NCAA Football FanHouse

Pickin' on the Big Ten: Coping With Buckeye Fatigue Syndrome

Mark Hasty — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:30:00 EST

Filed under: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin

Every Thursday, Pickin' on the Big Ten previews the upcoming weekend's games and issues random taunts to overconfident fan bases.

Be careful what you ask for, college football fan. The very same Iowa team that so many of you desperately wanted to see lose lest the Big Ten get another team into the title game is now the only thing standing between Ohio State and the BCS. If the Hawkeyes can't pull off a ginormous upset in Columbus behind a quarterback making his first college start, you're going to get the Scarlet and Grey facing some honked-off Pac 10 team.

You might be new to that dreadful condition known as Buckeye Fatigue Syndrome, but I've been observing it for years. It's a chronic condition caused by a malfunction of Ohio State football. Symptoms of BFS include the belief that a team which spends almost all of its time in the top 10 is underrated, an inability to let even the slightest perceived sleight go unanswered with a pile of history and statistics, and the uncontrollable urge to sit on a seven-point lead with eight minutes left in the second quarter.

There is no known cure. There's an experimental treatment which involves a team from a state whose entire population is only slightly greater than that of metropolitan Cleveland, but it is unproven and many experts doubt its efficacy. Some of the symptoms can be managed through simple procedures such as diet, exercise, turning the channel, taking up oil painting, and writing the phrase "Ohio State: the Atlanta Braves of college football" repeatedly on a piece of notebook paper.

(Note to Buckeye fans: This is just a hint of what awaits you if you go to the Rose Bowl and once again stink it up. Your team and its complete inability to win a big game outside the conference has made success in the Big Ten a meaningless accomplishment. The whole conference has suffered as a result. If you make it to the BCS and lay an egg, I promise you every edition of Pickin' on the Big Ten next season will include a recap of one of John Cooper's losses to Michigan. When I run out of them, which won't be until very late in the season, I'll start in on the bowl games. I will also run a picture of Coop next to every Ohio State game prediction. I hate doing this, because I actually like John Cooper. But it's for your own good. Win, or next season will be a reminder of how fragile your "elite" status actually is.)

Right. The games.

NORTHWESTERN @ ILLINOIS

You won't find two hotter teams in the conference than these two right now. Sure, O*** S**** (please don't make me type their name any more than I have to) is playing very well right now, but Northwestern just did what no one else has been able to (bump off Iowa) while Illinois is just on fire.

Wow, how low had Illinois sunk if I can call a two-game winning streak "on fire?" But I digress. Juice Williams is questionable for the Illini, but the offense played pretty well without him last week. NU will probably start Dan Persa at quarterback. The real question in this game, however, will be defense. The Ilini have struggled in that phase of the game all season and weren't exactly brilliant last week, while Northwestern did quite well. It must be noted, however, that NU's success came against an Iowa offense so depleted by injuries they were forced to use a backfield made up of nothing but Iowans.

Illinois will score a lot of points in this game. That's just what they do, at least now that it's November. The question will be whether Northwestern can answer. I think they'll fall just short. They can't get in the Illini's heads like they got in Iowa's. Illinois has already lost its quarterback. Illinois 35, Northwestern 28.

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE @ MINNESOTA

Before you write this off as just another FCS money game, you should be aware of two things. First, South Dakota State is actually pretty good, especially when you consider they've only been a Division I school for five years. The Jackrabbits opened their season on the road with a beatdown of perennial FCS power Georgia Southern, for instance.

Second, this is Minnesota we're talking about. They have a history of losing these kinds of games, don't you know?

Adam Weber has been playing like a new quarterback now that Eric Decker is out for the season. It's almost like he has to read progressions now or something. That could be a problem, though, because SDSU plays some pretty ferocious defense. They won't quite have enough grunt to pull off the upset, but at least through halftime this game will be too close for comfort for the Gopher faithful. Minnesota 27, SDSU 13.

Know Your Nonconference Tomato Can: South Dakota State University

Agriculture is and always will be a big deal in South Dakota, so it's no surprise that the state's agricultural school happens to be the biggest university in the state. Located five hours west of Minneapolis in the city of Brookings, SDSU now enrolls almost 13,000 students and boasts one of the biggest homecoming celebrations on any college campus anywhere.

You might think SDSU is all play and no work. Think again. SDSU's students and faculty are responsible for a great many innovations. The Briggs & Stratton engine was invented by an SDSU alumnus. The university claims to be the birthplace of cookies and cream ice cream. Virtually every major stadium in this country has a Daktronics scoreboard. That company was started by two SDSU professors.

SDSU has a strong history in football as well. Indianapolis Colts placekicker Adam Vinatieri is a former Jackrabbit football player, as are journeyman NFL offensive lineman Adam Timmerman and Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Langer. Go ahead, call SDSU "the middle of nowhere." They can prove you wrong.

IOWA @ OHIO STATE

Ohio State's going to win this game 66-0. A Buckeye fan told me so. So, there you go. Ohio State 66, Iowa 0.

INDIANA @ PENN STATE

The Hoosiers have never beaten Penn State. This is probably not the week they'll change that. Since Indiana isn't Ohio State or Iowa, Penn State will use all of its offensive playbook instead of just the first three pages. That should make a long afternoon for IU.

Then again, PSU's two losses have shown that their offensive line is not up to their usual standards and can be pushed around quite a bit. Indiana has the best pass rush in the Big Ten right now. The Hoosiers never seem to give up either. Put this game in with the Minnesota game under the category of "closer than the home team thought it was going to be." Expect a very similar result, however. Penn State 31, Indiana 27.

MICHIGAN STATE @ PURDUE

Both these teams play with intensity, and there's a lot riding on this game. If Purdue loses they're out of the bowl hunt. If MSU loses they'll have to beat Penn State just to have a shot at a bowl game. You can reasonably expect both these teams to give it everything they've got. This should be the most entertaining Big Ten game this weekend.

The question right now is who has more in the tank. Purdue is on a hot streak, having won three of their last four games. MSU has struggled down the stretch but got a much-needed breather against Western Michigan last week. Matchups like these usually favor the better defense. MSU has playmakers in its secondary. Purdue can't win without throwing the ball well. Advantage: Sparty. Michigan State 34, Purdue 30.

MICHIGAN @ WISCONSIN

Two teams, two philosophies, two different directions. Michigan could not seem more out of sorts right now. Apart from punting, it's hard to think of one thing they're doing well. The Wolverines are still a threat to move the ball and score points, but there's a good reason you don't hear Tate Forcier's name as much as you did just a month ago.

Wisconsin, meanwhile, is riding its traditional strengths (defense and the running game) while adding the new wrinkle of vertical passing. The Badgers deserved to lose to Iowa but should have beaten Ohio State and they know it. Since that mid-October stumble Bret Bielema's team has reverted to form, running all over their opponents and putting up at least 30 points a game. There is no reason to think they won't do that to Michigan. Wisconsin 41, Michigan 21.

Next week's games:
Purdue @ Indiana: Will either team be playing for a bowl bid?
Minnesota @ Iowa: More at stake here than a bronze pig
Ohio State @ Michigan: "Help us, Obi-Rod. You're our last hope."
Penn State @ Michigan State: MSU win here messes everything up
Wisconsin @ Northwestern: No trophy on the line here

Pickin' on the Big Ten: Coping With Buckeye Fatigue Syndrome originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Big Ten Notebook: Buckeyes Back in Control in Title Race

Mark Hasty — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Big 10

One little loss to Northwestern can change everything. Iowa looked like the team to beat in the Big Ten title race, but now that it has fallen to the Wildcats and Ohio State has beaten Penn State, all the momentum has moved back to Columbus. Technically, both the Hawkeyes and Buckeyes control their own destiny. Whichever team wins Saturday's game is the presumptive conference champion.

Now go try to figure the odds that Iowa can win in the Horseshoe with a redshirt freshman quarterback making his first career start with no run support to speak of.

At any rate, it will be one of those teams that will go to Pasadena. Neither Penn State nor Wisconsin can do anything better than to tie with Ohio State or Iowa. The Nits and the Badgers lost to both those teams, so they'd lose the tiebreaker.

Here's a quick look at what else is going on around the conference.

Illinois has picked a strange time to peak, but then again, all the pressure is off the Illini. With back-to-back wins over Michigan and Minnesota the Illini's bowl hopes are still alive, but barely. They will have to win out to finish 6-6, and that will require beating Fresno State and Cincinnati. If Illinois should win out, then, you could argue that it would be the best 6-6 in the country and possible the best ever.

Indiana travels to Penn State this weekend right after the Nits laid an egg against Ohio State. Joe Paterno's teams usually bounce back hard after a big disappointment, but if IU loses there will be no bowl game for the Hoosiers. It's a shame. Indiana has never beaten Penn State.

Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi had surgery on his ankle this week and is out for the last two games of the regular season. He is expected to be available for Iowa's bowl game. James Vandenberg will start in his place. Vandenberg was Iowa's 3A football player of the year in 2007 and holds many of the state's all-division passing records. Vandenberg picked Iowa over Nebraska and Northern Illinois and has probably heard all your Dawson's Creek crackbacks before.

Michigan's retiring athletic director Bill Martin came under fire this week when reports surfaced that he had pushed one student and grabbed the jacket of another during football games at the Big House. Martin refused to show passes to enter VIP areas when the students requested them. This shows just how hard it is for Michigan to get flagged for pass interference at home. It also represents the most contact any Wolverine defender has managed since September.

Michigan State, with 53 underclassmen on the roster, needs the extra practice for a bowl game as much as it needs the bowl game itself. A win at Purdue this Saturday would likely secure at least a bid to the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl.

Ohio State, believe it or not, has not been to the Rose Bowl in more than a decade.

Wisconsin's former defensive lineman Erasmus James faces felony battery charges for a Nov. 5 incident at a Madison bar in which he punched one of his friends. James was suspended by the NFL in September for undisclosed reasons.

Big Ten Notebook: Buckeyes Back in Control in Title Race originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Michigan's Mark Ortmann Punches Illinois' Corey Liuget in the Groin

Michael David Smith — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:53:00 EST

Filed under: Illinois, Michigan

For the second time this season, a Michigan player has been caught on video (the clip has been pulled off of YouTube) throwing a punch after a play, leading to a likely suspension.

In Saturday's loss to Illinois, Michigan starting left tackle Mark Ortmann hit Illinois defensive tackle Corey Liuget in the groin after Liuget recovered a Michigan fumble. Ortmann was on the ground, and when Liuget stood over him celebrating, Ortmann threw a quick left uppercut into Liuget's groin.

It was the cheapest kind of cheap shot, and Liuget was clearly in pain afterward: Cameras caught him complaining to the referee and then hobbling off the field.

The incident is reminiscent of the punch Michigan linebacker Jonas Mouton threw at Notre Dame center Eric Olsen this season -- a punch that got Mouton suspended for a game by the Big Ten. In that case, Rodriguez claimed he didn't see any punch, but outcry from the fans and the media after the video of the punch went viral forced the Big Ten to act, and Mouton was suspended. Now Ortmann should be suspended for Saturday's game against Purdue.

One of the major stories of this college football season is the way conferences have been forced to act in response to videos uploaded on YouTube by fans. Whether it's the SEC suspending officials for bad calls or the Big Ten suspending players for cheap shots, fans have a powerful tool at their disposal, and increasing numbers of fans are using it.

More at The Wiz of Odds and AnnArbor.com.

Michigan's Mark Ortmann Punches Illinois' Corey Liuget in the Groin originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:53:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Pickin' on the Big Ten: Iowa Isn't Concerned About Your Scorn

Mark Hasty — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Big 10

Every Thursday, Pickin' on the Big Ten runs down the weekend's games from inside a chicken coop, at least as far as you know.

Cue the inevitable anti-Iowa backlash. A team that barely got by Arkansas State and Northern Iowa is somehow No. 1 in the nation according to the computer polls the BCS uses. Don't like it? Line forms to the left. Kirk Ferentz even agrees with you.

Shouldn't the computers' top ranked team have at least some sort of offense? Yes, of course. But whose fault is that No. 1 ranking?

Yours, you loudmouth.

You, the whiny fan ready to overreact to every perceived slight, are the reason margin of victory no longer counts in the BCS computer polls. But that's another rant for another day.

I get it, though. You're tired of the Big Ten and its maddening ability to sneak into national championship games. You're totally convinced that a one-loss Big 12 team is better than a one-loss Big Ten team. You're beyond convinced that a four-loss SEC team is better than any undefeated Big Ten team. I'm totally convinced that once you get past Florida and Alabama the SEC is the Big 12 North with a better TV contract, but I digress. You don't want Iowa, or any Big Ten champion, to get to the title game.

Have you noticed that the Hawkeyes don't seem to care? Kirk Ferentz isn't lobbying the poll voters like Bob Stoops and Urban Meyer have done in the past. For the most part the Iowa players aren't talking about being disrespected. They just want to take care of business, even if there's a good chance they'll get iced out of the championship if they go undefeated.

This may seem hard to understand to you. Rationality left college football years ago, after all. What you have to realize is that, even though a large portion of their roster comes from out of state, the Hawkeyes have the character of the state of Iowa.

When you're from Iowa, you learn early in life that your home state is going to get ripped on by everybody. You can expect to hear the same stale cracks about corn, pigs, flatness, and winter within about 15 seconds of meeting a new person who discovers you're from Iowa. Unless you're talking to one of those indier-than-thou types, of course; they'll just bring up Slipknot and crystal meth. Eventually you realize that people are actually amazed you're wearing shoes, you use words with two or three syllables, and you haven't urinated in the houseplants.

Not that they know of, anyway.

The message all these non-Iowans want to send is something like "You're from a place we feel inherently superior to; therefore, we must be better than you as well." The message you form in your head is more like "These people will never be impressed by anything I do, so why do I care what they think?" Sometimes this manifests itself in an "I'll hurt myself before you get a chance to" attitude. We in the upper Midwest have perfected self-effacing humor. More often it comes across as a decision to define yourself on your own terms.

That's what the Hawkeyes are doing. You don't have to tell them they have trouble on offense, any more than you have to tell a Midwesterner that our winters are cold. Really? Gosh, that must be why the tomato plants keep dying. I'm glad you told me because I was planning to serve BLTs for Christmas dinner!

Right. The games.

MICHIGAN @ ILLINOIS

I told you Ron Zook wasn't going to get whacked.

Now let's see if the "we have no other choice so here's a vote of confidence" he got this week is going to have any effect on the team. With a certain loss looming at Cincinnati Nov. 27, the Illini are not technically bowl-ineligible yet but might as well be. The only thing left for them to do is sack up now that there's essentially nothing to play for, hoping to make some other team as miserable as they are.

Unfortunately, this will not be the week for that. Illinois ranks 102nd nationally in total defense. Michigan just had to face the nation's best scoring defense (Penn State) last week. It's going to look like the Wolverines hit up up down down left right left right B A Start. Michigan 52, Illinois 13.

INDIANA @ IOWA

Trap game?

Maybe.

Even though I just spent six paragraphs explaining why Iowa doesn't care about style points and public opinion, the Hawks know that the rest of the world sees this as an opportunity for them to earn enough of the former to sway the latter. They probably also know that one more close game against a team perceived as bad will knock them down in the human polls. Way down.

Now factor in that Iowa's starting running back Adam Robinson, who was only starting because the preseason starter Jewel Hampton was lost for the season in August, is now lost for the season himself. Now Brandon Wegher, whose hometown of Dakota Dunes, S.D., appears to be endlessly fascinating to play-by-play announcers, gets to be The Guy. Wegher has cooled off from his impressive start to the season; let's see what he can do without another back competing for touches.

Then there's Indiana, a team perceived as bad. They're actually not that bad, but they haven't shaken their penchant for losing games in the most humiliating fashion possible. Sandwiched around a win over Illinois were a pantsing at Virginia three weeks ago and a thoroughly improbable loss to a very average Northwestern team last week. That sort of stuff gets into your head, and that's unfortunate. The Hoosiers have a solid pass rush, which you would think would be exactly what a team facing Iowa would want to have.

The problem is that "make Ricky Stanzi beat you" could prove to be even less successful for IU than it has for Iowa's last 12 opponents. Indiana gives up more passing yards than any other team in the conference and flat out stinks at preventing their opponents from getting first downs. They're scoring the same 23.6 points per game that Iowa is. They're just giving up 12 more points than the Hawks on average.

I still think Bill Lynch deserves better than this. Iowa 26, Indiana 10.

MICHIGAN STATE @ MINNESOTA

Speaking of catastrophic, soul-shattering, season-altering injuries, Minnesota has lost wide receiver Eric Decker for the season. Which means Minnesota has basically lost its offense for the season.

The real question in this game will be Michigan State's resiliency. They almost played well enough to beat a top 10 team last week. Almost. Now, can they pull it back together, realize there's still a lot to play for, and take it to their opponents from here on out?

You won't know after this week. Minnesota is starting to take on that abandoned-car look which they so often had under Glen Mason. Michigan State 30, Minnesota 7.

PENN STATE @ NORTHWESTERN

Through the first half of the season no Big Ten team seemed more disappointing than Northwestern. (I say that because I didn't expect Illinois to be any good this year.) I mean, they lost to Syracuse. You know who else has done that this year? Akron. Oh, and Maine.

I still don't think they're a great team, though the rally to beat Indiana last week was impressive. NU is tough, but the parts just don't all seem to be there.

You know who's not having a lot of problems? Penn State. Their closest game all season, except for the Iowa loss, was an 18-point victory over Illinois. The Nits have just been blowing people up. I think NU can play this one closer than anyone else has, but they just don't have enough defense to stop Penn State. PSU 31, Northwestern 20.

NEW MEXICO STATE @ OHIO STATE

Give this to the NMSU Aggies: they're one of the most consistent teams in the NCAA. When they win, they win by three points. When they lose, they lose by at least 15.

Three guesses as to what sort of outcome is more likely in this game. Ohio State 56, New Mexico State 0.

Know Your Nonconference Tomato Can: New Mexico State University

Located a mere half-hour north of El Paso, Texas in the rapidly growing city of Las Cruces, New Mexico State University actually predates New Mexico by almost a quarter century. The former New Mexico A&M was founded in 1888; New Mexico didn't become a state until 1912.

NMSU is probably the only university in America whose founding charter specifies that it was to be located by a drainage ditch, but from those humble origins the university has grown to a comprehensive university with around 17,000 students. Agriculture and engineering are still strongly emphasized, however, and NMSU is known for being in the forefront of chili pepper research. It is one of the few places in the world where the Naga Jolokia pepper is grown; said pepper is anywhere from three to ten times hotter than a habanero.

New Mexico State can also plausibly claim to be the birthplace of card counting. Former math professor Edward O. Thorp literally wrote the book on this blackjack strategy. Thorp's Beat the Dealer was published in 1962 while he was teaching at NMSU.

NMSU alumnus Charley Johnson was a journeyman NFL quarterback in the 1960s and early 1970s. While playing in St. Louis, Johnson decided to further his education and in doing so became one of the very few NFL players to earn a PhD. He earned his doctorate in chemical engineering from the prestigious Washington University in St. Louis. Did I mention he did this while he was still playing in the NFL?

Johnson returned to Las Cruces after retiring from football. He joined the engineering faculty at NMSU, and he's still there.

PURDUE @ WISCONSIN

Wisconsin has had a week off since losing back-to-back games to Ohio State and Iowa. Purdue, of course, beat Ohio State -- though whether that happened because Purdue can beat anybody on the right day or because Ohio State can lose to anybody on the right day remains to be seen.

These two teams appear headed in opposite directions, with the Boilermakers finding a way to stop losing and the Badgers wondering if last season is about to happen all over. Most of the matchups in this game favor Wisconsin, however. The Badgers are just more talented and haven't been burned as often as Purdue has.

Wisconsin's offense has cooled off since their fast start, though much of that can be attributed to playing Ohio State and Iowa. They are still a dangerous team that can strike through the air or on the ground. They'd prefer to strike on the ground, though, and that happens to be the best place to hit Purdue. I like the coaching job Danny Hope has done in preventing his team from collapsing after a horrible start. If the Boilermakers can beat Ohio State they can probably beat anybody in this conference, though the Badgers probably won't give Purdue as much help as Ohio State did. Wisconsin 28, Purdue 24.

Next week's games:

Wisconsin @ Indiana: I actually expect this to be a very good game
Northwestern @ Iowa: Fitz always gives Iowa fits
Purdue @ Michigan: Pack your dinner, neither team plays defense
Western Michigan @ Michigan State: Dangerous game for MSU
Illinois @ Minnesota: Whatever it is, take the under
Ohio State @ Penn State: Possibly the best Big Ten game this season

Pickin' on the Big Ten: Iowa Isn't Concerned About Your Scorn originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Pickin' on the Big Ten: Sorting Saturday

Mark Hasty — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue

Every Thursday, Pickin' on the Big Ten answers the questions, questions the answers, and looks ahead to Saturday's games.

It's now indisputably late October. The leaves here in Wisconsin went from being Monet-like things of beauty to being a soggy ground-based nuisance in less time than it takes for a new Jim Tressel criticism to appear on the internet. It feels like the season just started but after this weekend it's two-thirds over.

There are so many questions yet to answer, however. I've already explored the various Big Ten title scenarios, so let's look at some of the other burning issues.

Is Terrelle Pryor actually a quarterback?

That's the talking point du jour here in flyover country after the Buckeyes' pants-blast against Purdue last week. Pryor isn't turning into the Tecmo Bowl Bo Jackson he was supposed to be back when Rivals and Scout were trying to find ways to give him a sixth or seventh star. There have even been intimations from Pryor's high school coach that the OSU staff may have made some promises to Pryor that either aren't being kept or are being kept but shouldn't be.

The whole mess had made people finally realize that Todd Boeckman got a raw deal last season and Terrelle Pryor is getting a raw deal this season. Pryor simply isn't ready to be The Guy. Moving him to wide receiver, as some are suggesting, isn't going to make him better and isn't going to help the Buckeyes at all.

Pryor looked so good at times last season because he didn't have to do it all. Boeckman was always around when a more traditional quarterbacking style was called for. Benching Pryor now, or moving him to another position, would just transfer all that pressure to Joe Bauserman. Maybe if the Buckeyes lose another game, putting them decisively out of the Big Ten title race, it might be worth seeing if Bauserman can provide some mojo. Until then, the Buckeyes' best chance to win is with Pryor under center. It's just that those chances aren't as good as the chances OSU fans are used to.

When is Ron Zook going to get whacked?

Certainly not until the end of the season, and maybe not then, either. UIUC is in the midst of administrative chaos centered around an admissions scandal -- one which doesn't involve athletics. University Chancellor Richard Herman announced his resignation this week. University President B. Joseph White has also resigned, along with a number of trustees. That's a lot of decision makers to have to replace all at once. Obviously, someone will occupy all these offices on an interim basis, but do you think any of them will want to make major decisions?

Complicating things is the fact that Zook signed a contract extension this summer, which makes him more expensive to buy out. Athletic Director Ron Guenther may be forced to hit the gong anyway just to save his own job, but the timing couldn't be worse for Illinois.

Besides, who are you going to get to come in? Zook has a nice arsenal at Illinois and there are plenty of coaches out there who are experts at getting the most out of the talent they have. But would they be interested in Illinois? The last coach to leave Champaign with a winning record was John Mackovic who left for Texas in 1991. Since then the Illini are 88-123-2, and their overall winning percentage has dropped with each coach.

Is Iowa going to sneak into the national title game more or less by default just to get their doors blown off?

No, and I'll tell you why. It has nothing to do with the perceived weakness of the Big Ten and everything to do with the dramatic dropoffs found in other conferences.

Who's the third-best team in the SEC?

Who's the second-best team in the Big 12?

Who's the best team in the Pac 10?

We don't know the answers to any of those questions, which should tell you that Texas and whoever wins the SEC have the shortest route to Pasadena. At any rate, before the season I had Iowa finishing 10-2. I had them at 7-0 at this point in the season. I'm not bragging; I'm just saying that I do not actually see the Hawks running the table. So don't worry. Some other conference's champion will be embarrassing themselves in the title game.

Right. The games.

PENN STATE @ MICHIGAN

It's the fourth Saturday in October and this is Penn State's second road game. Nope, nothing wrong with your scheduling, PSU!

If the wheel of karma is spinning the way it ought to, the Wolverines are going to get crushed in this game. Their offensive line in the second half of last week's Delaware State game was made up entirely of sousaphone players from the marching band, for crying out loud. And was that Mary Sue Coleman, the president of the university, running back punts in the fourth quarter?

If ever a team could come in to The Big House and deliver karmic retribution to the Wolverines, it would be Penn State. Iowa is the only school to hold the Nits under 20 points, as well as the only team to score more than 17 on them. Otherwise the scores have been as gaudy as you would suspect. They just aren't as gaudy as they were last year.

Then again, you could make a case that Penn State hasn't faced an offense any better than Iowa's, and Iowa's offense is not exactly a benchmark of wonderfulness. Michigan's offense is quite a different story. Nobody has held them under 20 points, and iowa's defense is at least as good as Penn State's.

This game will come down to who has the better playmakers. Michigan wins that battle on offense, Penn State on defense. Since this is the year of Big D, I'm going with PSU. Penn State 28, Michigan 24.

IOWA @ MICHIGAN STATE

This is the game this weekend with the most implications for the Big Ten title. Both these teams are legitimately contending for it.

Kirk Ferentz has never won in East Lansing. In fact, the last time Iowa won at Spartan Stadium Ren and Stimpy were still on the air.

Michigan State has come a long way from their 1-3 start, but do they have enough to beat the Hawkeyes? It depends. No Big Ten team passes for more yards than Sparty, but that actually could be a liability. The Hawks have picked off every starting quarterback they've faced, with the exception of Northern Iowa's Pat Grace. Kirk Cousins is expected to get the start for Michigan State. He doesn't throw many picks, but Iowa has a way of making bad things happen.

So Sparty needs to get the running game going early before the Hawkeyes start dropping linebackers into coverage. Without a good running game they're just going to be too easy to defend. MSU hasn't put up more than 30 points all season.

Defensively the Spartans need to force Ricky Stanzi to throw, though as the season goes on that strategy works less and less. Derrell Johnson-Koulianos and Tony Moeaki are both hitting their peak now as receivers, which has cut down on Stanzi's struggles. Iowa probably won't be able to run the ball very well all afternoon, but neither, I fear, will Michigan State. In the end, Iowa's superior pass defense and MSU's inexperienced running backs will make the difference as Iowa wins. DEATH RIDES A PALE COW 30, OFFENSIVE WIZARD IN MY BACKYARD 23.

(You like that? A little old school POTBT for you longtimers. For the n00bs, that means I expect Iowa, a team from a state with a lot of cows, to defeat Michigan State, a school with offensive wizard Rich Rodriguez nearby, by a final score of 30 points to 23 points. Also it means I am a fan of the Dead Milkmen.)

INDIANA @ NORTHWESTERN

Both these teams deserve better seasons than the ones they're having. Indiana has finally solved its baffling offensive problems and actually has one of the best pass rushes in the conference. Yet somehow it's all for naught. The Hoosiers lost to Ohio State and Michigan in consecutive weeks, then went to Virginia the week after someone on Al Groh's staff decided to risk having to do 4,000 pushups by telling the coach the football season had actually started and all these games counted. They got over on Illinois last week, but that's sort of like bragging that you were only third in line at Starbucks.

Northwestern, meanwhile, can't put the pieces together . Their offense started off just fine but their defense was lost in space. Then the defense showed up at the same time the offense took a cookie break. If they ever get both units to show up for the same game they might really have something.

Since both these teams have the consistency of cafeteria soup it's hard to predict how things will go. I like Indiana's ability to run the ball better than I like Northwestern's. I don't trust Ben Chappell as much as I trust Mike Kafka. But I don't trust Mike Kafka all that much. I've picked the road team in every game so far, but they can't all win. Northwestern, in a game that's so ugly it'll belong on public access. Northwestern 14, Indiana 10.

MINNESOTA @ OHIO STATE

I'm tempted to make some lame quip like "Here's one road team I won't be taking" but if the Buckeyes can lose to a team as snakebit as Purdue, then anything can happen. Except for Minnesota scoring a lot of points. Or Ohio State not scoring a lot of points. I'll go out on a limb here and say that Terrelle Pryor won't need any lukewarm endorsements for at least seven days after this game. Ohio State 31, Minnesota 12.

ILLINOIS @ PURDUE

WTTW in Chicago is showing Mexico One Plate at a Time at 11:30 on Saturday. Rick Bayless will be making tortas.

I'm just sayin', that's all. Purdue 38, Illinois 21.

Next week's games:

Michigan @ Illinois: This ought to be good for a few laughs
Indiana @ Iowa: And this
Michigan State @ Minnesota: Not to mention this
Penn State @ Northwestern: Or this
New Mexico State @ Ohio State: That's not funny
Purdue @ Wisconsin: This is as close to a good game as we're going to get, I guess

Pickin' on the Big Ten: Sorting Saturday originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Pickin' on the Big Ten: Teams for Sale

Mark Hasty — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:30:00 EST

Filed under: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Big 10

Every Thursday, Pickin' on the Big Ten gives you the bottom line on the upcoming weekend's games.

Every team now has six games on the books. Well, Illinois doesn't, which is good news/bad news. Illinois fans have only had to watch five games so far; that's good news. They have seven games left to watch, which is not such good news.

This would be a perfect time for mid-term report cards, but letter grades are so one-dimensional, don't you think? There are more meaningful comparisons to be made. Make the jump and see every Big Ten team compared to ... well, just go and look.

Illinois is like the Whopper (or, if you prefer, any other reasonably complicated fast food burger). You see the ads and it looks fantastic. They talk about using the best-quality, freshest ingredients and it shows. You see a perfectly-cooked burger glistening with juice, deep red tomatoes, green lettuce that looks like it was just picked, all stacked high on a golden brown bun. You can't resist. This is going to be good.

Then you get one. You unwrap it. It doesn't look like the picture. It looks like somebody who had never seen a hamburger before made it by hurling ingredients at a bun from a good 15 or 20 feet away. You sit under a buzzing fluorescent light, gnawing away at it, hoping you forget this meal as soon as possible.

Indiana is like grapefruit juice. You want it to be good, yet no matter what you do it, it inevitably leaves a bitter aftertaste in your mouth. You run for the toothbrush of basketball season, only to discover that grapefruit juice plus toothpaste is a combination that belongs in the next Saw movie.

Iowa is IKEA furniture. Not many things are both trendy and popular, but IKEA and the Hawkeyes both are right now. IKEA because it's cheap; Iowa because a weary football nation sees the Hawkeyes as the last best hope for a Buckeye-free BCS. Thus millions are willing to overlook the common flaws of each: They're kind of funny looking, nobody is really sure how long either will hold up, and you're not sure you can believe them when they say that the STANZI coffee table goes with the FERENTZ armchair, the ANGERER TV stand, and the MOEAKI floor lamp.

Michigan is a BMW with the first-generation iDrive system. From the outside, everybody can see that you've got a Bimmer, and a fairly new one at that. It's easy to be impressed. That's good news for you, because you're sitting inside the car with absolutely no idea how to change the radio station or keep the defroster from running full blast all summer long. But you look like a player.

Michigan State is any article of clothing from the late Steve & Barry's. I loved Steve & Barry's, mostly because I am a horribly cheap individual. Buying clothes there was a bit risky, though. Some things would hold up as well as anything else you could buy. Some things fell to tatters the third time you wore them. You didn't know which you had until one day you were out walking and all of a sudden there's a little trickle of cold air in your armpit or your crotch or some other place where cold air is not supposed to be felt on a fully clothed body and OH CRAP IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN.

Minnesota is MTN DEW. New container, same product, same tendency to keep you up nights if you take in too much of it.

Northwestern is a gas station burrito. They're as tasty on offense as the burrito is in your mouth. Then they go on defense, the burrito hits your intestines, and all of a sudden you wish there was somebody around who could keep bad things from happening.

Ohio State is a Buick Century. Designed as an unhip car for unhip people, the Century couldn't outrun or outdazzle anything on the road. While at one time driving a Buick meant you were too rich for a Chevy and too humble for a Cadillac, those were different times and different Buicks. Your neighbors will tell you, "Hey, nice car." But you you know the minute they get in their Altimas and Passats they're laughing at you and your "ask me about my grandchildren" car.

Yet, no matter how much scorn and abuse gets heaped on it, it just won't die. It starts on the coldest, bleakest mornings. It may never run perfectly, but it'll run okay longer than most cars will run at all. It'll even keep running long after you yourself are sick of it. The only way to get rid of it is to drive around parking lots looking for an Anti-Buick you can park it next to, hoping that the violent explosion which follows doesn't ignite the entire universe.

Penn State is Beeman's gum. You thought it was gone, but it came back, looking like it had never left.

Purdue is the wretched combination of Adobe Flash and Windows Vista. It works well until it doesn't. Then your browser crashes, three other programs stop working, there are security alerts all over the place, and just when you really need Task Manager, CTRL-ALT-DELETE gets you ten seconds of a black screen followed by a dialog box telling you that Vista failed to create Security Options. You sit there wondering why they ever decided to do it like that.

Wisconsin is RC Cola. It tastes a little different. Some people like it. Some don't. Everybody agrees that it's not as big as Coke or Pepsi.

Right. The games.

ILLINOIS @ INDIANA

If either team wins this game, it'll be a miracle. Indiana 23, Illinois 20.

DELAWARE STATE @ MICHIGAN

Delaware State is a ~~Division I-AA~~ Football Championship Subdivision school. They are giving up, on average, almost 400 yards per game. They have scored, on average, a little over 14 points per game. Last week the DSU Hornets lost at home to Bethune-Cookman. It was Bethune-Cookman's first win of the season; they lost to ~~Division II~~ (oh, wait, it's still called Division II) Shaw in their season opener.

I thought that this, plus Michigan's explosive offense, would combine to make a game so stinky that not even the Big Ten Network would show it. I thought wrong. Oh well. Enjoy the game, Wolverines; you probably deserve something to smile about after last week. Michigan 66, Delaware State 7.

Know Your Nonconference Tomato Can: Delaware State

Located in Delaware's capital city of Dover, Delaware State University is part of America's proud tradition of historically black colleges and universities. DSU was founded in 1891 as the State College for Colored Students before becoming Delaware State College in 1947 and Delaware State University in 1993.

Despite being in the same state and same NCAA division as the University of Delaware, the two schools did not meet in football until 2007, and then only because both schools made the FCS playoffs. Earlier this season, they played their first regular season game.

DSU is a small school, enrolling only about 3,700 students.Its best known alumnus is Dr. Clyde Bishop, the US ambassador to the Marshall Islands. That sounds like a pretty good gig to me.

NORTHWESTERN @ MICHIGAN STATE

The story here is injuries; namely, how will Sparty react to losing starting running back Glenn Winston for the season with a torn ACL? Larry Caper appears ready to step in, but even he tweaked his knee in last week's Illinois game. Quarterback Kirk Cousins is expected to start this week after missing most of the Illinois game with a sore ankle.

Northwestern, meanwhile, is healthy, but their 16-6 loss to Miami (Ohio) last week was yet another unimpressive outing for the Wildcats. Things are bound to get better for NU soon, and a bowl game awaits, but they won't get any closer to it this week. Michigan State 30, Northwestern 17.

MINNESOTA @ PENN STATE

This is one of those games that looks dangerous on paper because the teams have similar records and their overall statistics aren't that far off. Where the teams differ is in overall talent and most particularly depth. Minnesota has come a long way from their 1-11 2007 season, but doesn't yet have all the parts to make a run at the conference title. There are individual Gophers who are as good as their counterparts on any Big Ten team (Eric Decker, for one, who I'm not sure is even human) but football is a team sport.

This is the first game of a brutal road trip for Tim Brewster's team, who travel to Columbus next week. Penn State will play three of its final five games on the road, but they won't face 30% of the challenges the Gophers will. The Nits are lying in wait for the Buckeyes; Minnesota's only real hope is that Penn State is thinking more about that game than this one. I wouldn't bet on that. Penn State 28, Minnesota 16.

OHIO STATE @ PURDUE

Two reasons not to be so glum, oh ye Purdubious: You probably won't lose this game in the last minute, and Illinois is coming to town next week. Ohio State 45, Purdue 20.

IOWA @ WISCONSIN

Here it is, the sole Big Ten game this week which can be described as "watchable." Wisconsin is still reeling from its "How did we lose that game?" performance in the Horseshoe last Saturday, while Iowa continues to whistle past the graveyard.

The Badgers' well-balanced, potent offense means that Iowa can't leave eight in the box, which is the usual defensive game plan for beating Wisconsin. Arkansas State and Michigan exposed some vulnerabilities in the Hawkeye pass defense; now it's up to Scott Tolzien, Nick Toon, and Garrett Graham to exploit them.

That's assuming that John Clay doesn't just take this game on his shoulder and run with it. If Clay has early success, he'll put the Iowa defense back on its heels and force Ricky Stanzi to play with urgency. The problem for WIsconsin is that you never know which John Clay you're going to get.

Wisconsin's defense gives up a lot of points, however, and that will help keep the Hawkeyes in this game. Nothing's going to be easy for Iowa this year, this game included, but somehow Kirk Ferentz will find a way to hold on. Again. Iowa 31, Wisconsin 30.

Next week's games:

Penn State @ Michigan: Key to UM's dreams of a good bowl is winning this game
Iowa @ Michigan State: Promises to be another wild shootout
Indiana @ Northwestern: Cats want revenge; IU kept them from Capital One Bowl last season
Minnesota @ Ohio State: Another week of Buckeye target practice?
Illinois @ Purdue: The Illini's last shot at victory?

Pickin' on the Big Ten: Teams for Sale originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Illinois Finds Another Way to Lose, This Time to Michigan State

Mark Hasty — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:15:00 EST

Filed under: Illinois, Michigan State

Back to the old drawing board. Ron Zook's plan to spark the Illinois offense by benching quarterback Juice Williams in favor of backup Eddie McGee didn't exactly yield the desired results Saturday as the Illini fell to Michigan State, 24-14.

McGee was ineffective, going 2-for-11 for just 32 yards and an interception before being pulled in the third quarter. Williams came in to relieve McGee. He wasn't a world-beater, but Williams was just enough better to get the Illini on the board.

As for Michigan State, for the first time all season, it played just one quarterback until garbage time.
Keith Nichol got the start over Kirk Cousins, who had started every game thus far this season. Nichol led the Spartans to a 24-0 lead early in the third quarter.

That was when Zook pulled McGee in favor of Williams and the Illini started to move the ball. Illinois scored 14 unanswered points after that but it was just too late.

Both teams come out of the game with concerns. Spartan running back Glenn Winston injured his knee in the first half and did not play for the remainder of the game. Quarterback Keith Nichol dislocated his non-throwing elbow in the fourth quarter.

For Illinois, the biggest concern is the continued poor tackling by the defense. Several times short gains turned into big plays due to a failure to wrap up the ball carrier.

Illinois travels to Indiana next week. Michigan State will play the sputtering Northwestern Wildcats in East Lansing.

Illinois Finds Another Way to Lose, This Time to Michigan State originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:15:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Pickin' On the Big Ten: Is the Peter Principle Making Illinois Ill?

Mark Hasty — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:30:00 EST

Filed under: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin

Every Thursday, Pickin' On the Big Ten stays late to run the TPS reports on the coming weekend's games.

In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his or her level of incompetence.

The above statement is better known as the Peter Principle, and if it doesn't make sense to you, join the club. I didn't get it the first 1,378 times I read it. Now I recognize it for what it is. It's an overly intellectual way of saying "People who do a good job keep getting promoted until they wind up in a job they can't do."

So what does this have to do with Illinois, you ask?

Oh, come on. Like you don't know I'm writing about Ron Zook.

Look, I don't mean to pass judgment on Ron Zook the person. That's not my place at all. I don't even intend to pass judgment on whether Ron Zook can coach football or not. He obviously can; you don't rise to his level without having some coaching chops, after all. I'm just questioning whether he's actually meant to be a head coach.

On the surface that sounds ridiculous. Rip his name off the top of his resume and ask me if you would have hired him. He was personally associated with one of the best college football programs of the 1990s, serving on the staff of a coach widely thought to be at the top of his profession. Not only that, but he also had significant experience in the NFL, where he worked with Bill Cowher. Other coaches he had worked for? Try Johnny Majors and Frank Beamer.

Along the way he earned a reputation as one of college football's most energetic and tenacious recruiters. Was Florida nuts to give him the head coaching job back in 2002?

Well, sort of, given that he'd never been head coach anywhere at any level. Head coaching isn't the same as position coaching or coordinating. Not every great coordinator pans out as a head coach. Not every great head coach would make a good coordinator or position coach. They're just different skills.

Problem was, there was no place for Zook to go except into the head coaching ranks.

Three years later, was Illinois nuts to give Ron Zook the head coaching job? Not really. There just wasn't enough of a body of work available to judge his talents. He lost too many games, but the expectations in Gainesville were flying higher than Michael Crabtree's self-image. He did manage to win three straight road games against top-11 teams, and he beat 13-win teams in back-to-back seasons. Not everything was bad.

Now, well, we sort of know. He had one great season in which he got the Illini to the Rose Bowl. Otherwise, it looks like "head coach" is not the best job title for Zook to pursue. Give him a title like "assistant head coach and recruiting coordinator," then pair him up with some charm-free Xs-and-Os genius of a head coach. In that role Zook's worth at least $300,000 a year. But as a head coach? Not really. He's reached the level of his incompetence.

Right. The games.

MICHIGAN STATE @ ILLINOIS

Speaking of the Peter Principle, could it also apply to Zook's star recruit of all star recruits, Juice Williams?

You could make the case. As a freshman Williams showed incredible promise coupled with maddening inconsistency. As a sophomore who was just one of many weapons in the arsenal, he helped lead the Illini to the Rose Bowl. As a junior who had to carry water for the offense while the defense put the hurt on people, he was marginal. Now, as the only real playmaker on a team that was allegedly loaded with them, he's been benched.

As Williams' role got bigger, he was less and less able to meet expectations. Zook now won't even say how he's going to use Williams, except that he won't line up at running back or wide receiver. My opinion? Juice went to his coach and said, "Look, this season's lost, and I realize now I'll probably never play quarterback in the NFL. But maybe I can still make it to the pros. Give me a chance to run back kicks; maybe I'm the next Joshua Cribbs."

Given the way Illinois' defense is playing, and the way Michigan State's offense is playing, then if that's what Wiliams wants, he's going to get a good start on his highlight reel this week. Michigan State 38, Illinois 20.

INDIANA @ VIRGINIA

Virginia: Awful, despite beating North Carolina last week.

Indiana: Not awful, despite losing to Ohio State last week. Indiana 20, Virginia 6.

MICHIGAN @ IOWA

We could've had a real Game of the Century of the Week on our hands, but no, the Wolverines had to lose to Sparty last weekend. Tate Forcier can blame himself all he wants to, but no team comes down to just one guy, and no game ever really comes down to just one play. You still can't win in the Big Ten without a pretty good defense, and Michigan does not yet have one.

Of course, you can't win without an offense either, and you could argue that Iowa still doesn't have one. At the risk of negating everything I said in the previous paragraph, Arkansas State showed the best way to defend against the Hawkeyes: stuff the run and make Ricky Stanzi throw a lot. In the first half of last week's game, this looked like a profoundly stupid strategy. In the second half, it almost worked. I still think a team is a lot more than one guy, but 24 points isn't going to beat Michigan. If Stanzi comes out cold or falters for a quarter, the Hawks could easily lose this game, Kinnick Stadium magic or not.

Then again, Michigan hasn't faced a defense close to as good as the one it's about to face. Iowa 28, Michigan 26.

PURDUE @ MINNESOTA

Attention Purdue fans: Since I'm batting .000 when it comes to calling out coaches (the three I've called out this season have all won every game since), I want you to know that I'm now accepting offers to make Danny Hope the lead of next week's Pickin'.

You might not need to after this week, though. Purdue and Minnesota are basically the same team. They're both pass-wacky but can't defend the run at all. The only real difference between them? Purdue has a proven running back. Minnesota doesn't. Always go with the team that can strike at its opponent's weakness. Purdue 34, Minnesota 31.

FAKE MIAMI @ NORTHWESTERN

Fake Miami has lost 10 games in a row, all by at least 10 points.

Northwestern has been at least modestly disappointing in four of its five games this season. Last week Purdue turned the ball over six times and still came within one play of beating the Wildcats.

NU might get running back Stephen Simmons back this week. Simmons hasn't played since the second game of the season. If he does play, it will be in a limited role behind Arby Fields. I wouldn't play him, though. Why risk aggravating his injury in a game in which he probably won't be needed? Northwestern 35, Fake Miami 10.

WISCONSIN @ OHIO STATE

Ohio State has played lights out since losing to USC. It has been nothing short of dominant in its last three games. Of course, those games have been against Toledo, Illinois, and Indiana. Not exactly Murderers Row, you know?

But could you put Wisconsin on Murderers Row? Their 5-0 record would suggest that you could, and if it's possible to kill an opponent with passing, Scott Tolzien is just the man to do it. As long as John Clay can stay at the level he played at last week, there isn't a great defensive game plan to beat the Badgers.

Sometimes the best defense is a good offense, however, and OSU has one. Wisconsin, meanwhile has given up at least 20 points to every team it has played except for Wofford. The Badgers don't have the defense to go into Columbus and win, but there's a chance this could be the last time the Badgers lose this season. Ohio State 30, Wisconsin 27.

EASTERN ILLINOIS @ PENN STATE

Joe Paterno would like you to know that Eastern Illinois is a very good football team. They have a quarterback who transferred from Iowa and a running back who transferred from Michigan. They deserve nothing but the utmost respect and this is going to be a very, very tough game. People who think Penn State's nonconference schedule is a bit too soft just don't get it.

Count me among those who just don't get it. Penn State 41, Eastern Illinois 3.

Know Your Nonconference Tomato Can: Eastern Illinois

Yes, I know. Except for Wofford, this season's tomato cans have pretty much been teachers' colleges gone Hollywood. But hang on, here's one that actually sends people to Hollywood.

Located in the downstate burg of Charleston, tantalizingly close to the greater Mattoon metropolitan area, Eastern Illinois University can boast some big-name acting talent among its alumni. Three-time Oscar nominee Joan Allen has a degree from EIU, for instance. Then there's three guys who went to Eastern without graduating but still managed to make a name for themselves in Hollywood: Burl Ives, Jerry Van Dyke and John Malkovich.

But what does EIU have to do with football? Plenty. EIU is the alma mater of Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, who is pretty Hollywood himself. He's not the only Panther to make a name in the NFL, either. Current head coaches Brad Childress (Minnesota) and Sean Payton (New Orleans) also played football for Eastern Illinois, as did long-time Raider and Bronco coach Mike Shanahan. That's not bad for a school of 12,000 students located at least two hours from anyplace.

Next week's games:

Illinois @ Indiana: Amazingly, one team is guaranteed to win
Delaware State @ Michigan: I checked; DSU actually exists
Northwestern @ Michigan State: a/k/a Disappointment Bowl II
Minnesota @ Penn State: Potential trap game for the Nits
Ohio State @ Purdue: Potential trap month for the Buckeyes
Iowa @ Wisconsin: At least there's one game worth watching

Pickin' On the Big Ten: Is the Peter Principle Making Illinois Ill? originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Illinois Makes Change at Quarterback: Juice Williams Out, Eddie McGee In

Michael David Smith — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:25:00 EST

Filed under: Illinois

Illinois coach Ron Zook has benched four-year starting quarterback Juice Williams and replaced him with junior Eddie McGee, making a major shakeup on a team that has been a major disappointment this season.

Zook announced the move on his morning radio show Monday, stressing that he doesn't blame Williams alone for the Illini's 1-3 start, but saying he thinks McGee can give the team a spark. Williams is an all-purpose threat who is the Illini's all-time leader in total offensive yards, but McGee is a better pure passer.

It's not clear what will happen with Williams. He's a good enough athlete that he could help the team at running back or wide receiver if he changed positions, and giving another position a shot would likely improve Williams' NFL draft prospects as well. But Williams has always viewed himself as a quarterback, and it might be tough for him to switch positions in the middle of his senior year. That means that Williams might spend the remainder of his college career on the bench.

The Illini have been blown out by Missouri, Ohio State and Penn State, and their only win came against I-AA Illinois State. Illinois hosts Michigan State on Saturday.

Illinois Makes Change at Quarterback: Juice Williams Out, Eddie McGee In originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:25:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Pickin' On the Big Ten: Wake Me Up When Spartember Ends

Mark Hasty — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Big 10

Every Thursday, Pickin' On the Big Ten tries to make sense out of the upcoming weekend's games.

It was not supposed to be like this for Mark Dantonio and the Michigan State Spartans. Sure, they lost in the Capital One Bowl last season, but not by much, which is why many people tagged them as the Big Ten's third-best team going into this year. It was going to be hard to replace Brian Hoyer and Javon Ringer, but at long last things were looking up for Sparty.

Now, after a heart-shattering 1-3 start, things are still looking up, if only because "up" is the only direction left. Now it's time to pull the wreckage of this season out of the ditch to see what can be salvaged.

The news isn't all bad. There isn't an unwinnable game left on the schedule, and all the really good teams they still have to play are coming to East Lansing. The Spartans have proven they can score points, which was a huge concern in the preseason.

But ugh, that defense. Everybody's throwing on the Spartans. The numbers have got to be killing Dantonio. Try a 65.2 percent opponents' completion rate for starters. How about giving up five touchdown passes for every interception? And only 17 schools have given up more first downs on passing plays than MSU has. Fortunately, two of those schools are Western Michigan and Purdue, who are still on the schedule. A bowl game certainly isn't out of the question. Getting back to New Year's Day probably is at this point.

Is Michigan State the Big Ten's biggest disappointment of September? Probably. You could make a case for Illinois, since the Illini have been all but useless against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents. However, in order to be a disappointment, people first have to expect something of you, and I didn't expect anything from Illinois this season. Likewise, not many had Northwestern pegged as a .500 team at the end of September. I thought their defense would be a lot better than it has proven to be.

Okay, now, before we get on to the games, let me just address one little topic. A number of you have been wondering what happened to the funny team names. The guys at Black Heart Gold Pants had me as a guest on their podcast this week and asked that very question. I'll tell you what I told them. After 11 seasons of writing this column, I'm just plain out of ideas for the team names. Dropping them was nobody's decision but my own. Besides, I know they were confusing some of you.

This is where you come in.

I'll make a deal: If one of you comes up with team names for one game every week, I'll come up with names for one game as well. You can scroll down to the bottom of the page to see next week's games. Give it your best shot and send the results to me at pickbigten@gmail.com. The winner gets immortalized in the column, which is my polite way of saying that I don't have any prizes to give you.

Right. The games.

PENN STATE at ILLINOIS

For Penn State, there are two possible ways they can play in their first game after yet another season-altering loss to Iowa. They're the same two options any team has after a letdown. Option A is to recognize that the season is far from over, there are still many things to play for, and this is the first game of their undefeated last two-thirds of the season. Penn State is a team which doesn't lack leadership and talent. Ohio State can be had. They got them last year in Columbus, didn't they? With a little help from the rest of the conference, another Rose Bowl bid could be theirs. All they have to do is TCB from here on out.

Option B is to collapse in a giant cloud of fear, panic, feathers, and clucking, sort of like when a chicken truck overturns on the freeway during rush hour. This is the option Illinois appears to have chosen during the first quarter of the Missouri game.

Possessors of enough offensive firepower that they could have a seat on the UN Security Council, the Illini have scored a grand total of zero touchdowns against FBS opponents. It isn't enough to say that their passing offense, despite the presence of Juice Williams, is the worst in the Big Ten. It's the fifth-worst in the nation. Granted, they've played one few game than most teams, but who's further down the list than they are? The three service academies and Eastern Michigan.

Given these facts, what are the odds that Illinois can get anything at all done against the Big Ten's statistically-best defense? About the same as a runaway chicken's chances against six lanes of Buicks, I'd say. Penn State 28, Illinois 3

OHIO STATE at INDIANA

The last person to score on the Buckeyes was USC's Stafon Johnson, who I sincerely hope is doing well. Let us not forget that the USC game was in week two, and it's now week five.

However, I predict that the scoreless streak ends this week. Indiana's offense has really come together since their opening-night scare from Eastern Kentucky, but what is making the difference right now for the Hoosiers is the one biggest question everybody had about them in the offseason: the run defense. Of the two teams in this game, one has allowed fewer yards on the ground than the other. Ohio State is not that team.

Of course, one reason why is because IU's pass defense is a little soft. It's not bad. It just isn't great. That should help OSU improve some of their passing numbers, which are among the very worst in the Big Ten. (Wasn't Terrelle Pryor supposed to change all of that?)

The Buckeyes will learn what Michigan did last week: Indiana is no gimme. I don't think Ohio State loses this game, but you might have a hard time finding a unopened bottle of Pepto-Bismol in Columbus after this one is over. Ohio State 24, Indiana 10

ARKANSAS STATE at IOWA

Give Iowa credit: At least they're playing a good Sun Belt team.

The Red Wolves are a run-first kind of team. Tailback Reggie Arnold has scored seven touchdowns in three games and sits third among Sun Belt running backs in yards per game. Arkansas State was in a total dogfight last week with Troy, losing only because they bobbled a punt midway through the fourth quarter. That's not bad when you consider Troy outgained them by more than 200 yards. That's a testimony to the stoutness of ASU's defense, which held Nebraska to just 136 yards on the ground. It would be dangerous for Iowa to overlook the Red Wolves, particularly because the Hawkeye offense hasn't exactly been wonderful thus far.

(Seriously, Hawkeye fans, you know I'm one of you, so believe me when I say this: You do not want to go to a BCS game with this offense.)

Despite ASU's run-stopping ability, the Red Wolves have not intercepted a single pass this season. This could be a good game for Ricky Stanzi to build some confidence in the pocket, particularly since Iowa's defense is going to give him a big, big cushion to work with. As long as Iowa isn't looking ahead to next week and Michigan, they should easily win this game. Iowa 38, Arkansas State 0.

Know Your Nonconference Tomato Can: Arkansas State

Located in Jonesboro, Arkansas, atop the geological oddity known as Crowley's Ridge, Arkansas State has grown from its original role as a regional agriculture school to become a full-fledged university offering doctorates in biomedical sciences, educational leadership, environmental science, and something called "heritage studies."

With over 11,000 students, ASU is Arkansas' third-largest university and boasts a proud heritage in football. The Red Wolves (formerly the Indians) just moved up to Division I-A in 1992 but before then had already produced two players familiar to many NFL fans: New York Giants running back Maurice Carthon and linebacker Bill Bergey, who spent most of his career with the Philadelphia Eagles, went to four Pro Bowls, and was at one point the NFL's highest-paid defensive player. Other notable ASU alumni include current Arkansas governor Mike Beebe and former Miami Dolphins quarterback Cleo Lemon.

MICHIGAN at MICHIGAN STATE

Revenge Week was supposed to be last week, but go ahead. Tell Rich Rodriguez and his team. I dare you.

We've already detailed Sparty's struggles in the intro to this column. I'd like to believe that Mark Dantonio can get his team up for this game, but MSU just has too much inertia to overcome in a single week. Tate Forcier should be able to shred the Spartan secondary.

That's a good thing, because Michigan State's Two-Headed Quarterbeast ought to be able to do the same to Michigan's "is this really a Michigan defense?" defense. One of these weeks the Wolverines are not going to be able to score 30 points, and then they'll be in trouble. It won't be this week, but until the Michigan defense gets better, defeat looms in the relatively near future. So enjoy your revenge, Wolverines. Michigan 45, Michigan State 41.

WISCONSIN at MINNESOTA

Now that Minnesota has an outdoor stadium, shouldn't they be playing this game in November?

Wisconsin is a good team which could be a great team if only their defense would stop letting opponents back into games. One of these days John Clay is going to wake up and realize he's the next great Wisconsin running back, but until that day, Scott Tolzien and his cadre of overlooked receivers are more than good enough to keep the Badgers in their games. If Wisconsin can force Minnesota into using their nickel package, that should open up enough space for Clay to bring the pain.

Tim Brewster seems to have calmed down some of his playcalling aggression, so he might be able to resist the temptation to make the Badgers run the ball. If he does, he'll find plenty of cracks in the Wisconsin defense and should be able to create scoring opportunities. So, unless Tim Brewster loses his mind and sells out the run defense to stop Scott Tolzien, Bucky's inability to put an opponent on ice should finally lose a game for them. Minnesota 27, Wisconsin 24.

NORTHWESTERN at PURDUE

The first of what figures to be many Disappointment Bowls in the Big Ten this season, this game features two teams that are absolutely being let down by their defenses. That's a shame, particularly for Northwestern. They brought back one of the most experienced units in the conference, a defense that was expected to help out an offense which more or less had to start from scratch. Instead, Mike Kafka's incredible start to the season is being overshadowed by their inability to hold most teams under 24 points.

The story is much the same at Purdue, but let's not ignore the elephant in the living room. I too have no idea why Danny Hope called that time out against Notre Dame last week. Situationally, it looked like the wrong thing to do. Before you come crashing down on Hope's head, though, remember that no football game actually comes down to a single play. Games are always won and lost before the last few plays of the game, even if those last few plays wind up changing the lead. You can always find a few coulda-woulda-shouldas earlier in the game which may have changed the outcome. So cut Hope a little slack, okay? But only a little, because it sure didn't make sense to me either.

This game boils down to a question of which stinky defense can stink the least. The two offenses are essentially interchangeable, so who do you trust? I'll trust the team that didn't just lose at home by eleven points. Purdue 37, Northwestern 28.

Next week's games:

Michigan State at Illinois: A momentary reprieve for somebody
Indiana at Virginia: This could be the game that finally gets Al Groh fired
Michigan at Iowa: Front-runner for Overhyped Big Ten Game of the Year
Purdue at Minnesota: This might actually be a good game
Fake Miami at Northwestern: This, however, will not
Wisconsin at Ohio State: Buckeyes playing three trap games in a row?
Eastern Illinois atPenn State: Why? Seriously, why?

Pickin' On the Big Ten: Wake Me Up When Spartember Ends originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Is Era of Big Ten MAC-rifice at an End?

Mark Hasty — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 02:45:00 EST

Filed under: Bowling Green, Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Northern Illinois, Northwestern, Toledo, Western Michigan, Big 10, MAC

Last Saturday, Northern Illinois went into West Lafayette, Ind., and beat Purdue convincingly. (Don't let the 28-21 final score fool you: NIU dominated that game from the second quarter on.) It was the Huskies' first victory over a Big Ten squad in 21 years and an important milestone for a program which was once among college football's very worst. Second-year head coach Jerry Kill has now taken his team to a bowl and knocked off one of the big boys. On the road, no less.

You'd hardly know it, however. Big wins by underdogs usually lead to an avalanche of media coverage, but NIU's historic victory sank without a trace. Why?

Because it's not news anymore when a MAC team beats a Big Ten squad.

For decades, the "MACrifice" has been one of Big Ten football's most endearing rituals. Some Saturday in September, a school with a direction or a city in its name would come to one of the conference's football temples and walk out bloodied after a 66-0 beatdown. The win would give the coaches a chance to work all the way through the depth chart and served as a final tuneup before the conference season began.

But why the MAC? Well, because they were there. The MAC's geographic footprint fits almost perfectly into the Big Ten's, and the MAC schools needed the money. Hence the uneasy big brother-little brother relationship between the two conferences.

Funny thing about little brothers. They grow up. Sometimes they grow bigger than their big brothers. Even if they don't, though, they always know just the right buttons to press to get the big brother's hackles up.

The MAC will never be a bigger football conference than the Big Ten, but the two conferences aren't as far apart as you might think. The largest MAC schools, like Kent State, Buffalo and Central Michigan, have larger enrollments than the Big Ten's smallest schools, Northwestern and Iowa. The states of Ohio and Pennsylvania are rich with prep football talent, and they can't all become Buckeyes, Nittany Lions, Bearcats or Panthers. Dreaming of the NFL? There are eight former Northern Illinois Huskies and eight former Kent State Golden Flashes on NFL rosters. Indiana and Northwestern each have only nine former players currently in the NFL.

Where the MAC schools can't compete is in terms of facilities and budgets. The Big Ten schools simply have more cash all the way around, even to fund academics. In terms of endowments, the MAC's wealthiest school (Buffalo) is more than a quarter billion dollars behind the Big Ten's least wealthy school (Iowa).

This just makes it all the more surprising to find out, as I did, that every Big Ten school has lost to a MAC school at least once. Granted, if you play enough games against any conference, no matter how weak, they're going to rack up a couple upsets along the way. The MAC's all-time record against the Big Ten, as of the end of last season, stood at a dismal 47-300-8. (That's a .143 winning percentage.) The tide has turned, though, and in case you forgot, here are the MAC's five biggest victories over the Big Ten in the past decade:

1. 2008: Toledo 13, Michigan 10. This game is notable for several reasons. First, Michigan was the only remaining Big Ten school which had never lost a game to the MAC. (Giant technicality: Ohio State's only MAC loss was to Akron in 1894. That predates not only the MAC but also the Big Ten.) Second, it showed how far Michigan had slipped. Third, even though the Rockets won in the Big House, it still wasn't enough to save coach Tom Amstutz's job. Imagine that. You beat Michigan in Ann Arbor and still get run off. That proved it was no longer any big deal for a MAC school to beat a Big Ten school.

2. 2007: Western Michigan 28, Iowa 19. The Hawkeyes came into this game 6-5, needing a win to lock up bowl eligibility for the seventh straight season. Western Michigan was having a flat-out bad year, coming into Iowa City with a 3-7 record. Hawkeye fans came to the game with the travel agency's phone number in their pockets, ready to book a trip to whatever bowl game their team would be going to after dispatching this MAC tomato can.

In the twinkling of an eye, the Broncos were up 19-0 as they scored on four of their first five possessions. The Iowa offense, meanwhile, moved slower than a Steely Dan album track. At halftime, the Hawkeyes had only six first downs and six points. The Hawkeyes wound up staying home for the holidays.

3. 2003: Bowling Green 28, Northwestern 24. Only twice in its history has the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl (formerly the Motor City Bowl) produced its intended MAC-versus-Big Ten matchup. This was the first time, as a Bowling Green program in its first season without Urban Meyer prevailed over a Northwestern team making its second bowl appearance under Randy Walker. This was a true nail-biter with the lead and the momentum going back and forth until Bowling Green took it for good with just four minutes to play.

4. 2008: Western Michigan 23, Illinois 17. This game, played at Ford Field in Detroit, was a must-win for the Illini. Ron Zook's team was 5-4 coming into this one. A loss would mean having to beat either Ohio State or Northwestern just to become bowl eligible. Illinois certainly didn't play like they needed to win, though, with Juice Williams throwing two interceptions and the team going an almost-unbeliveable 1-13 on third down conversions. The Illini were down 20-7 at the half, lost the game, lost their next two games and wound up not going to a bowl just one season after going to the Rose Bowl.

5, 2009: Central Michigan 29, Michigan State 27. Sure, it's too early to tell if Michigan State is just really bad this season, but this was the MAC's first victory over a team expected to contend for the Big Ten title. The hype was huge surrounding the Spartans coming into this season. This game proved that Michigan State had some serious issues and Mark Dantonio had not yet removed all traces of Sparty-ness from his team's system. Coupled with a loss to Notre Dame the following week, it now looks like MSU will have to fight just to make it to a bowl game this season.

http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,localizationConfig,entry&id=515420&pid=515419&uts=1253853349

http://www.aolcdn.com/ke/media_gallery/v1/ke_media_gallery_wrapper.swf

Latest College Football Photos

COLUMBIA, SC - SEPTEMBER 24: Quarterback Stephen Garcia #5 of the South Carolina Gamecocks celebrates after throwing a touchdown pass in the third quarter of their game against the Mississippi Rebels at Williams-Brice Stadium on September 24, 2009 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Stephen Garcia

Getty Images

Getty Images North America

Latest College Football Images

Getty Images

COLUMBIA, SC - SEPTEMBER 24: Kicker Spencer Lanning #34 of the South Carolina Gamecocks tackles Marshay Green #8 of the Mississippi Rebels saving a touchdown during their game at Williams-Brice Stadium on September 24, 2009 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Marshay Green;Spencer Lanning

Getty Images

COLUMBIA, SC - SEPTEMBER 24: Running back Brandon Bolden #34 of the Mississippi Rebels rushes against the South Carolina Gamecocks in the second quarter of their game at Williams-Brice Stadium on September 24, 2009 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Brandon Bolden

Getty Images

COLUMBIA, SC - SEPTEMBER 24: Defensive end Cliff Matthews #83 of the South Carolina Gamecocks sacks quarterback Jevan Snead #4 of the Mississippi Rebels during their game at Williams-Brice Stadium on September 24, 2009 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Jevan Snead;Cliff Matthews

Getty Images

Mississippi running back Cordera Eason (25) meets South Carolina South Carolina free safety Chris Culliver during the first quarter at Williams Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina, Thursday, September 24, 2009. (Erik Campos/The State/MCT)

MCT

Mississippi running back Cordera Eason(25) is upended by South Carolina strong safety Darian Stewart (24) in the first quarter at Williams Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina, Thursday, September 24, 2009. (Erik Campos/The State/MCT)

MCT

South Carolina linebacker Eric Norwood (40) sacks Mississippi quarterback Jevan Snead (4) during the first quarter at Williams Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina, Thursday, September 24, 2009. (Erik Campos/The State/MCT)

MCT

South Carolina's Akeem Auguste (3) defends as Mississippi's Shay Hodges can't catch a pass in the end zone during the first half of an NCAA college football game Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009, at Williams Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

South Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia (5) runs for a first down as Mississippi's Jerrell Powe (57) closes in during the first half of an NCAA college football game Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)

South Carolina's Tori Gurley (81) makes a catch for a first down as Mississippi's Marshay Green (8) tries to stop him during the first half of an NCAA college football game Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009, at Williams Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)

Is Era of Big Ten MAC-rifice at an End? originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 02:45:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Pickin' On the Big Ten: V for Vendetta

Mark Hasty — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:45:00 EST

Filed under: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin

Every Thursday, Pickin' On the Big Ten previews the weekend's action, settling the scores before the scores are settled.

Penn State has declared that Saturday night's game with Iowa will be a "whiteout" game. That distinction is usually reserved for games of the utmost importance, and if you don't know why this game is so important to the Nittany Lions, you must not remember what happened last year in Iowa City. A Daniel Murray field goal put the Hawkeyes on top and ended any hopes Penn State had of ~~getting blown out by Florida~~ playing in the BCS National Championship Game. It's time for revenge.

Penn State, however, is not the only Big Ten team with a little revenge on its mind this weekend.

In Columbus, Ohio State has a score to settle with Illinois. The last time the Illini came to Columbus, back in 2007, Ron Zook's unranked team knocked off the No. 1 Buckeyes, 28-21. The loss didn't prevent Ohio State from ~~getting beat by LSU~~ playing in the BCS National Championship Game but it was an unwelcome humiliation that exposed some weaknesses. Would the Buckeyes like to exact revenge on the wobbling Illini? You don't need a Magic 8 Ball to tell you the answer.

Elsewhere in the conference, several teams aren't looking to settle old scores but do find themselves with things to prove. There's even another matchup of undefeated teams and oh boy, did we not see this one coming.

INDIANA @ MICHIGAN

The last time the Hoosiers beat the Wolverines was in 1987. That's a long time ago. The last time they beat the Wolverines in Ann Arbor was twenty years before then, in 1967. Jimi Hendrix was still alive; Kurt Cobain was seven months old.

After an eye-wateringly bad performance against Eastern Kentucky in the season opener, Bill Lynch's team has turned a corner of sorts, beating Western Michigan in a thriller and going on the road to Akron to win in an impressive performance last Saturday. The Hoosiers have installed a triple-threat running attack like they said they wanted to, but most impressive has been IU's improvement on defense.

Michigan, meanwhile, you know about. They didn't need any dramatics to beat that same Western Michigan team. They got a clutch win against Notre Dame, and they roughed up Eastern Michigan, who gave Northwestern more fight than the Wildcats were hoping for. They're off to a great start as well.

I'd like to think that Indiana has a real shot in this game. The improved defense along with a running game that is just starting to roll will probably make this game a little closer than Michigan partisans will be hoping for and may cause some reassessment of just how far "back" the Wolverines have come. However, the Hoosiers just haven't faced an offense with the kind of firepower Michigan can bring. As long as the Wolverines don't screw themselves over with turnovers and penalties, they should get some separation on IU in the second half. Michigan 34, Indiana 17.

MINNESOTA @ NORTHWESTERN

Northwestern lost to Syracuse last week. That could be my whole preview for this game.

Okay, so Syracuse doesn't look quite as dreadful this season as they have in recent years. It's kind of sad, though, that Northwestern's defense got caught in the lurch as many times as it did last week. That effectively negated a truly amazing performance by NU quarterback Mike Kafka, who was darn near brilliant last week (35 of 42 for 390 yards; 3 TDs against 1 INT, plus a touchdown reception). Still, how do you hold a team to 2 of 12 on third down, as Northwestern did last week, and still let the Orange get in position for a game-winning field goal? Northwestern has a lot of growing to do on defense.

Minnesota lost last week as well but it wasn't a bad loss, as if any loss was ever good. They hung with California, a legitimate top-ten team in my eyes, well into the fourth quarter. If Jahvid Best hadn't been in the game the Gophers might easily have won.

So far Tim Brewster's efforts to reestablish Minnesota as a rushing team haven't exactly panned out. The Gophers haven't rushed for more than 112 yards in any game and were held to just 37 yards last week by Cal. Good. Less running means more passing, which means more Eric Decker, which means more times when we all wonder how this guy slipped under so many radar screens when he was in high school. It's hard to think of a college team Decker would not start for.

Northwestern's faltering defense leaves the offense with little margin for error. That's not such a good thing when you're facing a team which just had to deal with the best running back in the country. NU will have to throw to beat the Gophers, but then, Mike Kafka is coming off an incredible week of throwing the ball and the Minnesota secondary can be beaten. This game could turn into a shootout; if it does, I think that favors the Gophers. Minnesota 38, Northwestern 31.

ILLINOIS @ OHIO STATE

As previously mentioned, Ohio State has a score to settle with Illinois. Nobody comes into the Horseshoe and wins without becoming a target. Some targets the Buckeyes can't hit; some they can. Illinois? Very hittable.

The Illini have only played two games, losing big to Missouri and having an easy time with Illinois State prior to taking last week off. Juice Williams was hurt early in the Illinois State game but is expected back. He hasn't attempted a pass since September 5, and that might be a bigger concern.

Meanwhile, Arrelious Benn is expected to return from the high ankle sprain he suffered against Missouri. Rejus has caught only one pass this season. Look for him to be a much larger part of the offense this week, assuming he's healthy.

Illinois will also have to do without middle linebacker Martez Wilson, lost for the season with a neck injury. Wilson was expected to anchor the Illinois defense but had come under criticism in some corners for not being aggressive enough, particularly in tackling. Regardless, Wilson would have helpful in defending against Terrelle Pryor's mobility, so he'll be missed.

As for Ohio State, they certainly worked out their frustrations against Toledo last week, blanking the Rockets 38-0. By now Jim Tressel probably has his team's confidence back at an acceptable level. Blowing up Illinois would go a long, long way towards getting the Buckeye swagger back. With Illinois having questions on defense and injuries on offense, and Ohio State looking for payback, well, kaboom. Ohio State 31, Illinois 10.

IOWA @ PENN STATE

I don't care that Keith Jackson is 80 years old and retired. He should be broadcasting this game. It's his sort of game. Two teams known for the strength, size and prowess of their "big uglies," two teams with quite a recent history between them, the two longest-tenured coaches in the conference, going at each other in the first game of the conference season in front of the whole nation. That's a situation that just calls for Keith Jackson. Plus there's at least a slight chance we'd get to hear Keith say the name "Derrell Johnson-Koulianos." How brain-flipping awesome would that be? Answer: very.

These two teams are known for the stoutness of their defenses, and that's where all the intrigue will be in this game. The outcome will depend on which team can force the other team's offense to do something it really doesn't want to do, before that offense forces the defense out of its comfort zone.

For instance, Iowa has been almost impossible to pass on so far this season. If Penn State can find a way to move the ball through the air, that should open up the running lanes for Evan Royster and his backfield brethren. But if the Hawkeyes can make it clear that Daryll Clark's passing isn't going to beat them, they'll have the luxury of selling out to stop the run and watching Penn State go three-and-out over and over again.

On the other hand, Iowa really doesn't want to run the ball. I mean, they want to run the ball, but they know they're not experienced and haven't faced a front seven like Penn State's. Penn State can probably leave eight in the box and keep the Hawkeyes from going anywhere.

Thus we have the key to success for each offense. Penn State needs to attack Iowa's known liability, the underneath crossing routes. The sooner they force Iowa to keep a linebacker back from the line of scrimmage, the sooner Evan Royster can really start pounding the rock. Iowa needs essentially the same thing. If they force the Nits to leave a fourth man in coverage, their two-tailback scheme might soften up and confuse that front seven. Even though the strength of each defense is different, the strategy for moving the ball is essentially the same and the first team to get the passing game going will have a huge advantage.

That is not good news for the Hawkeyes. Ricky Stanzi plays like Peyton Manning in the second half of games, but in the first half he plays like Ryan Leaf. You hate to think that a team's chances in a game this big come down to one guy, but if Stanzi comes out as cold as he's come out in every game this season, Iowa doesn't have much of a chance. Daryll Clark and his cadre of disrespected wideouts will find a crack or two in the Hawkeye pass defense, but it won't be easy.

Stanzi has never started in a road game this big before and no, the Iowa State game doesn't count. I'm not saying I don't believe in him; I'm just saying I don't trust him to come out firing on all cylinders. Penn State 20, Iowa 17.

NOTRE DAME @ PURDUE

"I don't think anybody has an answer for Ralph Bolden," I wrote last week. Well, Northern Illinois sure did, holding Purdue's leading rusher to just 64 yards on 12 carries. What was their secret? Ball control. Bolden can't rush the ball if he's not on the field.

Notre Dame figures to go to the running game a little more often this week now that Michael Floyd has been lost for the season. Their run defense will have to improve somewhat if they want to keep this from being too much of a game. The Irish allowed both Nevada's Vai Taua and Michigan's Brandon Minor to go over 100 yards. If Bolden gets even a sniff of that sort of success, the Boilermakers could make it an uncomfortable afternoon for Charlie Weis.

Purdue can't win this game, however. They don't have the defense to slow down the Irish, who have far more talent than they do. The Boilers can make a game of it, perhaps even through three quarters, but Jimmy Clausen is just getting too good. Notre Dame 34, Purdue 24.

MICHIGAN STATE @ WISCONSIN

Technically every game is a "must-win" for both teams, but man, Michigan State needs a win in the worst way. Back-to-back soulcrushing losses have many people writing the Spartans off. And why not? No one in East Lansing is happy with how the team has looked this year. Some fans are even turning on starting quarterback Kirk Cousins. Yes, he's only hitting on 65.7 percent of his passes with five touchdowns and one interception. Clearly, he's the problem. Can't be the league's second-worst running offense and absolute worst pass defense.

Wisconsin, meanwhile, is 3-0 but hasn't been impressive in any of its victories. Not even last week's scheduled beatdown of Wofford. The Badgers fumbled the ball six times against the Terriers and are lucky they only lost three of them. A better question, though, is why they're running the ball so much. Sure, they're Wisconsin, and that's what they do. They're not doing it as well as they used to, however. And what is this, a Wisconsin quarterback who can actually throw the ball well? Yes, that would be Scott Tolzien, currently second in QB rating among Big Ten starting quarterbacks. Who is he behind? You guessed it. Kirk Cousins. How dare he only lead the conference by 2.5 rating points!

Generally speaking it's a bad idea to pick a desperate, struggling team in a must-win game on the road. I think I'll stick to that logic. Wisconsin 27, Michigan State 26.

Next week's games:

Penn State @ Illinois: Trap game?
Ohio State @ Indiana: Definitely not a trap game
Arkansas State @ Iowa: A little bread and circus for the masses
Michigan @ Michigan State : Speaking of vendettas
WIsconsin @ Minnesota: A better game than you think
Northwestern @ Purdue: Fighting to stay alive in the race for Detroit

Pickin' On the Big Ten: V for Vendetta originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:45:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Pickin' On the Big Ten: Jim Tressel Is Not On the Hot Seat

Mark Hasty — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Big 10

Every Thursday, Pickin' On the Big Ten previews the weekend's action, or lack thereof.

There are weeks when many of us would trade lives with Jim Tressel. This is not one of those weeks.

Not only did his Buckeyes fail to finish USC when they had the Trojans on the ropes, Tressel also saw "Tresselball" ripped apart by Chris Brown of Smart Football, faced a fan base who want him fired three days ago, had to lash back at some of those same fans, discovered that one of USC's touchdowns may not have happened, and now he has to face a Toledo team that just mashed Colorado into goo.

Yes, there are a lot of reasons why you wouldn't want to be Jim Tressel this week, but "because he's on the hot seat" isn't one of them.

Here is what you have to do to stay off the hot seat at OSU: beat Michigan, and win the Big Ten a lot. Yes, these big-game losses sting, but all is forgotten in the October haze of thrashing all the Big Ten's darkhorse contenders.

Conversely, what do you have to do to get fired in Columbus? You must either (A) lose three or more games eight seasons in a row like Earle Bruce did, (B) lose to Michigan 10 times in 13 tries like John Cooper did, or (C) punch out a Clemson linebacker like Woody Hayes did.

It's hard to imagine Jim Tressel punching anybody, so let's forget about that. At Tressel's current rate of losing to Michigan once every eight years, he'll need until 2079 just to lose to them ten times. He'll have to go the Earle Bruce route before he gets canned. Even then it'll take until 2016 at the earliest.

Maybe Ohio State fans are cursing themselves, and their team, with low expectations. Maybe they're just realistic about what they can expect. Who knows? Bucknuts will be happy to tell you that they're the most dominant team in the Big Ten, even if the rest of the college football world thinks that's like saying you're the best-looking person at the truck stop. Pride is pride, and as long as there's something to brag about, everything is fine in Columbus.

Now, on to the games.

INDIANA @ AKRON

The Hoosiers finally got their ground game going against Western Michigan last week, with Demetrius McCray running for 134 yards and a touchdown. Now they're off to Akron as the first big-name opponent in the Zips' new InfoCision Stadium. Akron was pretty much useless against Penn State in the season opener but responded by blowing up Morgan State last weekend. Indiana is a little bit closer to Morgan State's level than it is to Penn State's level, but the Hoosiers should still be good enough to pull off the road win. Indiana 23, Akron 17.

ARIZONA @ IOWA

If you're only going to watch one Big Ten game this weekend, this should be it. On the face of things it looks like a total yawner: two defense-oriented teams, one with an offensive identity (Arizona), one without (Iowa). Sounds like a formula for a 7-6 punting festival, and that's how this could turn out.

There's tremendous backstory involving Arizona coach Mike Stoops, a former Hawkeye defensive back who had to coach for his job last season and succeeded. He and his little brother Mark, who is Arizona's defensive coordinator, now come back to Iowa City to try to get a signature road win for their ascending program.

Dee Stoops, mother of the Stoops brothers, is making the trip to Iowa City. Back in the 1980s, the Stoops family used to park their car at Kirk Ferentz's house on game days. I'm guessing that probably won't happen now; from what I gather, it's quite a walk from Kirk's new digs to Kinnick Stadium.

The Hawkeyes don't lose many games at Kinnick these days. Arizona is a solid team that just needs a little more offense, but you can ask Central Michigan about the Arizona defense. The Chippewas didn't get a touchdown on their trip to Tucson; East Lansing proved a bit friendlier.

Arizona has struggled to establish a passing game. Iowa is not the team you want to try to establish a passing game against. What Amari Spievey doesn't shut down, Tyler Sash and Brett Greenwood will intercept. Zona should stop Iowa's fragile rushing attack, but Ricky Stanzi is far more likely to get a hot hand than Arizona's Matt Scott. Welcome back, Mike; sorry things couldn't be more accomodating. Iowa 17, Arizona 10.

EASTERN MICHIGAN @ MICHIGAN

The Wolverines' stay in the top 25 could be short-lived if they can't beat EMU more convincingly than Northwestern did last week. NU needed a last-second field goal to beat Ron English's crew, who seem intent on letting everybody know they're tired of getting kicked around.

The Eagles haven't faced anything like what they're going to see from Rich Rodriguez's offense. Army is an option team, and they beat the Eagles. Northwestern is still rebuilding its offense, and they beat the Eagles. Michigan is getting pretty good at the spread option and, well, they're going to beat the Eagles too. Michigan 45, Eastern Michigan 7.

MICHIGAN STATE @ NOTRE DAME

I thought Mark Dantonio had made the Spartan's trademark Nonconference Brain Fart Game a thing of the past, but I guess not. Cultural change is a gradual process, after all.

The good news for Michigan State is that the old Bobby Williams/John L. Smith Spartans almost always followed up their annual Nonconference Brain Fart Game with a game where they played at near-apocalyptic levels of intensity. They will need that in South Bend against a Notre Dame crew eager to prove that they might belong in the top 25 after all.

This will be the best defense Michigan State has faced this season, though truthfully, Notre Dame's offense is probably on a par with Central Michigan's. That's not to say the ND offense is weak; CMU just has a pretty good offense. I've always had confidence in Mark Dantonio's ability to coach up a defense, but I'm a little less sure after MSU couldn't get big stops when they really needed them.

Nobody really wants to admit that Jimmy Clausen is getting better week by week, but he is. His experience will be the difference in this game. Notre Dame 28, Michigan State 24.

CALIFORNIA @ MINNESOTA

One week after it opened, TCF Bank Stadium gets its first big game. California is coming to town, bringing its scary good running back Jahvid Best. This is not what a team that beat Syracuse by a field goal really wants to see. Factor in that Cal has dropped half a hundred on both of its first two opponents (Maryland and Eastern Washington) and it's pretty hard to imagine Minnesota even coming close in this game.

But ... do you believe in TCF magic? Do you think the football gods will smile on the Gophers for going back outside, where football is meant to be played? Do you think Nate Triplett can play out of his mind once again and frustrate the usually reliable Cal offense? Do you think that a team which held Air Force under to 261 yards of rushing can do the same to Jahvid Best? Do you think that maybe, just maybe, the need to defend their new stadium will motivate the Gophers to shock the world and beat a top ten team?

Yeah, I don't think so either. I do think they'll hold the Bears under 50, though. California 38, Minnesota 13.

NORTHWESTERN @ SYRACUSE

So far Syracuse has played more Big Ten games than any Big Ten team has. This will be their third, and it's actually hard to predict what's going to happen here. It wouldn't have been so hard if Northwestern had been able to take care of business against Eastern Michigan last week. The Wildcats looked like anything but a great team last week, however.

Not only that but -- get this -- Syracuse actually scored a touchdown on Penn State last week. Sure, it was late and against the scrubs, but the fact that it happened at all represents considerable progress from last season.

It's still not enough, though. Northwestern should ride its running game straight into, and out of, the Carrier Dome. Northwestern 34, Syracuse 10.

OHIO STATE "@" TOLEDO (game played at Cleveland)

You've already had enough talk about Tresselball this week, and so have I. So let's talk about Toledo and their chances of running with the Buckeyes. Through two games, the Rockets are averaging more than 550 yards of offense and 34.5 points per game. Toledo quarterback Aaron Opelt has already thrown for almost 750 yards with a TD/INT ratio of 7/2.

This performance has come against Purdue, who has some serious defensive issues, and Colorado, whose defense is a figment of Dan Hawkins' imagination. More to the point, Toledo has given up almost 500 yards a game as well. Purdue's offense is clicking and Colorado's isn't quite as terrible as you might think, while Ohio State has looked like a team with some work to do.

Here's a good chance for them to do that work. This won't be a big enough blowout to placate all the Ohio State fans, but it should put an end to Aaron Opelt's Heisman campaign. Ohio State 35, Toledo 17.

TEMPLE @ PENN STATE

If you're wondering when this ridiculously soft nonconference schedule is going to rear up and bite the Nittany Lions, next week would be a good place to start. Give Joe Paterno credit, though; he's holding down the scores so his offense doesn't get overconfident, while making his defense work as hard as it will have to down the stretch. That's what have to you do when your AD signs a contract with Dolly Madison to provide your nonconference opponents. Penn State 34, Temple 0.

NORTHERN ILLINOIS @ PURDUE

The Boilermakers were two points and several dozen mental errors away from beating Oregon on the road last week. The Huskies played Wisconsin tough and blew out Western Illinois last Saturday. To win here they'll have to find an answer to the question "How do we slow down Ralph Bolden?"

I'm not sure anybody has an answer to that question yet. Purdue 45, Northern Illinois 21.

WOFFORD @ WISCONSIN

Wisconsin is 2-0, but it's a soft 2-0. The Badgers have been unimpressive in both of their victories, letting Northern Illinois back into the game in the fourth quarter and needing double overtime to beat Fresno State.

If there's anything hopeful for the Badgers, it's that the passing game has been there when they needed it, unlike the last couple seasons, and that John Clay responded to his demotion the way you would hope he would have: by playing like a man with something to prove. Clay was brilliant last week against Fresno State. He busted a 72-yard touchdown run en route to 143 yards of total rushing. The defense, however ... yikes. It's going to be a long season if the Badgers don't find a way to stiffen up their D.

Right now Bret Bielema needs a solid, convincing win to get the fans believing that this year will be better than last year was. A visit from Wofford would seem to be just what they need, but Badger fans still haven't forgotten last season's near-loss to Cal Poly. If the Wofford game is like that, they'll be calling for Bielema's head all the way from Oshmilwaunamoc to Lake Winneboognish.

Wofford has absolutely no passing game, so the Badgers should prevail. Wisconsin 34, Wofford 3.

Know Your Nonconference Tomato Can: Wofford

Of all the colleges playing Division I football, one of them has to be the smallest, and here it is. Wofford College enrolls just 1,450 students, or about as many as the typical freshman biology lecture at a Big Ten school.

Located in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Wofford College was founded in 1854 with money from the estate of Rev. Benjamin Wofford, a Methodist minister. The entire 170 acre campus is on the National Register of Historic Places. Wofford is highly ranked by US News and World Report and The Princeton Review. It shows in a student body with high grades and SAT scores. 58% of Wofford students graduated in the top 10% of their high school classes.

For such a small school, Wofford has made a couple notable contributions to the world of sports. Longtime Air Force Academy football coach Fisher DeBerry (pictured) is an alumnus, as is Jerry Richardson, owner of the NFL's Carolina Panthers. Not bad for a school that was in the NAIA as recently as 1988.

Next week's games:

Indiana @ Michigan: Sure hope the Hoosiers enjoyed being undefeated
Minnesota @ Northwestern: Return of three yards and a cloud of dust
Illinois @ Ohio State: Has Zook got one more upset in him?
Iowa @ Penn State: Somebody's dreams get crushed in this one
Notre Dame @ Purdue: Boilers' first experience against a good defense
Michigan State @ Wisconsin: Only one of these teams is for real

Pickin' On the Big Ten: Jim Tressel Is Not On the Hot Seat originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Illini's Ron Zook Was One of Us

Terence Moore — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Illinois, Miami (OH), Coaching

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Ron Zook kept interrupting his storytelling with smiles and chuckles. Despite enough pressure around his fifth year as head football coach at the University of Illinois to tackle a Galloping Ghost (you know, as in Red Grange from the Illini's distant glory days), he was having a blast.

That's because, as Zook leaned forward on the couch inside his office near Memorial Stadium, he couldn't stop rattling off 35-something-year-old memories of Hepburn Hall, the most unusual of college dormitories.

"What game are they coming to?" said Zook, with wide eyes, looking across the way to his wife, Denise. After she replied, "Michigan State," he named some of the old Hepburn Hall gang and others that he invites to town every year. "About 20 of them," Zook said, before adding, "After the game, they come to my house, and it's a good time." Then he said with a little laugh, "They have a lot more fun than me."

I dare you to find another dormitory like this one. You won't, by the way, and to make my point, I'll occasionally tell you during the next three weeks about several of the 270 or so dreamers who spent the mid-1970s inside this three-story, Georgian-styled residence hall, located among the eternal red bricks and highly manicured grounds of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

This was one of 36 dorms on a campus of around 15,000 students, and like those others, Hepburn Hall was for anybody. It didn't exist solely to house nuclear physicists, CEOs of large companies or even sports journalists and prominent folks in other aspects of athletics. Even so, our generation of Hepburn Hall produced all of that. And here's the strangest thing: Many of us knew much about each other (as in our strengths, weaknesses, wishes, desires), but none of us saw any of this coming.

It just happened. It happened fast, and it happened big time. For instance, regarding the sporting universe, our Hepburn Hall produced ...

Two guys who captured national and conference Coach Of The Year honors at the Division I-A level of college football. A member of the NFL All-Rookie team who became a prolific runner in the league for a decade. A starting second baseman for a dozen years in the major leagues. A veteran pitcher who helped set the foundation for a team's record 14 consecutive division titles. An NFL offensive coordinator who was among the original icons of an expansion team. A multiple award-winning baseball coach who has taken his team to three College World Series trips. An accomplished minor-league manager for a storied franchise. A Division II athletic director.

Oh, and a national sports columnist for FanHouse.

So what's the deal here? I mean, this would be slightly more than incredible if you had this collection of individuals as alumni of the same college at any time -- but at the same time and inside of the same dormitory?

This is The Twilight Zone times The X-Files.

"I don't know what caused this. I really don't, but I do know that (Miami) is just a great, great university that's great academically, and it's kind of a little utopia with its beautiful campus that just grabs you," said Zook, 55, a native of Loudonville, Ohio . "I know from the sports point of view, most of us, but not all of us, were from the state of Ohio that has very, very good high school coaching. Then at Miami, people were recruiting character students, and the evaluation was much more on finding football players, for instance, and not so much on height, weight, speed. That sort of thing."

That was a good thing for Zook, a walk-on, who eventually spent his senior year as the captain of Miami's 1975 football team. Zook's Miami was THE Miami in the nation before that other one in south Florida. In fact, during his tenure at Miami (Ohio) as a hard-slamming, high-energy defensive back, his team known as the Redskins back then finished 32-1-1 with bowl victories in consecutive years over Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. The only thing that kept Miami from going undefeated during that stretch was a one-point loss at Michigan State and a tie at Purdue.

Not only that, with Zook demanding that his teammates do nothing less along the way, Miami finished those three seasons ranked 15th, 10th and 12th respectively in the final Associated Press polls. Said Zook, "I can remember many times that we would be down playing Kentucky or whoever, and it would be a tough game, but never was there a concern on our sidelines as to whether we would win or not.

"It was always like, 'We better get our butt together. Hey, we got to get going.' And all of those lessons that I learned at Miami are the lessons that I've tried to instill into our team here and at every place I've ever coached."

In case you're wondering, Zook has coached forever, and this makes no sense. "I know I never saw this coming," he said, shaking his head, reflecting back on his days at Hepburn Hall, where he often returned from the grueling summer practices of hard-driving coaches Bill Mallory and Dick Crum with earaches, other aches and deep thoughts of never seeing shoulder pads or chinstraps again.

Which leads us to Zook chuckling again while sharing one of his favorite Hepburn Hall stories. To have him tell it, he wasn't chuckling to start his senior year at Miami -- not with the prospect of suffering more aches from those coaches by arriving late to summer drills. In fact, Zook said he was frowning back then as he roared down one of the extremely scenic but infamously dangerous two-lane highways that winds through southwestern Ohio into Oxford.

"So we're coming down that long hill heading toward town, and I'm driving, with Jim Feucht (noted Hepburn Hall wild man and Zook teammate), knowing that we're going to hell with another one of those football camps, and I'm passing these cars, and there's a car coming right at us," said Zook, rocking on the couch, with hands moving to describe the scene. "Well, Feucht looks at me and says real calmly, 'I don't think we're going to make it,' and I just keep flying down the highway."

Then Zook glanced at his wife, Denise, and said, "You never heard this story," and he continued in the same breath, "The next thing you know, I'm zipping around on campus, and we pull right up on the front yard of Hepburn Hall.

"We're out there unloading our stuff, and there's a freshman named Pat McDermott and his mom, and she's telling Coach Crum, 'You wouldn't believe it, these kids. Whoever was driving this car out there on the highway almost got killed.' "

With a baffled expression, Denise said, "Did your brakes go out?"

Zook responded, "No, I was just ..."

He laughed. In addition to his story of the moment, he could have been tickled by his career path since leaving Miami. Somehow, this northern Ohio kid who wished to become a dentist evolved into a prolific football recruiter and defensive coaching specialist. His career has spanned from Murray State, Cincinnati, Kansas and Tennessee to Virginia Tech, Ohio State and Florida. There were stops in the pros with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kansas City Chiefs and New Orleans Saints.

Zook also did the equivalent of shoving a kicking tee down his throat by succeeding Steve Spurrier as head coach at Florida. Not surprisingly, he was fired after three decent seasons in 2004, mostly for not being the other guy, and then he took over a traditionally mediocre Illinois program that showed a pulse two seasons ago. The Illini pulled an upset at Ohio State along the way to a 9-4 finish, but they ended as losers overall last year for the third time in Zook's four years at Illinois.

Thus the pressure on Zook right now. Consider, too, that the Illini were wretched during a 37-9 loss in their opener this season against Missouri. They handled lowly Illinois State last week, but they play three real teams in a row (Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan State) beginning a week from Saturday in Columbus.

Still, Zook's goal for Illinois hasn't changed, and it is expressed in the word "believe," which is written everywhere throughout the football complex.

"The best chance you have at reaching your own goal is to have everybody having the same goal and also having everybody help each other reach those goals," said Zook, who sounds like Ara Parseghian, which is to say his voice is inspirationally hoarse. He also is a 21st century version of Woody Hayes, a noted scholar of military history. In other words, as a disciple of the Blue Angels and all things U.S. Navy, Zook resembles the late Hayes by taking a soldierly approach to coaching.

It's just a coincidence that Zook has the traits of Parseghian and Hayes, both College Football Hall of Famers and both among the slew of those who rocked the Cradle of Coaches at Miami (Ohio) with Paul Brown, Weeb Ewbank, Bo Schembechler and others that I'll discuss in the future.

This isn't a coincidence: Once upon a time, when the world was decades younger, Zook was one of us.

Terence Moore, Class of '78, was part of Hepburn Hall, a dormitory at Miami (Ohio) University that produced a slew of prominent sports figures. He will continue with part two of this four-part series next Wednesday.

Illini's Ron Zook Was One of Us originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Pickin' On the Big Ten: Can Anybody Here Coach This Game?

Mark Hasty — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Big 10

Every Thursday, Pickin' On the Big Ten previews the weekend's action, even when the truth is ugly.

It was a bad week for vowels.

The seven Big Ten schools whose names start with consonants played anywhere from OK to brilliantly this past weekend. The four that start with vowels -- Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Ohio State -- all dropped a pantload on the field.

Illinois gets a partial pass because Missouri has been on a nice run lately. Ohio State played a Navy team that usually goes bowling. Indiana struggled with a ~~Division I-AA~~ FCS school, but they're Indiana; you kind of expect these things from them after a while.

That leaves one school. Iowa. And if I was an Iowa fan ... wait. I am an Iowa fan. Make the jump and see what has me feeling punchy. I promise I'll get around to the games eventually.

The most galling thing, to me at least, is found by taking a look at Northern Iowa's roster. It would be one thing if Iowa had melted down against one of those tricky, speedy teams with a plethora of players from Florida, Texas, Georgia, and all those other states where quick athletes seem to grow like zucchini. I counted two Panthers from Florida, one from Arkansas, and two from Oklahoma. Otherwise, that roster is made up of Midwestern kids, the overwhelming majority of them from Iowa or a bordering state. These are all kids who should have been and probably were on Iowa's recruiting radar, but either weren't offered scholarships or felt they'd never get on the field.

UNI quarterback Pat Grace was a Rivals two-star recruit out of Sioux City. Carlos Anderson, the running back who outgained any of Iowa's backs, came out of the Kansas City area with two Rivals stars attached to his name. I could go on.

Mark Farley, Northern Iowa's head coach, made a little more than $205,000 last year. Kirk Ferentz made about $33,000 more than that per game last year. One coach had his team ready for the season opener. One apparently didn't.

Northern Iowa just about beat Iowa in Kinnick Stadium, with the players the Hawkeyes didn't really want, and after the game Ferentz couldn't say much besides "Gosh, they're a pretty good football team." Yes, it's clear that a pretty good football team could be assembled from Iowa's leftovers, so long as they were actually ready for the first game of the season and didn't fall to shreds if they lost their top running back.

(Oh, and by the way, Northern Iowa was also without its top running back. Derrick Law, the Panthers' leading returning rusher, was suspended and didn't play a down this past Saturday. Like the injured Hawkeye Jewel Hampton, Law wasn't the feature back last year either. Carlos Anderson redshirted last season and had never played in a college football game before.)

Go read what The (Cedar Rapids) Gazette's Mike Hlas wrote about Farley's postgame comments. "It's not a matter if UNI will beat Iowa," Farley said. "It's a matter of when it's going to happen. It should have happened today and we didn't make the play at the end. That's football." I don't doubt him. I just wonder why you so seldom hear Big Ten coaches say anything like that.

It's time to kill the whole notion that talent is what's holding the Big Ten back. It's not talent. It's coaching. There are just too many coaches who can't quite seem to put all the pieces together. It's not every coach. It's just too many of them.

Right. The games. I did promise you, after all.

ILLINOIS STATE @ ILLINOIS

Three words describing Illinois last week: Stink, stank, and stunk. You can make the argument that they lost Arrelious Benn and running back Jason Ford early and didn't have their other main running back, Daniel Dufrene, at all. I can make the point that none of those guys play defense.

Illinois State is coached by longtime Purdue defensive coordinator Brock Spack, who came into town with Joe Tiller and left with him too. During Tiller's tenure, Purdue was 6-2 against Illinois. Don't go expecting miracles, however. Illinois State is a couple years from hanging with the Illini for even a half.

BROCK	3
MOCK	48

Know Your Non-Conference Tomato Can: Illinois State

As with last week's school, Northern Iowa, Illinois State is a teachers' college gone big. Located about two hours southwest of Chicago, Illinois State has grown into a university which enrolls more than 20,000 students.

Teacher training is still a primary focus at ISU, which is one of the top ten producers of teachers in the United States. The art education program in particular has received multiple national honors. ISU is also home to one of two collegiate circuses in the United States.

Illinois State's best known alumnus is probably Richard Roeper, the Chicago Sun Times columnist who replaced Gene Siskel as Roger Ebert's partner on "At the Movies" after Siskel died. Roeper sometimes gets to review movies starring other Redbird alums, who include Gary Sinise, John Malkovich, Judith Ivey, and Gary Cole, who won't let you watch this game because he really needs those TPS reports.

WESTERN MICHIGAN @ INDIANA

The squeaker over Eastern Kentucky last week wound up not being the Big Ten's most humiliating performance of the weekend against an FCS team, but nobody would have guessed that Thursday night. Bill Lynch wanted to emphasize "downhill running" this season. How did that work out for the Hoosiers? They ran for 73 yards against EKU.

Last year, in their season opener, they ran for 297 yards against Western Kentucky. Those are two different teams, I know. Still, when you work to install a new wrinkle on offense and don't get any better results than that, maybe your plan wasn't quite as brilliant as you first thought.

Western Michigan made Michigan look fantastic last week, though once the Broncos got their offense booted up in the second half, they were able to make a few big plays against the Wolverines. The Hoosiers got killed by big plays last week. It'll happen again this week, except this time IU won't win the game.

WHAT'S A CUBIT?	31
HEY, WE'RE THE ONES BUILDING THE ARK	24

IOWA @ IOWA STATE

I've already harped on the Hawkeyes enough. In their defense, that was a patchwork offensive line they put out there last week. Guard Dace Richardson found himself playing tackle as Kyle Calloway spent a game in the Naughty Chair. Guard Julian Vandevelde wasn't fully recovered from surgery and still isn't, but he is expected to see some action. The unit should perform much, much better this week.

The Hawkeyes have not won in Ames since 2003. The visiting team has lost the last five games in this series. As with mutual funds, past performance is no guarantee of future results, but for Iowa, the omens aren't good. Iowa State did not struggle in their opening game, dispatching a respectable FCS team in North Dakota State, 34-17. Cyclone quarterback Austen Arnaud flourished in his first game under Paul Rhoads, who said he wanted to spread the field, and did. Arnaud threw for 227 yards and is always a threat to take off and run.

The Clones had trouble controlling NDSU's rushing attack. The Bison actually outrushed ISU, 210-204. This is not great news for Iowa unless they can establish a run game early, however.

I'm guessing that Iowa learned from its mistakes, isn't actually as bad as they looked last week, and will come out markedly improved with its offensive line closer to normal. Will it be enough to break the nightmarish road streak?

No.

WAKE ME UP WHEN SEPTEMBER ENDS	13
SOMEBODY USUALLY DOES	17

NOTRE DAME @ MICHIGAN

All the renewed enthusiasm for both teams has to be tempered by the harsh reality that they beat Nevada and Western Michigan respectively. Last year's Irish team wouldn't have pitched the shutout, however, and last year's Wolverines wouldn't have won at all.

Neither team faced a defense which was anywhere near as good as the one they'll be facing this week. Do you go with Jimmy Clausen's greater experience and notable improvement? Or do you go with the poise of Tate Forcier and the catch-me-if-you-can speed of Denard Robinson? Who's going to be the first to find a crack in the defense that will probably stymie both offenses in the first half?

Denard Robinson will be the first, which is why I like Michigan in this game.

YEAH, BUT AT LEAST WE DON'T ... OH, WHO CARES?	10
NOT QUITE AS GOOD AS WE'RE GOING TO BE	16

CENTRAL MICHIGAN @ MICHIGAN STATE

Sparty was wonderful last week, but it was against Montana State. All the Spartans did is exactly what you would expect them to do against their first ever FCS opponent.

Central Michigan has a highly touted quarterback in Dan LeFevour, who is sort of like Tim Tebow, except he probably owns a parka. Last week Arizona absolutely shut down LeFevour and the rest of the Chippewa offense, holding them to 182 net yards and no touchdowns.

With all due respect to Mike Stoops, I think Mark Dantonio has his team playing slightly better defense than Arizona overall . Sparty's going to make it look easy again.

THE ONLY CURE IS LESS COWBELL	6
TOUGH LUCK; WE'RE THE AG SCHOOL	37

AIR FORCE @ MINNESOTA

This is it, the debut game for TCF Bank Stadium, the first new football venue in the Big Ten since, um, the Metrodome.

It's impossible to know right now if barely escaping Syracuse in the Carrier Dome is a bad sign for the Gophers. The 'Cuse looked better than they did at any point in the Greg Robinson era, so it's probably not all bad. The defense did manage to shut down the Orange for the entire second half, after all.

Meanwhile, Air Force was Air Force last week, piling up almost 500 yards of rushing in a 72-0 rout of Nicholls State, an FCS school which has been trying to install an Air Force-style option attack. This game will depend on how quickly the Gopher defensive line can assert itself, which should be quite quickly indeed given their size advantage. Minnesota opens their new stadium with a win, but don't get any bright ideas about Cal next week.

OFF WE GO	12
WHAT'S THAT BLUE STUFF OVER US?	28

EASTERN MICHIGAN @ NORTHWESTERN

Pat Fitzgerald, along with Joe Paterno and Mark Dantonio, is a distinct exception to the jaundiced view I currently hold of Big Ten coaching. He's maintained the high level of performance Gary Barnett established while holding on to the winning culture Randy Walker wanted to instill in the Wildcat program.

Last week's game against Towson taught us little about what the Wildcats can actually do. It's tempting to say that this week's game won't shed any more light, given that Eastern Michigan lost to Army last week. However, that was the first game for new Army Rich Ellerson, who was at Cal Poly last season. Go ask Wisconsin fans if Ellerson can coach. He just might be the guy to get Army going again.

As for this game, it'll be another laugher.

WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE YPSILANTI	0
BROUGHT TO YOU BY LITTLE DEBBIE	44

USC @ OHIO STATE

"I don't want to write this," he said, but he had to, even though Buckeye fans are about as sensitive as a rug burn.

You want something to give you hope? Okay, here it is: For one quarter against San Jose State, the Trojans looked about as unready and unsure of themselves as the Buckeyes did against Navy. Heck, USC was even down 3-0 at the end of the first quarter.

They were up 28-3 at halftime.

Believe me, I'd dearly love to be wrong about this, but I just don't think OSU has an answer for Southern Cal's explosiveness. Yeah, the Horseshoe is intimidating for the visiting team. Yeah, it's a rare chance to get one of these gol-danged smart-mouth Pac-10 teams on the Big Ten's home turf. If Navy's offense, which is as predictable as an episode of Dora the Explorer, skunked your defense, what are you going to do about USC?

The fans will be up for this one, until USC's up by two scores, which may not take long. Enthusiasm alone isn't going to get it done.

NOW, PLEASE GO AWAY	27
WE WERE ABOUT TO TELL YOU THAT	7

SYRACUSE @ PENN STATE

Unlike last week, Greg Paulus will be going against a team that historically has taken defense very seriously. Also unlike last week, Doug Marrone's defense will not be going up against a school that just changed its offensive scheme during the offseason. Not only that, but the game's in Happy Valley. If last week Syracuse fans found out how far they've come under their new coach, this week they'll find out how far they still have to go.

YOU'RE LUCKY THIS ISN'T BASKETBALL, JOE	6
THIS ISN'T BASKETBALL, GREG	31

PURDUE @ OREGON

Last week was a nice story for Purdue, a nightmare for Oregon. This week Purdue rolls into Autzen Stadium to face a Duck team that has something to prove -- to the nation, to their fans, and most of all to themselves.

Buried in all the warm fuzzies flowing from West Lafayette last Saturday was the undeniable reality that the Rockets threw the ball almost at will on the Boilermakers, who gave up 423 yards and two touchdowns through the air. The Oregon offense was comically bad in Boise; they'll look a lot better in front of the home crowd this week as Purdue stumbles into a nest of angry Ducks.

BACK TO LIFE, BACK TO REALITY	10
THE FIFTH DIMENSION USED TO WEAR OUR UNIFORMS	38

FRESNO STATE @ WISCONSIN

The Badgers' offense looked darned good against Northern Illinois last week, as quarterback Scott Tolzien was deadly accurate and Wisconsin's standard multipronged rushing attack was in evidence. The opener of what is widely assumed to be Bret Bielema's make-or-break season would have been an unqualified success but for the fact that the defense let NIU back into the game during the fourth quarter, getting burned on pass after pass. So the win has to be qualified.

Fresno State is fresh off a tuneup against UC-Davis and is known as a team that always plays to the closing whistle. The Bulldogs have fallen off from the level they were at a few years ago, but they're still a dangerous team and the Badgers will have their hands full. Fresno State wasn't challenged last week, though, and Wisconsin was. The Badgers are sure to have learned from the experience and aren't about to let what happened last week happen again.

DIDN'T YOU USE TO BE PAT HILL?	14
DIDN'T YOU USE TO BE BARRY ALVAREZ?	24

Next week's games:

Indiana @ Akron: Go to the sports bar and ask them to put this game on the big screen, I dare you
Arizona @ Iowa: Homecoming for Mike Stoops
Eastern Michigan @ Michigan: Homecoming for Ron English
Michigan State @ Notre Dame: Homecoming for demoralized Irish squad
California @ Minnesota: Got a bad feeling about this one
Northwestern @ Syracuse: Just join the conference already, Syracuse
Ohio State @ Toledo: Yes, AT Toledo
Temple @ Penn State: Al Golden won't want any more homecomings
Northern Illinois @ Purdue: Strangely, a must-win for Danny Hope
Wofford @ Wisconsin: Who comes up with this stuff?

Pickin' On the Big Ten: Can Anybody Here Coach This Game? originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

College Football Twitter Mailbag: Opening Weekend Reaction

Michael David Smith — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 09:12:00 EST

Filed under: Alabama, Brigham Young, Illinois, Ohio State, Oklahoma, USC, Virginia Tech

I spent all day Saturday tweeting about college football, and I got some great, thoughtful responses to my tweets from the population of college football Twitter nation. We conversed, 140 characters at a time, about the BYU-Oklahoma and Alabama-Virginia Tech games, and about the woeful performance of my alma mater, Illinois.

Some of the best replies, and my replies to the replies, are in our college football Twitter mailbag below.

SI_JoshGross: Nice win by BYU. But it's hard to make much of it when Oklahoma still has a better shot of advancing to the BCS.
I agree with this. It's one of the real flaws of college football that if Oklahoma finishes 12-1 and BYU finishes 12-0, Oklahoma will be higher in the BCS rankings. I don't expect either Oklahoma or BYU to run the table the rest of the way, but if somehow both do, we're in for another college football postseason in which we talk more about problems with the BCS than about the games on the field.

injuryrate: I should have gone to the NFL, that's what he's thinking.
I tweetedthat I couldn't imagine what was going through Sam Bradford's mind as he stood on the sidelines and watched his teammates lose on Saturday night, and I'm sure injuryrate is right: Although Bradford would never say so, I'm betting that on Saturday night, he was thinking to himself that he shouldn't have returned to Oklahoma. It's impossible to say whether the Detroit Lions would have chosen Sam Bradford first overall in this year's draft, but I do believe Bradford would have gone higher in 2009 than he ultimately will in 2010.

basskater91289 Cody Grimm made an excellent play.
As I tweeted on Saturday, I thought Virginia Tech's Cody Grimm made one of the plays of the day when he caught Alabama's Roy Upchurch from behind and stripped the ball. Grimm, the son of former Redskins offensive lineman Russ Grimm, is a lot smaller and a lot faster than his dad.

jamesmthomson: Coached against him for several years when he was in HS...he's a monster.
This came in response to my tweet saying, "USC sophomore NT Jurrell Casey is an absolute stud. He's 19 years old and already has an NFL body." Thanks for the insight.

DamonMartin: Everybody was saying Illinois would be the third best team in the Big 10 this year. Guess not!
Based on the way the Illini played Saturday, they might not be the 10th best team in the Big Ten. The Illini were the only Big Ten team to lose on Saturday, and they looked absolutely awful against Missouri. Heading into the season I thought Illinois would play in a bowl game, but now I'm having a hard time seeing four wins on the Illini schedule, let alone six.

The_OG_JLo: I predict USC -7.5 for next week's point spread. What do you think?
The point spreads I've seen have USC as a six- or seven-point favorite at Ohio State on Saturday. Not that I would ever advise anyone to place bets based on my predictions, but I think USC will cover that spread easily.

Want to be part of our next college football Twitter mailbag? Post a question or comment on Twitter.com, and be sure to start it with @MichaelDavSmith.

College Football Twitter Mailbag: Opening Weekend Reaction originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Tue, 08 Sep 2009 09:12:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

College Football FanHouse Saturday Chat

Brian Grummell — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 13:49:00 EST

Filed under: Georgia, Illinois, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, USC, Fans

Join the College Football FanHouse crew for a mid-day chat as college football's opening week unfolds. We'll have several of our writers and additional interesting Twitter feeds participating in the chat application.

The show gets rolling at 3 PM ET, comfortably nestled at the end of the early slate of games and before headliners like USC, Notre Dame, Illinois, Georgia and Oklahoma State go battle. Chat application after the jump.

&amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&amp;amp;amp;amp;task=viewaltcast&amp;amp;amp;amp;altcast_code=656f21044b" &amp;amp;amp;gt;College Football FanHouse Week One Chat&amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;gt;

College Football FanHouse Saturday Chat originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Sat, 05 Sep 2009 13:49:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Pickin' On the Big Ten, Week 1

Mark Hasty — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 09:30:00 EST

Filed under: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Big 10

Every Thursday, Pickin' On the Big Ten previews the upcoming weekend's action in The Conference Everybody Loves to Hate.

Oh, it's here. It's finally, finally, finally here. No more depth-chart speculation, no more arguing about who is the best SAM in the conference, and only one more week until the game that will either restore the Big Ten's swagger or send it sobbing into the bathroom. The teams are ready, the stadiums are ready (well, except for Minnesota's), the cheerleaders and bands are ready, the vast charcoal forests of northern Michigan have been shaved to the ground, the beer cows of Wisconsin have been "milked" into millions of brown glass bottles ... it's time for some football, y'all.

So, grab a beverage, throw some cheddarwurst on the grill, and let's take a look at this weekend's action-packed slate of games, shall we?

Okay, who am I trying to kid, besides myself? You know and I know that the opening week schedule is always full of games you wouldn't be watching if it hadn't been almost nine months since you saw any college football. With one exception, maybe two, these games are such foregone conclusions that a trained baboon could pick them. It wouldn't even have to be a particularly smart baboon. Still, this weekend's games will answer many of the lingering questions from the offseason, so let's get right down to it.

ILLINOIS vs. MISSOURI (@ St. Louis)

This, by the way, would be the one definite exception to the Baboon Rule above. So let me deal with this game before I turn things over to Mr. Tibbles, okay?

Right now, these are both the Show Me States. Missouri is because, first of all, Missouri is always the Show Me State, and second of all, because they now have to try to fend for themselves in an improving Big 12 North without the electric combination of Chase Daniel and Jeremy Maclin. Illinois is the Show Me State this year because it's Juice Williams' senior year and the Big Ten might be a little more up for grabs than usual.

It would be wrong to assume that Moo Moo Mizzou is set to take a giant leap backwards this year. Blaine Gabbert, the Tigers' new quarterback, was highly sought after as a recruit. Unlike his predecessor, he is not short. The Illinois secondary has plenty of experience, but any secondary that loses Vontae Davis gets at least a little bit worse by default. The Illini pass-slappers will be tested early and often, establishing a theme for the season.

Will Illinois be able to keep up? Missouri returns ten starters on defense, but last season's defense was a weak one in a conference which didn't exactly distinguish itself defensively. (Sean Weatherspoon excepted, of course.) I'd feel a little more confident if Illinois had more of a running game, but I think the Illini can keep pace with the Tigers and have just enough more on defense to take this game.

IT'S NOW OR NEVER	38
ARE YOU THROWIN' SOME TONIGHT?	28

EASTERN KENTUCKY @ INDIANA

For Indiana, this game is sort of like dating the nerdy friend of the person you really want to date. Eastern Kentucky was the last school new Purdue coach Danny Hope was at, so playing them early in the season might give the Hoosiers a slight glimpse of what this year's battle for the Old Oaken Bucket will be like.

Eastern Kentucky is a pass-oriented team, which won't help IU determine if their laughable run defense from last season is gone or still remains. Bill Lynch has said that he wants to move the Hoosiers to a more run-based offense, which could have something to do with the lack of experienced pass-catchers on his roster. Kellen Lewis is gone, of course, while Ray Fisher has been converted to a cornerback.

This won't be the blowout Indiana faithful would like to see as the new IU rushing game tries to find its way, but the Hoosiers should prevail against a lower-division opponent.

WE DON'T KNOW DANNY	17
WE DON'T KNOW HOPE	24

NORTHERN IOWA @ IOWA

Jewel Hampton wasn't going to play much beyond the second quarter of this one anyway.

Like I said on Tuesday, losing Hampton hurts, but it probably isn't the aHawkolyptic event some are painting it to be. That being said, Northern Iowa could be just the team to pants the Hawkeyes -- not in the sense of beating them, but in the sense of exposing their vulnerabilities. The Panthers have been to the 1-AA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs in five of coach Mark Farley's eight seasons, reaching the finals once and being eliminated by the eventual champion two other times. Unlike the Hawkeyes, the Panthers have plenty of experience at running back and will probably go right at Iowa's revamped defensive line.

Of course, there's not much of a chance that Northern Iowa's offensive line, good as it is, can match up against the Hawks for very long. I think this game will be closer than Kirk Ferentz wants at the half, leading to lots of angsty gum-chewing in the third quarter, but eventually Ricky Stanzi will take over this game.

NORTH END OF I-380	10
SOUTH END OF I-380	45

Know Your Non-Conference Tomato Can: Northern Iowa

Located on the Cedar Falls side of the small Waterloo/Cedar Falls metropolitan area of northeastern Iowa, the University of Northern Iowa began as a teacher-training institute and still retains teacher education as one of its primary focuses. UNI now enrolls nearly 13,000 students and is one of only a handful of schools to offer the Doctor of Industrial Technology degree.

UNI's best known alumnus, at least to sports fans, is two-time NFL MVP and razor antagonist Kurt Warner, who chose Northern Iowa after former Iowa head coach Hayden Fry offered a scholarship to current NFL Network host Paul Burmeister instead of Warner. The school has also produced many a journeyman NFL player, along with Entertainment Tonight cohost Mark Steines and United States Senator Chuck Grassley.

Robert James Waller is a former UNI basketball player and marketing professor who wrote the best-selling novel The Bridges of Madison County. Waller's books are popular with readers but get no love from critics, with the notoriously dyspeptic Joe Queenan calling him "the biggest dips**t in the history of American letters." I have no idea if this bit of criticism hurt Waller's feelings, but if it did, he probably dried his tears with a $100 bill.

WESTERN MICHIGAN @ MICHIGAN

It's never a good sign when your coach is in tears mere days before the season opener, and there were already some things that weren't very good signs.

This game is the most important one Rich Rodriguez will coach all season, because it's going to set the tone for more than just week 2 or the rest of the season. Obviously, there's nothing the Wolverines can do on the field to end the investigation or change its findings, but how the Michigan administration reacts to it is still up in the air.

University president Mary Sue Coleman was in office when the Ed Martin scandal broke and famously said, "I am determined that nothing like this will ever happen again at Michigan." That doesn't bode well for RichRod. It's possible that he's doomed even if he wins ten games this year. He's certainly doomed, however, if he doesn't get the Wolverines back to a bowl game. Michigan isn't going to stand for all this fooferaw and another losing season.

He could have a better opponent to try to silence his critics. Western Michigan got back on track last year, winding up in the Texas Bowl, which is soon to be a Big Ten property. They like to pass and have a pretty good quarterback in Tim Hiller. Defense, however, is a huge iffy spot for the Broncos, who return only three starters from a mid-pack unit. If Rodriguez's modus operandi is still in effect and the off-the-field issues aren't too great of a distraction, Michigan should be able to walk the Broncos.

SLOUCHING TOWARDS KALAMAZOO	17
BOHICA	21

MONTANA STATE @ MICHIGAN STATE

Meanwhile, up the road a piece, there's another ripple effect from the Jewel Hampton injury. With most people lowering their expectations of the Hawkeyes, it'll be up to Mark Dantonio to show that Sparty isn't Sparty any more by putting together back-to-back great seasons. There are many, many questions about the Spartan offense, like "will they have one?", but as with Iowa this team stands on the shoulders of its defense.

And what a defense it is. Greg Jones is the best linebacker Sparty has had in a long time, and he's just one of many playmakers on the Michigan State defense. Montana State also has a solid defense but many new players on offense. This is the first time ever that Michigan State has played an FCS opponent; the outcome of this game will not leave them clamoring for more.

YEAH, BUT OUR SKIING'S BETTER	7
THAT'S NOT SAYING MUCH	38

MINNESOTA @ SYRACUSE

With TCF Bank Stadium (the conference's first title-sponsored football venue) still a week away from opening, the Gophers find themselves in a strange place. No, I don't mean Syracuse, though that is where they'll find themselves. I mean playing in someone else's domed stadium against a first year head coach nobody knows much about, facing a quarterback who played college basketball last season for a different school.

Tim Brewster has stated that he wants the Gophers to get back to their power running roots. This makes perfect sense, since he has one of the conference's best wide receivers and one of its most accurate and experienced quarterbacks. Does he not realize that he has the same problem Glen Mason had: a defense that seems mostly like an afterthought?

Small matter. Doug Marrone can't stop the Cuse's Robinsonian rot in a single season, though this might be more of a game than the Gophers are hoping for.

TIMO SABE	27
MARRONE RANGER	14

TOWSON @ NORTHWESTERN

Ick.

INSERT BETTER OPPONENT HERE	0
YOU'D THINK WE'D KNOW BETTER	56

NAVY @ OHIO STATE

If I'm an Ohio State fan, this just is not the game I want to see as my squad's week-before-USC tuneup. Not that there's really any doubt about how the game will turn out; it's just that facing Navy and its "death before passing" offense isn't going to tell me very much about my team. Not only that, but the Navy defense will have significant trouble even slowing down Terrelle Pryor, let alone stopping him. This game will give me absolutely no idea of how my team is going to match up against SC next week. And right now, that's what I really want to know.

Navy's eccentricity should keep the Buckeye defenders back on their heels for a half or so, but Terrelle Pryor and the rest of the offense won't have any trouble outscoring Navy. In fact, I'm guessing that Pryor has such a huge day that, come Wednesday or so, we'll all be sick of hearing about him as a potential Heisman spoiler.

IN THE NAVY	6
T-O-SU	42

AKRON @ PENN STATE

Not only did I drink the Spread HD Kool-Aid last year, I banged my glass on the table and asked for a second helping. I should have known when the playcalling turned a little too conservative against Ohio State. Actually, I should have known when the Nits struggled against Purdue, a team whose defense couldn't stop water from flowing uphill. Why was I so easily persuaded? Because Penn State played a bunch of games like this one.

Sure is nice to see Sean Lee back, though.

ZIPS	3
ZAP!	54

TOLEDO @ PURDUE

This, then, is where it starts for Danny Hope, facing another team breaking in a new head coach. The new rocket man is Tim Beckman, formerly Mike Gundy's defensive coordinator at Oklahoma State.

Of all the games in this opening weekend, this one has the strongest "anything can happen" vibe surrounding it. No one really knows what to expect from Purdue, though it's known that Danny Hope favors an aggressive offensive scheme and puts a high value on quickness.

Purdue's real problems last season were on defense, however. Toledo will be with out its leading rusher Morgan Williams, which should mitigate the Boilers' squishiness somewhat. I don't really know if Purdue is going to make a dramatic turnaround, or score a lot of points, or anything like that. Really, this is the most interesting game of the weekend to me, just for those reasons.

GLASS CITY GLADIATORS	16
YOU LOOK FAMILIAR, COACH	20

NORTHERN ILLINOIS @ WISCONSIN

The theme for Wisconsin this year is, or at least had better be, discipline. Last year even the coach staff frequently acted like a bunch of third-graders who had to stay in from afternoon recess. That led Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez to send his protege Bret Bielema a rather unsubtle message: It's one thing to get beat, but it's something else entirely to lose because you were throwing a hissy fit on the sidelines.

In fact, the whole just seemed to me like they had their minds on something other than football last season. I almost signed them up for a 30-day trial of one of those informercial pills that's supposed to help you think more clearly.

Right. The game. Maybe I need those pills too, huh?

Wisconsin is inexperienced at most of the offensive skill positions but has enough of a defense to offset that somewhat. Northern Illinois has come a long way from the days when the Huskies were every Big Ten team's homecoming date. Jerry Kill enters his second season in DeKalb off a trip to the Independence Bowl last year (they lost). Kill has been successful everywhere he's been.

That's potentially a problem for Bielema, because winning this game in a squeaker isn't going to help him at all. Ideally, his faith in quarterback Scott Tolzien and running back Zach Brown will be rewarded with breakout performances. More likely, it'll be rewarded with non-disastrous performances. That'll be good enough for now, but Bielema and the Badgers are going to have to blow somebody up to win back some of their eroding fan support.

ON THE RISE	10
DESTINATION UNKNOWN	13

NEXT WEEK'S GAMES

Illinois State @ Illinois: Tecmo Bowl with a concession stand
Western Michigan @ Indiana: Potential season-ruiner for IU
Iowa @ Iowa State: I don't trust Paul Rhoads; he seems sneaky
Notre Dame @ Michigan: The Battle of Who Could Care Less
Central Michigan @ Michigan State: Tough test for MSU's D
Air Force @ Minnesota: Hello, TCF Bank Stadium!
Eastern Michigan @ Northwestern: Lick the frosting off your fingers, Wildcats
USC @ Ohio State: Somebody's season basically ends here
Syracuse @ Penn State: Conference opener in Bizarro Big East
Purdue @ Oregon: This will end badly for the Boilers
Fresno State @ Wisconsin: Doesn't have the clout it would have had a couple years ago

Comments? Questions? Need this column translated into English? Email Mark at pickbigten@gmail.com.

Pickin' On the Big Ten, Week 1 originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 03 Sep 2009 09:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Big 12 Notebook: Marquee Matchups Rule Opening Week

Terrance Harris — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:00:00 EST

Filed under: Baylor, Brigham Young, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Texas, Texas Tech, Big 12

Most college football coaches seem to prefer easing into the non-conference portion of the schedule before the fun really starts during league play.

But for three Big 12 schools, the start of the season will be anything but a breaking-in period this upcoming weekend.

Missouri and Illinois meet in St. Louis, third-ranked Oklahoma takes on No. 20 BYU in Arlington, Texas, and the marquee matchup features No.13 Georgia at No. 9 Oklahoma State on Saturday afternoon.

Let's just say there isn't likely to be any relaxing moments where the backup quarterback can get a little work for any of these teams Saturday.

"It makes ... your players have a sense of urgency, and that they've got to be on top of their game for sure right off the bat," OU coach Bob Stoops said Monday. "You like it if you are able to win and you don't like it if you aren't able to win it.

"At the end of the day it is challenging and it does get your players' attention for sure."

These games also capture the attention of voters, networks, alumni and important recruits. That is certainly the case with the rivalry series between Mizzou and the Illini now being played in St. Louis, the city where both bordering state schools regularly tangle for talented recruits in the area.

"This game is like a bowl game. It's two rivals, in a great city, the dome," said MU coach Gary Pinkel, whose team has won its last four games against Illinois in St. Louis. "This intensity is just unbelievable to start the season."

As intense as things may get in St. Louis, the emotional level in the newly renovated Boone Pickens Stadium is likely to be 10 times greater Saturday. The Cowboys are coming into their most hyped season ever. The program is ranked in the top 10 and is considered talented enough to challenge for its first Big 12 South title and earn a BCS bowl bid.

But to get this season of high expectations off to the desired start, OSU will have to get past a Georgia program that knows a little about big-time matchups. Fortunately for the Cowboys, the Bulldogs will be breaking in a new starting quarterback and running back.

But the fact that even OSU coach Mike Gundy is inexperienced in these type of games might be more damaging than Georgia's inexperience at key positions on the field.

"This is new to me personally," Gundy said. "I've not been in a situation where we've had to so much national attention and gotten the program to this level so this is new for myself. I do worry about it. I don't know what we can do other than practice hard and stay focused as a staff."

If Gundy is trying to do all he can to bring normalcy to his team as the game approaches, the fans are doing all they can to keep the Cowboys on edge.

"In Stillwater and the community, the last four or five weeks wherever you go, that's all anybody talks about," Gundy said Monday. "Three or four nights ago I was in Wal-Mart with my oldest son at 9:30 or 10 at night and everybody that walks by, that's all they talk about. That's good.

"It's good that there is a lot of excitement in the community. But you always worry about [being able to focus] as a coach."

Even more pressing, the coaches must worry about having to come out of the gate fast. Most coaches will tell you that the biggest improvement in their teams comes between Week 1 and Week 2. That could be too late for teams like Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, who have national championship aspirations.

Chances are, in a division that is as competitive as the Big 12 South, there is enough recovery time. But who wants to take that chance when teams like Florida, Ohio State, or USC might be capable of running the table?

Colorado, Kansas State keeping QB secrets

Both Colorado and Kansas State come into this season with serious competition at quarterback and neither of the respective coaches were willing to reveal their hands Monday.

K-State coach Bill Snyder said he would wait until Tuesday's press conference to announce the winner of the competition between junior Carson Coffman and senior Grant Gregory for Saturday's season opener against UMass.

Colorado coach Dan Hawkins is going to wait until Sunday's game against Colorado State to unveil whether or not sophomore Tyler Hansen has unseated his son, Cody Hawkins, for the Buffaloes' top spot.

"Both of them have done a nice job," Dan Hawkins said. "We are fortunate because we have two guys who understand the system. They're smart players who can make plays. They are both good players."

http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,localizationConfig,entry&id=515420&pid=515419&uts=1251768673

http://www.aolcdn.com/ke/media_gallery/v1/ke_media_gallery_wrapper.swf

Latest College Football Photos

University of Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez addressed the media at Junge Family Champions Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Monday, August 31, 2009. (Andre J. Jackson/Detroit Free Press/MCT)

MCT

Detroit Free Press

Latest College Football Images

In this photo provided by Harpo Productions, ESPN college football sideline reporter Erin Andrews, left, talks with television talk-show host Oprah Winfrey during a taping for an upcoming show Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009, in Chicago. In the interview, which airs Sept. 11, Andrews tells Winfrey that having secretly videotaped nude footage of her distributed on the Internet was a "nightmare." (AP Photo/Harpo Productions, George Burns)

University of Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez addressed the media at Junge Family Champions Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Monday, August 31, 2009. (Andre J. Jackson/Detroit Free Press/MCT)

MCT

University of Michigan athletic director Bill Martin addressed the media at Junge Family Champions Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Monday, August 31, 2009. (Andre J. Jackson/Detroit Free Press/MCT)

MCT

University of Michigan linebacker Obi Ezeh addressed the media at Junge Family Champions Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Monday, August 31, 2009. (Andre J. Jackson/Detroit Free Press/MCT)

MCT

University of Michigan linebacker Steve Brown addressed the media at Junge Family Champions Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Monday, August 31, 2009. (Andre J. Jackson/Detroit Free Press/MCT)

MCT

University of Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez addressed the media at Junge Family Champions Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Monday, August 31, 2009. (Andre J. Jackson/Detroit Free Press/MCT)

MCT

University of Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez addressed the media at Junge Family Champions Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Monday, August 31, 2009. (Andre J. Jackson/Detroit Free Press/MCT)

MCT

University of Michigan offensive lineman David Moosman addressed the media at Junge Family Champions Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Monday, August 31, 2009. (Andre J. Jackson/Detroit Free Press/MCT)

MCT

Arkansas head football coach Bobby Petrino speaks to reporters before a luncheon at the Little Rock Touchdown Club in Little Rock, Ark., Monday, Aug. 31, 2009. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

In this Aug. 23, 2009 photo, Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez waits for his players to be seated for a team photo, during the school's annual football media day at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich. Players from the 2008 and 2009 teams told the Detroit Free Press for a story published on the newspaper's Web site on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009 that the amount of time they spend on football activities during the season and in the offseason greatly exceeds NCAA limits. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)

But while Hawkins still seems somewhat undecided on his direction, Snyder said he already knows who his quarterback will be to start the season. He just wasn't willing to tell Monday.

"We have a decision and we'll announce it tomorrow at the press conference to give everybody a fair shot at it," said Snyder, who returns to the sidelines after a brief retirement. "But we know which way we will go."

It's fair to assume Kansas State and Colorado will likely play two quarterbacks at various points this season. Both Hawkins and Hansen played last year, with Hansen showing a great deal of promise. Coffman was the backup to Josh Freeman last season, while Gregory was a backup at South Florida last season before transferring upon graduation to play his final year of eligibility in Manhattan.

Snyder said that whichever quarterback gets the nod for the opener will have to continue to play well because the competition will remain open.

"We're not in a position and it's never really been our philosophy to say, 'You're it for the year,' " he said. "I think what you would like to have happen is for the youngster to accept the responsibility of being No.1 and maintaining the position of being No.1 throughout the course of the year. That would be the hope. But by the same token, we want to make sure it remains competitive so whoever the No. 2 quarterback is going into this game, I want him to understand that if he continues to improve he always has the opportunity to challenge for the No.1 spot.

"Whoever it is going on the field on Saturday will certainly have to perform well enough to retain the position."

Frustrated Rhoads

First-year Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads seemed to take a shot or two at his predecessors and how they taught or didn't teach the Iowa State Cyclones defenders how to tackle.

The most recent head coach of ISU was Gene Chizik, who bounced after two unsuccessful seasons to take over at Auburn, the school where Rhoads was the defensive coordinator last season.

"The first thing we need to do on that side of the ball is to tackle," Rhoads said. "We inherited a football team that we felt tackled very poorly. We went to work on it just as quickly as we could when we started spring practice.

"I believe we've made a good amount of improvement but we are far from being a good tackling football team yet. Part of that is athleticism, we have to upgrade that and develop it. The other part is we have to improve technique angles that go along with being a good tackling football team. At this point still, we forget those things."

The numbers from last season support Rhoads' concerns. The Cyclones were 10th in the Big 12 in total defense and 112th overall after allowing an average of 453.2 yards per game and 6.7 yards per play.

Rhoads is going to have to play with many of those players while his recruits develop.

"It's been really frustrating because our players are our program," he said. "You develop athleticism, you develop the ability to change direction better throughout your offseason and drills, but you don't change physically who [you are] a great deal."

To correct the problem, Rhoads admits his camp was very much on the physical side.

"I don't think anybody would argue that fact," Rhoads said. "I think the output of ice coming out of our training room has definitely been up [over] where it's been the last couple of years."

Punting around in Jerry's World

Oklahoma and BYU's punters could be the next to encounter the low-hanging scoreboard in the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium when they play Saturday.

The 90-foot high scoreboard has caused controversy in the NFL because punted balls have hit it, causing a stop in play for a do-over. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he won't raise the towering structure in his state-of-the-art venue.

Stoops doesn't seem too concerned.

"Whatever the rule is we'll abide by it," he said. "From what I understand you just re-kick. They reset the clock and you have a do-over."

In some ways, Sooners freshman punter Tress Way connecting with the scoreboard might be a good sign.

"Hopefully our guy can hit it and have that kind of problem," Stoops said. "That means he's hitting it pretty well."

Big 12 Notebook: Marquee Matchups Rule Opening Week originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Illinois Juiced for Big Ten Run

Jim Henry — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Illinois

When Isiah "Juice" Williams left his hometown of Chicago on the 140-mile trek southwest to the University of Illinois three years ago, he had goals of making the Fighting Illini a fixture in the Big Ten and an annual postseason team.

Williams has come close -- a Rose Bowl berth in 2007, for example -- but there has been disappointment, too. Illinois entered 2008 as a Big Ten contender, but it failed to qualify for a bowl and finished with a losing record.

Quite frankly, this year's Illinois team has the experience, talent and ability to make national noise and return to the Rose Bowl. And Williams, the senior with the big-time arm who is also fantastic on the move, realizes this season will define his legacy at Illinois.

"We have the talent and we have the potential, but that just looks good on paper," Williams told FanHouse.

"We have to come out there every Saturday and do our jobs. As long as we approach every day as a game day in terms of practicing, studying, and preparing, we should be able to accomplish our goals. That's when we will be able to say we've turned the corner. I want to leave a good legacy, and that's about going out and getting Ws. I will forever remember how my last season finished."

Of course, how Williams starts the season is just as important in the big (bowl) picture.

The Illini open in less than two weeks against Missouri in St. Louis, and Illinois coach Ron Zook has a simple message for his veteran quarterback: Have fun.

Zook pointed out that not only did Williams arrive as a freshman with the pressure of the Big Ten Conference and the pressure of winning at Illinois, Zook believed Williams also thought he owed it to Chicago and the city's public football leagues to be successful. While Williams has endured his share of highs and lows, Zook would love nothing more than to see a smile from Williams along with production.

"I want him to enjoy this year," Zook said.

Well, this Juice is loose.

"When I am smiling I am at my best, enjoying life and enjoying the game of football," Williams said.

"I've noticed that, I understand that, and I try my best to keep a smile on my face every time I take the field. I thought I did pretty good last year, but we just have to come together more as a team. My individual performance is not going to take us anywhere. We need to come together as a team, one unit, to be effective to win games."

Even so, any casual observer has noticed Williams' improvement over the last three seasons. For starters, his completion percentage rose from 39.8 percent his freshman year to 57.5 percent for 3,173 yards last season, and his 22 passing touchdowns last year doubled his career total.

Noted as a physical runner at 6-foot-2, 235 pounds -- Williams dominates the school record book for rushing by a quarterback, amassing 2,050 yards and 14 touchdowns -- he's also only 2,321 yards away from being the leading passer in school history. With a great season, Williams, recently named to the watch list for the 2009 Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, could break the Big Ten's career total offense mark. He has 8,455 career yards, putting him within striking distance of Drew Brees (12,692).

Williams spent most of his summer on campus working and throwing with his receivers, a group that includes Arrelious Benn, Florida transfer Jarred Fayson, Jeff Cumberland and tight end Michael Hoomanawanui and has been tabbed the best in the Big Ten. If the Illini can get more productivity from their running backs and improved blocking from an offensive line prone to allow sacks, they could certainly return to their 2007 level that saw them beat then-No. 1 Ohio State.

"I was with my receivers, talking about football, working and throwing," said Williams, who led the Big Ten in passing and total offense as a junior and helped Illinois outgain opponents by nearly 90 yards per game.

"We were all business, trying to do all the different things to make you a better person and a football player. I think we've had an excellent camp so far. I feel like I am throwing the ball pretty well. We've been efficient, consistent. All the arrows are pointing in the right direction but we have to continue to do that during the season and have that same mentality each time we step on the field."

The Illini will be tested early, specifically in the Big Ten, where they play three consecutive games against Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan State to end September and open October.

While highly-regarded coming out of Chicago, Juice has gone global.

When Illinois Coach Ron Zook was on a Nike trip over the winter, a Puerto Rican cabbie asked him about his quarterback. Zook laughed and said he didn't know if it's just Williams' catchy nickname -- Williams' grandmother described him as "Big and Juicy" as he nearly died at birth due to the excessive weight of 13 pounds and eight ounces -- or what, but "people know who he is."

Williams wants his name to be forever linked to Illinois. And he will do it his way.

With a smile.

"To me, college has gone faster than high school," Williams said. "This is my last few months on this campus. I will graduate in December. It's my senior season and a last time to be with my teammates. Each practice, each game, everything, I have to make the most of it."

Illinois Juiced for Big Ten Run originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments