Buckeyes begin bid for fifth straight Big 10 title

ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBUS — Darrell Hazell’s first coaching job was at Oberlin, a place where he learned that winning was nothing to take for granted.

The Yeomen went 4-16 in his two years there as the coaches struggled not only to win games but to find something positive to emphasize each week.

Twenty-some years later, even though he’s the assistant head coach and receivers coach at No. 13 Ohio State, he still considers victories — and, by extension, Big Ten championships — to be precious commodities.

“Every win I would cherish, because we weren’t going to get that many,” said Hazell, in his sixth year with the Buckeyes. “We were going to get three or four or five wins if we were lucky. Every win we get here, I cherish it. No matter who we’re playing. If we win by one point, it’s huge for us.”

Hazell has been a part of Ohio State teams that have won or shared the last four Big Ten titles. They open defense of that string today against Illinois.

He believes there are many who don’t realize what an accomplishment those championships are.

“Winning is hard,” he said. “Every single game is hard to win. We don’t think about winning Big Ten championships; we’ve got to win each week. We don’t think about long-term things.”

Only two teams in Big Ten history have captured five titles in a row: Woody Hayes and the Buckeyes won six in a row from 1972-77, and Michigan did it in from 1988 to ’92.

Iowa-Penn State

IOWA CITY, Iowa — As fans stormed the field at Kinnick Stadium last fall to celebrate Iowa’s dramatic win over then-No. 3 Penn State, it was easy to forget how huge that victory was for Hawkeyes coach Kirk Ferentz.

Iowa was grappling with a series of off-the-field conduct issues with its players and had lost 16 of its last 28 games. At 5-4, Iowa seemed destined for a minor bowl bid at best and, after three straight top-10 finishes from 2002-04, many fans were wondering why Ferentz was one of the nation’s highest-paid coaches.

It took one 31-yard field goal from Daniel Murray to make it all go away.

The Hawkeyes haven’t lost since beating the Nittany Lions. Iowa’s seven-game winning streak, which dates to that 24-23 win, is currently the fourth-best in the nation and includes victories over teams from the Pac-10 (Arizona), Big 12 (Iowa State) and SEC (South Carolina).

“It was a turning point in the fact that we won that day and then we continued to win,” Ferentz said. “I think we became a pretty good football team about that time last year. We were on the road to it, and that helped us.”

No. 5 Penn State (3-0) gets its shot at payback tonight when it hosts Iowa (3-0).

Notre Dame-Purdue

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis joked this week about how he’s not the lead story in the country heading into tonight’s game against Purdue.

He’ll be right back in the headlines if the Irish lose.

Notre Dame (2-1) lost to rival Michigan, but Weis avoided further scrutiny when the Irish held off Michigan State last week.

The Irish don’t think they have another rivalry game until they play USC. The problem is, in-state opponent Purdue considers this one of its top annual games, and the capable Boilermakers are looking for a signature win for new coach Danny Hope after nearly getting one at Oregon two weeks ago.

Notre Dame also has to deal with injuries to quarterback Jimmy Clausen and top receiver Michael Floyd. Clausen has been hobbling on a right turf toe, but is expected to play.

The injury clearly affected Clausen last week. He was 10-of-10 passing for 129 yards before being sacked and hurt in the second quarter; he was 12-of-21 for 171 yards after being injured in the 33-30 win over Michigan State.