16 tackles in this one (10 solo), including half of a TFL. 

• The Badgers have to be kicking themselves about OSU touchdown at the end of the first half. Keep them off the board there and perhaps the second half plays out another way. 

• Kyle French's missed field goal from 32 yards out did nothing to assuage Badgers fans concerns about the placekicking. The miss seemed like a minor footnote of an event at the time, but given that the drive started with a 64-yard reception by Abbrederis (about 47 yards coming via YAC), French's miscue was an ominous moment for a Badger team that was simply looking to hang on as long as possible. 

• I have to say it again: Jared Abbrederis is as impressive a receiver as any I've seen this season. 

• From the Buckeye perspective: Miller's ability to move around and maintain velocity on his downfield throws is positively Vick-esque. Anyone who was calling for Kenny Guiton to get the start (I didn't pay enough attention to know if they exist, but, they probably did) feels pretty foolish right now. 

• Miller's Badger counterpart squashed much of the doubters' sentiments after his performance Saturday night. The lone interception proved costly, but when you figure in the road environment and the absence of the usually robust running game, it's a wonder he only erred once. 

• At 3-2 (1-1), the Badgers have a much needed bye week coming up before getting Pat Fitzgerald's Wildcats at Camp Randall on Oct. 12. As important as Saturday night was for the Badgers, the next one will go a long way toward determining the tenor of the rest of the season for UW. I wouldn't have said this at the start of the season, but the upcoming three-game stretch against Northwestern, at Iowa and at Illinois will prove to be a legitimate challenge. I'm sitting here trying to think what would be an acceptable record there for the Badgers, but I'm not really sure anymore. Is Illinois really as good as they've looked against Cincinnati and Miami (OH)? I don't know, but the Illini's trip to Lincoln this week will do a little bit to answer that question. Many, many points will be scored, that much is certain. 

• On the other hand, the Buckeyes travel to Evanston this coming Saturday, where College Gameday will be setting up shop. The Wildcats did not exactly impress in their last two victories against Western Michigan and Maine, but Fitzgerald's squad is likely OSU's biggest test until their trip to Ann Arbor, depending on how bullish you feel about Iowa, Illinois (where the Buckeyes play on the road this season) and Penn State, and how down you are vis-a-vis Michigan's recent struggles. Either way, this should be another good one and a major test for a surging Northwestern football program. 

A Trip To Camp Randall, or "What A Ground Game Looks Like"

Fouad Egbaria

Before Saturday night's game, I had the chance to head to Camp Randall in Madison for the Wisconsin-Purdue game, which kicked off at 2:30. It was my first trip to that stadium, and I have to say, if you ever have the opportunity to go: do it. On a general note, after a few visits this year, Madison is easily my favorite college town not named Ann Arbor.

In Big Ten country, I've now been to Penn State, Ohio State, Purdue, Northwestern, Indiana and Wisconsin. For the purposes of comparison, however, I should note that the trips to Beaver Stadium and the Horseshoe came in 2008, so the environment for those games against a horrendous Michigan team might not have been representative of a typical big game setting.

Saturday's game was Wisconsin's Big Ten opener against the Boilermakers, a 41-10 rout. Purdue's Rob Henry-led offense was so painfully inept that it reminded me of Michigan in 2008. Even the simplest of throws seemed to be a difficult task for Henry, who finished 18-for-36 for 135 yards, good for just 3.8 yards per attempt.

Gary Andersen's squad got off to a bit of a slow start, allowing the Boilers to pick up a pair of first downs on their first drive and then going three-and-out when Wisconsin got the ball. Despite many Badger fans clamoring for sophomore Melvin Gordon to take over the starting role at tailback, James White got the start.

However, on the next drive, it was the Gordon/Jared Abbrederis show. The Badgers went 95 yards in eight plays, powered by Gordon and Abbrederis, finishing with a Gordon five yard run to give UW an early 7-0 lead. Following a Purdue three-and-out, James White took one to the house on 3rd & 1, a 70-yard scamper to put the Badgers up 14-0 late in the first quarter. White put on a pair of slick juke moves a the line of scrimmage and then five yards downfield before turning on the afterburners en route to the end zone (check the replay at 0:34 of the video below).

Purdue showed signs of life to start the second, with a nine play, 55-yard drive capped by a 22-yard touchdown run by Purdue QB Rob Henry. On Wisconsin's next drive, Joel Stave tossed an interception that was returned to the Badgers' 10 yard line. However, after a Pat Muldoon sack on second down, the Boilers managed just a field goal. Unfortuunately for Darell Hazell's squad, that was as close as the game got, as the Boilers failed to score during the final 40 minutes or so of the game.

From a football perspective, the Boilermakers aren't exactly a tough opponent but watching the Badgers run block and then watching Michigan attempt to do the same against UConn was like night and day. UW didn't have much success running between the tackles against Arizona State, but it didn't really matter as Gordon was able to carve up the Sun Devils on the perimeter.

In this one, the Badgers' ground game was firing on all cylinders, to the tune of 388 yards on 48 carries (393 on 47 if you remove a Stave sack). Freshman tailback Corey Clement was 17 yards away from giving the Badgers their third game with a trio of 100+ yard backs in the young season.

It was 24-10 at the half, and Clement made it 41-10 on the first play of the fourth quarter. No matter who you root for, watching Wisconsin run the ball with that trio of running backs is pretty darn cool. Quite honestly, it is a shame how things went down in Tempe last week, because I think the Badgers are very close to being a top 10 team. Even though Michigan and Northwestern are both undefeated, it seems to me that the Badgers have a stronger football team than either of them. The Wisconsin-Ohio State game this Saturday in Columbus will be possibly the biggest game of the conference season.

It won't be easy for the Badgers to steal a win at the Horseshoe. But, quite honestly, UW has just as good of a shot to do it on the road as either Michigan or Northwestern (who get the Buckeyes at home).

Some miscellaneous notes from my trip to Madison:

• From an aesthetic point of view, it's crazy how much easier it is to get a crowd to all wear red than it is for Michigan and its maize/neon yellow/whatever you want to call it. 

• Wisconsin's first down chant, "First and 10 Wisconsin" is going to be stuck in my head for many days to come. The Badgers had 22 first downs on Saturday. 

• Ann Arbor is obviously much smaller than Madison, but it was nice to be able to walk around town before the game without constantly being surrounded by large crowds (that is, until you get close to the stadium itself, obviously). Sidewalk space on gameday is a neat thing. 

• Joel Stave hasn't struggled like Devin Gardner has in the turnover department, but consistency has been a point of concern for him thus far this season. Stave was 12-for-19 on the day, good for 158 yards and a 0:1 TD to INT ratio. Like Gardner, however, you can sort of tell that Stave's confidence might not be where it needs to be, especially after some incompletions. Upon seemingly every big missed connection, Stave did a little wind-up motion with his right arm; it's completely plausible that that arm can get cold given how much Wisconsin runs the ball. For instance, late in the third quarter on the first play of a drive, Stave missed a wide open Abbrederis downfield for what would have been a touchdown had he not left it way short. Stave also peppered several other overthrows throughout the game. He has a decent enough arm and is fairly accurate in the short game, but at times his mechanics leads to inaccuracy when he looks downfield. The Badgers can't afford to have Stave misfire on those sorts of potential big plays when they visit Ohio State on Saturday. Jim Polzin of the Wisconsin State Journal had a nice piece summarizing Stave's day against Purdue. 

• Even though the game was never truly in question (even when Purdue cut it to 14-10), the crowd got pretty loud when it needed to be. It's always difficult to gauge relative crowd noise, especially since I was sitting in the last row underneath an overhang, but I was impressed by the crowd's ability to turn it up a notch when necessary. The Kohl Center crowd for Michigan's Feb. 9 game against the Badgers was more consistently impressive, in my opinion, but that was obviously a much bigger game that was also close throughout. 

• As far as finding a ticket goes, it didn't seem too difficult. The game was sold out, but tickets were going for as low as $45 or so on StubHub a few hours before kickoff, and they weren't too hard to come by around the stadium. Then again, it was only Purdue. Unfortunately for Badger fans, the remaining home slate isn't incredibly attractive. Northwestern comes to Camp Randall on Oct. 12, and Penn State will visit to close the season on Nov. 30; other than that, UW also gets BYU and Indiana at home. 

• The wave--the same sequence that you'll see in the Big House--was started...in the second quarter. That's a definite wave etiquette violation, but hey, when you can run the ball like Wisconsin can, I guess things like debilitating ennui and paralyzing cynicism don't have the brain-soil in which to thrive like they do among Michigan fans these days. 

• "Jump Around" is every bit as cool as it seems (although it's hard to really tell based on this iPhone video):  

• For what it's worth, this is what the student section looked like just after kickoff (for the people who complain about Michigan's student section). With that said, it filled up eventually: 

• Food...there is a lot of it, and it is all good. I would highly recommend just walking down State Street, as you're bound to find something good from a wide variety of cultures. 

• As a general aside, there seems to be quite a bit more in terms of live music around Madison than there is in Ann Arbor. 

• Additionally, the Memorial Union Terrace is a must visit if you're in town. You wouldn't ever think about hanging out at the Union in Ann Arbor on a Friday night or a sunny summer afternoon, but that is not the case here. 

• Speaking of the terrace, I still can't get over how cool it is that the town is situated between two lakes (Mendota and Monona). 

• Wisconsin's band put on a nice James Bond-themed halftime show; like pretty much every other band, Wisconsin's band was also sadly much louder than Michigan's. That's not to say that loud=good, but not being able to hear the MMB is still incredibly bothersome. 

• As far as piped in music goes, off the top of my head I remember at least one Seven Nation Army, Build Me Up Buttercup, Twist and Shout and it seemed like Avicii's "Wake Me Up" was played before nearly every kickoff. Overall, unlike Penn State, for example (based on my lone visit there in '08), Wisconsin seemed to have a nice balance between piped in music and the band going. 

• It's funny how the UW student section's, uh, more profane chants don't seem so cool when you're a couple of years out of undergrad. In that vein, I hope Michigan can come up with something better than the Temptation "You Suck" thing, which is pretty stupid and not clever whatsoever. 

• The Capitol building at night is something to see:

• There's a lot more to say, but if you live anywhere near Madison, I'd suggest making a visit, even if it's not on a Wisconsin gameday. The town has an Ann Arbor-esque feel to it, and yet without a doubt has its own distinct charm. It's truly a shame that the Wolverines won't head to Camp Randall again until 2017. Thanks, Maryland and Rutgers.