B1G Time: Indiana adds new layer to its culture shift, Iowa vs. USC headlines Week 12 schedule

Most will see Indiana's narrow escape at Penn State as a sign of weakness for the Hoosiers. Indiana was a 14.5-point favorite on the road against a Penn State team that had fired its coach and lost its starting quarterback for the season. It's a team that was looked at as an easy win, especially coming off a 24-point road loss to Ohio State the week before.

I get it ... but I don't agree with it. 

I found myself more encouraged about Indiana following the close call than I was before the game, and I was already high on Indiana to begin with. What I saw was a team put into a very difficult situation that overcame it. If Indiana wants to win the Big Ten and then go and try to win a national title, it's going to find itself in similar positions at some point, and now it's proven it can wriggle its way out of trouble.

We saw something similar with the Hoosiers in their 20-15 win over Iowa earlier this season, but while the Hoosiers trailed that game in the fourth quarter, it was early in the fourth, and they tied the game with 10 minutes remaining. Saturday at Penn State felt like a different situation entirely.

Penn State stormed back from a 10-point deficit to take the lead with just over 6 minutes to play. All the momentum of the game had shifted, and 100,000 Penn State fans who haven't had much to be happy about lately were fully frothing at the mouth. They were staring at a chance to wash away some of the disappointment by doing the thing that had essentially cost James Franklin his job in the first place: beating a top-five team.

Then, without their top receiver (Elijah Sarratt, who left the game with injury), Fernando Mendoza and the Hoosiers offense marched 80 yards in 75 seconds to deliver the dagger to over 100,000 hearts.

This isn't something we saw from the Hoosiers last season. Last year, they were either blowing teams out or getting beaten. They took a 7-0 lead at Ohio State but didn't score again until there were less than 2 minutes to play to cut Ohio State's lead to 31-15. Ohio State responded by scoring again, just to make a point.

In the playoff game against Notre Dame, the Hoosiers trailed 27-3 before scoring two touchdowns in the final 90 seconds to make that game look far closer than it ever was. The only adversity that the team faced was nearly blowing a 17-3 lead to Michigan before winning 20-15.

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The word culture gets thrown around by coaches and fans, often with very little explanation for what it means. Certainly, beating the hell out of teams can be a program's culture, and it's a great one to have. But Indiana's win against Penn State was a culture win, too. That's a team that knows it's good enough to get out of a bad spot and still come out on top.

Saturday, they proved it to themselves, and everyone else, too.

AP Top 25 poll lunacy

It wasn't pretty, but Oregon beat Iowa 18-16 in the cold and rain. The Ducks did so despite being down their two leading receivers -- Dakorien Moore and Kenyon Sadiq -- to start the game, and then losing Gary Bryant Jr. during the game. They were also without starting right tackle Alex Harkey.

And they did it by beating Iowa at its own game. They made one critical mistake -- a Dante Moore interception in the red zone -- but punished Iowa for the mistakes it made. They also ran the ball very well against Iowa before finishing things with a game-winning drive late.

Dan Lanning talked about winning "a Big Ten football game" the same way Lincoln Riley mentioned it following USC's win over Michigan earlier this season. Personally, I never doubted Oregon's ability to win "a Big Ten football game" the way I did USC's, but that's neither here nor there.

I'm far more interested in the reaction to it. Like Indiana, Oregon needed a late drive to win on the road. Unlike Indiana, the Ducks were doing it against a team ranked in the top 20 by the College Football Playoff. Also, unlike Indiana, the Ducks were punished for it by AP Top 25 voters.

Oregon fell from No. 6 to No. 7 in the AP poll while Ole Miss climbed up to No. 6. Yes, that's right, the AP voters decided Ole Miss's 48-0 win over The Citadel was more impressive than Oregon going on the road to beat a top 20 team.

There were 10 different voters who moved Ole Miss up on their ballots and Oregon down. Five of them moved Oregon down two spots! There were also two other voters who moved the Ducks down two spots but didn't move Ole Miss up.

Say what you want about the CFP Selection Committee and the process (I'm not a huge fan), but we should all be grateful the AP poll has no say in the postseason anymore if they're going to punish teams for top-20 wins on the road now.

The cash-colored elephant in the room

I don't know anything about the finances of college athletics. I cover this sport in the purest sense. I watch the games, then I share my thoughts on them, as well as my thoughts on what all of it could mean going forward. When it comes to everything else, I'm an idiot of the highest order.

But as an idiot, I have to say, I'm not exactly enthusiastic about the idea of the Big Ten accepting $2.4 billion from a California pension fund. Is it private equity, or something else? I don't know. Is there a difference?

I may be a moron, but I'm smart enough to know that if somebody gives me $2.4 billion, it isn't charity. They expect something in return, and if I don't give that to them, I'll likely end up paying far more than the amount they gave me for it.

Now, it hasn't gone through yet, as Yahoo's Ross Dellenger is reporting that Michigan and USC are not in support of the idea. The reason for this that I'm told from people who have to be smarter than I am -- because, again, moron -- is that it's due to those schools not needing the money because they have it.

Which means that it's the 16 other schools who don't. So, what I'm wondering is -- if there are 16 Big Ten schools who have been in a conference getting paid a ton of money every single year yet are still losing money, are we sure those are the people to whom we want to give $2.4 billion?

I remember when I was in college and got my first credit card. I quickly maxed it out, and since I am a complete and total dumbass, my solution was to get another credit card so I could use it to pay off the one I'd maxed out. That kind of feels like what the Big Ten is looking to do here! Doesn't seem like a great idea! Certainly wasn't for me. 

Though, I suppose if you don't plan to still be in your current role by the time this $2.4 billion bill comes due, maybe it doesn't look like a bad idea, either. That's tomorrow's problem!

Passing of the torch

Congratulations, Northwestern!

Going with my gut

Every week I pick the Big Ten games against the spread based on nothing but my gut reaction to the number. No digging into numbers -- just vibes, baby. I even track my record to embarrass myself publicly. Any game not included is due to there not being a posted line at time of publishing.

Iowa at USC: Oregon beat Iowa after playing Big Ten Football, and now USC has to play Big Ten Football to beat Iowa. Actually, wait, no it doesn't. USC can probably just play its normal style of football to win this game, because USC is a much better team at home, and it isn't likely to be cold and raining in Los Angeles for this one. I have to think it will be difficult for the Hawkeyes to follow up that Oregon game by flying across the country for USC. The Pick: USC -6.5

Minnesota at Oregon (Friday) -- Minnesota +24.5
Wisconsin at Indiana -- Indiana -30.5
Michigan at Northwestern -- Northwestern +11.5
Penn State at Michigan State -- Penn State -6.5
Maryland at Illinois -- Illinois -14.5
Purdue at Washington -- Washington -16.5
UCLA at Ohio State -- UCLA +31.5

Last Week: 3-4
Season: 49-40