Big Ten names Players of the Week after Week 6

Oregon and Ohio State took care of business ahead of their top-three showdown. Washington upset then-No. 10 Michigan, and Minnesota took down then-No. 11 USC.

Meanwhile, Indiana remained unbeaten on the road at Northwestern. Then there’s Nebraska, which handed Rutgers its first loss of the season in gritty fashion.

A lot happened across the 18-team Big Ten. And the conference recognized its top performers from the weekend Monday.

The Big Ten handed out Offensive Player of the Week, Defensive Player of the Week, Special Teams Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week accolades. On3 is highlighting each of those honorees and their Week 5 outings.

Big Ten Co-Offensive Players of the Week: Indiana QB Kurtis Rourke & Ohio State WR Emeka Egbuka

Indiana is off to a blistering 6-0 start. Quarterback Kurtis Rourke is at the center of that inferno. The Ohio University graduate transfer quarterback has now earned his second Big Ten Offensive of the Week honor of the season. During a 41-24 win at Northwestern, Rourke completed 25-of-33 passes for 380 yards and three touchdowns. Rourke currently leads the Big Ten in touchdown passes (14), passing yards (1,752), yards per attempts (10.9) and passer rating (192.1).

He spent the first five years of his career in Athens, Ohio, about an hour and a half from Ohio Stadium, where the Big Ten’s other Week 6 Offensive Player of the Week starred. That’s senior wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, who caught nine passes for 71 yards and a career-high three touchdowns in a 35-7 win over Iowa. Egbuka leads the Buckeyes with 30 receptions this season, and he’s second on the team with 433 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns.

Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week: Oregon DE Jordan Burch

Oregon senior defensive end Jordan Burch has collected a bunch of honors for his standout performance last Friday in a 31-10 win over Michigan State. In addition to earning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week recognition, he also was named the Reese’s Senior Bowl Co-Defensive Player of the Week and the Shrine Bowl Breakout Defensive Player of the Week. Burch piled up a career-high 2.5 sacks and finished with four tackles as well as his first-ever fumble recovery. He has now logged a combined 3.5 sacks in his last two outings, tying him for the current Big Ten lead in sacks (5.0).

Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week: Nebraska P Brian Buschini

Nebraska punter Brian Buschini averaged 50.2 yards per punt in a 14-7 win over previously-undefeated Rutgers. He did that on five punts, including two that went 60-plus yards. Buschini clocked out with two punts inside the Scarlet Knights’ 20-yard line, one on a season-long 69-yard boot that pinned Rutgers at its own 11-yard line with 2:17 left in the game. Notably, Buschini pulled off a fake punt pass in the third quarter, recording a 30-yard completion to wide receiver Jaylen Lloyd.

Big Ten Freshman of the Week: Wisconsin WR Trech Kekahuna

Wisconsin bounced back from a second-half letdown against USC with a resounding win versus Purdue. Redshirt freshman wideout Trech Kekahuna was a big part of that 52-6 victory. He notched six receptions for 134 yards and two touchdowns. What’s interesting is that Kekahuna is the first Wisconsin wideout to earn Big Ten Freshman of the Week recognition since the award was introduced in 2010. Plus, his 134 receiving yards were the most tallied by a Badgers wide receiver in a Big Ten game since Chimere Dike registered 185 in a win over Northwestern during the 2022 season.