BIG TEN ROUNDUP News and notes
Field goal fury: It's a TV staple to grab a coach as he's leaving the field at halftime for a quick, innocuous comment. Michigan State coach John L. Smith's tirade last week at Ohio Stadium broke the mold. "That's a dang coaching mistake!" Smith seethed after a mismanaged field-goal attempt ended with Ohio State returning the blocked kick 72 yards for a touchdown as time expired. "The kids are playing their tail off and the coaches are screwing it up!" He only cooled off a little bit over the weekend. "As you know, open mouth, insert foot," Smith said. "I've kind of done it all my life. ... Emotion was speaking at that point." An assistant coach sent the field-goal unit onto the field while Smith was trying to get quarterback Drew Stanton to spike the ball to kill the clock. Instead the Spartans did a halfhearted job of blocking on the hurried placement, resulting in a momentum-swaying TD. Ohio State ended up winning 35-24, despite losing four turnovers, giving up 456 yards and a 2-to-1 disadvantage in time of possession. The Buckeyes did not run a play on Michigan State's half of the field until less than five minutes were left in the game. "In 30-some years of coaching, I've never seen anything like it," Smith said of the muffed attempt.
Only two out: With five Saturdays left in the Big Ten season, nine of the 11 schools are within a game of the conference lead. No team is unbeaten in league play, five have one loss and four more have two. No team has ever had three losses and walked off with a trophy. Over the last 45 years, the Big Ten champion or co-champions have had two losses five times, including a four-team logjam at 6-2 in 1990. Here is what's ahead for the Big Nine in the Big Ten, starting with Saturday's opponent: Penn St. (3-1): at Illinois, Purdue, Wisconsin, Bye, at Michigan St. Wisconsin (3-1): Purdue, at Illinois, at Penn St., Iowa. Iowa (3-1): Michigan, Bye, at Northwestern, at Wisconsin, Minnesota. Northwestern (2-1): at Michigan St., Michigan, Iowa, at Ohio St., at Illinois. Ohio St. (2-1): at Indiana, at Minnesota, Illinois, Northwestern, at Michigan. Minnesota (2-2): Bye, Ohio St., at Indiana, Michigan St., at Iowa. Michigan (2-2): at Iowa, at Northwestern, Bye, Indiana, Ohio St. Indiana (1-2): Ohio St., at Michigan St., Minnesota, at Michigan, Purdue. Michigan St. (1-2): Northwestern, Indiana, at Purdue, at Minnesota, Penn St. And get this: If Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, Michigan and Michigan State were to win on Saturday, all nine teams would have two losses.
Big Ten or Big Sky? The Big Ten, once known for its bruising defenses and hard-nosed running games, now has eight teams averaging more than 400 yards of offense a game, often through the spread offense. All but two teams average more than 28 points a game. Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez said the transformation really began in 1979, when Hayden Fry -- one of his mentors -- took over at Iowa. Then followed the likes of Joe Salem at Minnesota with a run-and-shoot style of offense created by Mike Shanahan, now the head coach of the Denver Broncos. Still, Alvarez said the key to the offensive explosion in the Big Ten has been its quarterbacks. He said a prime example is Northwestern's Brett Basanez. "It's not just because you're in an offense that you're putting up more yards," Alvarez said. "Basanez is the key to Northwestern's offense. He makes them go. And it's not just the offense itself. You have to execute it."
Keep hope away: Indiana coach Terry Hoeppner has a penchant for coining unusual terms. His latest contribution is "Hope Coverage." What is it? "I hope he doesn't see that, I hope he doesn't throw it there and then I hope he doesn't catch it," Hoeppner said. "I don't want to see that."
Appreciating JoePa: Illinois coach Ron Zook may be new to the Big Ten but he has coached against Penn State's Joe Paterno once before, on Sept. 12, 1981. "My second game as a defensive coordinator when I was at the University of Cincinnati, we played Penn State," Zook said. "He threw 52 [points] on us." How many did Cincinnati score? "Zero," said Zook, who was 12 years old when Paterno took over at Penn State in 1966.
Michigan hangover: For all the success that Penn State has enjoyed this season, last week's last-second loss to Michigan was difficult to take for the Nittany Lions. Quarterback Michael Robinson did his part in rallying in a frantic fourth quarter, scoring on two short touchdown runs. But the Wolverines came back to win the game on Mario Manningham's 10-yard TD catch from Chad Henne as time expired. "It was tough all of Saturday night and all of Sunday, I was thinking about what we could have done differently," Robinson said. "But now I've totally forgotten about it. I'm just trying to get it out of my mind and focus on Illinois."
Quick-hitters: Northwestern QB Brett Basanez (37 of 55 passing for 463 yards and three TDs in a 34-29 win over Purdue), Ohio State LB Bobby Carpenter (four sacks in a 35-24 win over Michigan State), Michigan's Steve Breaston (156 return yards) and Ohio State's Ashton Youboty (one blocked field goal, another blocked FG for a 72-yard TD) were the conference's players of the week. ... Iowa has won 22 in a row at home. ... Five Big Ten teams are listed in the top 25 of the initial BCS standings, but none are in the top nine. ... Purdue has lost 10 games by seven or fewer points in the past three seasons, including two this year.
Associated Press