After 7-3 week, Griffiths looks to bounce back on Big Ten picks
By DOUG GRIFFITHS
ISL Correspondent
Thank goodness the Big Ten season has arrived. Right? At least that’s what conference teams are saying as we prepare for Week No. 5 of the college football season.
The Big Ten is welcoming this conference season perhaps more than any other so they can hopefully start playing some good football after a dismal performance during the nonconference season.
There are still two Big Ten teams that have to finish nonconference action. Purdue hosts Marshall Saturday and next month Indiana will play at Navy.
The outcomes of those aforementioned games aside, the Big Ten has struggled mightily through the first month of the season.
The Big Ten went 6-9 against teams from BCS automatic-qualifying conferences and Notre Dame. Three of those six wins were courtesy of Northwestern beating Syracuse, Vanderbilt and Boston College.
One look at this week’s top-25 Associated Press poll and you’ll find just three Big Ten teams ranked, the highest of which is Ohio State at No. 14 and the Buckeyes are ineligible for the postseason.
Not helping the league’s cause have been losses to Ohio, Central Michigan and Louisiana Tech; the latter went into Champaign and blew out the Illini, 52-24.
Obviously we haven’t fared as well as we would’ve liked to in the wins and loss column, Purdue coach Danny Hope said. But I’ve been in the league for a while now as a head coach and six years as an assistant, it is a great league.
There may be some teams that have had some rough sledding early in the season, but there are a lot of great players and a lot of football left to be played. Sometimes things go in cycles. Some leagues have up years and sometimes down years. I still think it’s a fantastic league and I think the best is yet to come this season.
Michigan coach Brady Hoke added, First and foremost, I think we have a great conference, a great conference from many standpoints, from the academic standpoint of the universities that are in this conference to the competitiveness to the student-athletes and how they react.
Do we all want to play better? There’s no question. I don’t think there’s a coach in America that doesn’t want to play better no matter what you’re record is. Our conference will continue to be as good a conference as there is.
Currently the Big Ten is ranked fifth behind the Big 12, SEC, Pac-12 and ACC as far as the power rankings go. That’s no surprise when you consider the league is just 1-5 against top-25 teams this season with the lone win being Michigan State’s home victory over No. 24 Boise State.
Since the 2000-01 season, the Big Ten has won just one national championship, has just one Rose Bowl win and a mere seven BCS wins.
Joe Tiller, Purdue’s all-time winningest football coach, recently told ESPN.com that the Big Ten is obviously down. In fact, Tiller said he doesn’t ever remember it struggling as much as it is now.
I don’t think there’s a single great team in the league, and there aren’t many good teams in the league, maybe four good teams out of 12, Tiller told the website.
Maybe Hope is right and the Big Ten’s best football in 2012 is ahead of it. After all, it can’t be much worse can it?
As we prepare to kickoff the 2012 Big Ten season, the Leaders Division seems to be a two-team race between Purdue and Wisconsin since Ohio State and Penn State are ineligible for December’s Big Ten championship game. After Illinois’ woeful performance against La Tech and Indiana’s last outing that resulted in a home loss to Ball State, going with either the Boilermakers and Badgers to be in Indianapolis seems to be a pretty safe bet.
As for the Legends Division, who knows? Northwestern and Minnesota are both undefeated, but neither has really been tested. Michigan has played the toughest schedule so don’t count out Denard Robinson and Co. just because they’re 2-2. Nebraska may have the best balance of any team in the division when you consider it has a veteran quarterback in Taylor Martinez, a very good running attack and a solid defense the UCLA performance aside. We’ll learn a lot more about Michigan State this week as it hosts Ohio State, but the Spartans will likely have a lot to say who is playing for a championship when all is said and done.
So lets cut to the chase and get to predicting some games.
Per usual, IndySportsLegends.com helps you decide which of those Big Ten contests you’ll want to keep an eye on and which ones aren’t DVR worthy.
(As for me, it seems to be one of those years where I have a great week followed by an OK week. Last week I went 7-3, but missed on the Minnesota beating Syracuse, Central Michigan knocking off Iowa and Louisiana Tech shredding Illinois. So my overall record now stands at 39-7 on the season, or 84.8 percent.)
Game-Of-The-Week
– #14 Ohio State (4-0) @ #20 Michigan State (3-1)
Saturday
3:30 p.m.
ABC
East Lansing, Mich. (Spartan Stadium 75,005)
For the first time this season, the Buckeyes don’t play a home game and go into hostile Spartan Stadium with Michigan State needing a victory over a quality opponent to show it is a Big Ten contender. This game will feature two of the league’s better defenses and will come down to how well each defends the other team’s star player. If MSU back Le’Veon Bell rushes near his average of 153 yards per game, the Spartans will win. If, however, Buckeyes quarterback Braxton Miller continues his stellar play, OSU will be victorious. Keep in mind, Miller accounts for 300 of Ohio State’s 427 yards per game. Simply put, he is the Buckeye offense. Spartan quarterback Andrew Maxwell needs to have a better game than the one he had against Notre Dame or his team will be in trouble. MSU in a tight one, 20-17.
Must-See TV
– Wisconsin (3-1) @ #22 Nebraska (3-1)
Saturday
8 p.m.
ABC
Lincoln, Neb. (Memorial Stadium 81,091)
It’s a safe bet Bo Pelini has reminded his Cornhusker team a time or two this week of how the Badgers welcomed them to the Big Ten last year. The result was a convincing 48-17 Wisconsin victory, one you know no one in Lincoln has forgotten. The Badgers are fortunate to be 3-1 on the year as they haven’t looked anything like the team that was ranked in the top-10 to begin the season. Quarterback Danny O’Brien has given way to Joel Stave and Montee Ball, who missed a good chunk of last week’s game with a concussion, has had a disappointing season. Wisconsin isn’t coming up with turnovers this season, something it must do in this game if it is to pull off the upset. Nebraska, on the other hand, has been very impressive, particularly at home. It has a strong one-two punch in the backfield with backs Rex Burkhead and Ameer Abdullah leading the way, and with quarterback Taylor Martinez a much better passer the Huskers may be the team to beat in the Legends Division. Nebraska leads the Big ten in scoring (48.5 points per game) and total offense (541.8 yards) because they scored 49, 42 and 73 points against the likes of Southern Miss, Arkansas State and Idaho State. Wisconsin is far superior to those teams, but just isn’t playing like a team that won 11 games last season and went to the Rose Bowl. NU gets revenge in a big way, 31-14.
May Be Worth A Look-see
– Minnesota (4-0) @ Iowa (2-2)
Saturday
Noon
ESPN2
Iowa City, Iowa (Kinnick Stadium 70,585)
To you believe in Minnesota at 4-0? That’s OK if you don’t, but know this the Gophers are an improved bunch already topping last year’s win total of 3. The secret has been Jerry Kill’s defense being very opportunistic. Minnesota finds itself tied with Ohio State for the league lead in turnover margin as the Gophers have 10 takeways and five giveaways this season. The recipe for winning on the road in the Big Ten is not beating yourself. If Minnesota takes care of the ball, it will improve to 5-0 even without starting QB MarQueis Gray who continues to nurse a high left ankle sprain. Helping the Gophers’ cause will be Iowa’s anemic offense, which is last in the Big Ten, averaging just 20.5 points per game. Go Gophers, 27-17.
– Penn State (2-2) @ Illinois (2-2)
Saturday
Noon
ESPN
Champaign, Ill. (Memorial Stadium 60,670)
Penn State is thought to be improving, but is it really? The Nittany Lions got healthy by beating Navy and Temple to even their record. Illinois, on the other hand, seemed to implode last week by giving up 52 points in a blowout home loss to Louisiana Tech. The Illini’s chances may rest on how healthy QB Nathan Scheelhaase is after he injured his left ankle in the season opener. He played just one quarter last week, but is expected to start this week. What’s perplexing about this Illinois team is its defense, which was supposed to be its strength this year. It’s been anything but, however, giving up 97 points and 913 total yards in the team’s two losses. Expect these two teams to struggle offensively as neither has much offensive firepower. Lets go with the Lions because they have a better defense, 21-14.
– Marshall (2-2) @ Purdue (2-1)
Saturday
3:15 p.m.
BTN
West Lafayette, Ind. (Ross-Ade Stadium 62,500)
If you like offense, this should be a game for you. Marshall’s defense ranks 117th out of 120 FBS teams allowing 509 yards of offense. The Thundering Herd give up 42.75 points per game, too (that’s 118th). However, Marshall does have the No. 1-rated quarterback in Rakeem Cato, who is averaging 35 completions per game, completes 71 percent of his passes and has thrown for nearly 1,500 and 10 touchdowns already. Remember this is a Marshall team that scored 34 points against top-10 West Virginia (of course it gave up 69 in that one). Purdue’s defense is much better than Marshall’s. Plus, the Boilermakers’ running game gets them 219 yards a game and the Thundering Herd defense allows 243.8 yards rushing. Purdue moves to 3-1 in what could be a shootout. Boiler Up, 44-24.
Blowout City
– Indiana (2-1) @ Northwestern (4-0)
Saturday
Noon
BTN
Evanston, Ill. (Ryan Field 47,130)
So far the Wildcats are proving to be better than they were last year and that’s bad news for the Hoosiers. Why? Well, Pat Fitzgerald’s ˜Cats hung 59 points on IU in Bloomington. Since the Hoosiers haven’t shown any improvement on defense from a year ago against the likes of Ball State, Indiana and UMass, expect the Purple to score at will on Saturday. The Wildcats have played much better competition than the Hoosiers to date and have more playmakers on offense. Both teams average more than 30 points a game and the defenses give up a lot of yards, although Northwestern’s D has improved since giving up 41 points in the opener. IU has lost eight straight Big Ten games and hasn’t won in Evanston since 1993. The losing continues for the Cream and Crimson. ˜Cats, 42-17.
(All times ET)
Follow Doug Griffiths on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ISLgriffiths.
Nice pick against the Hawkeyes.