This past weekend’s college football games were called “statement games” for the Big Ten conference. Statement games are games that are supposed to confirm or deny a team’s status among the elite of college football.
Big Ten teams played seven games against members of the other so-called power conferences. The Big Ten went 3-4 in these games, but one of those wins was Northwestern over Duke, whose football team is as bad as their basketball team is good.
The other wins were extremely impressive, but as impressive as they were, one of the preseason favorites in the Big Ten took a big shot on the chin.
Upon hearing of the Ohio State victory over Washington State and the Penn State shellacking of Nebraska, one would think that the Big Ten might have improved its standing among the power conferences. Then Michigan State was beaten by California, who went 1-10 last year.
So after this statement weekend, the Big Ten is still scratching its head thinking of something to say.
“Seeing the final score of the Penn State game, and it’s against Nebraska, you say, ‘Hey, that is a feather in the cap of the Big Ten,'” Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said.
Penn State ended up defeating Nebraska 40-7, and the game did deliver a statement. Unfortunately, the statement could have two meanings. Is Penn State that good? Or is Nebraska that bad?
Tressel would know something about big victories, as he led Ohio State to a 25-7 victory over then-No. 10 ranked Washington State and Heisman Trophy candidate Jason Gesser. Ohio State’s defense was especially impressive, as it held Washington State to 26 yards on 21 carries.
Aside from these two victories, Big Ten teams were overall unsuccessful. Notre Dame was able to beat Michigan after being unable to score an offensive touchdown prior to playing the Wolverines.
Iowa lost to Iowa State despite building a 24-7 halftime lead. The Cyclones made up lost ground in the third quarter, scoring an impressive 23 points to beat their interstate rival.
The most humbling game for the Big Ten was the defeat of Michigan State by California. Although the Bears are improving under their new head coach, a previously unproven Pac-10 opponent thrashed Michigan State.
The lackluster effort by some Big Ten teams may enable the Badgers to sneak their way into the top three in the conference. If Ohio State and Penn State continue to win the way they did this past weekend, they could pull away from the rest of the league.
However, Randy Walker of Northwestern disagrees.
“You go through the league, there is a lot of quality football, and it’s going to be very balanced. All of us recognize it is a long way to the end of November right now.”
If that is true, then the conference could take its place above the other power conferences. Also to be considered is, if that is true, the Big Ten conference will continue to knock its own teams out of the National Championship. Without placing a team in the National Championship game in the next few years, people will continue to question whether or not the Big Ten is one of the power conferences.
“I think the conference is right there with anybody,” Illinois head coach Ron Turner said. “I think from top to bottom this conference consistently is as good as anyone. Year in and year out, the Big Ten conference can stand up to anyone.”
Freshman
Ohio State may have defeated Washington Sate with Maurice Clarett, but it would have been a lot closer without him. Ohio State was trailing the Cougars 7-6 at the half before Clarett ran for 194 yards in the second half, leading the Buckeyes to a 25-7 victory. Clarett has earned himself many Buckeye stickers for the back of his helmet, as he already has gained 477 yards in the three games this season.
The true freshman tailback was named Big Ten offensive player of the week, which makes the second time he has won the award this year.
Unfortunately for Ohio State, Clarett is questionable for this weekend’s game versus Cincinnati, as he had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee this week.
Buckeye kicker Mike Nugent was chosen special teams player of the week, and Penn State defensive back Rich Gardner was named defensive player of the week.
About Time
“Certainly, when you look at intercollegiate football, I think it’s important that we do have minority head coaches,” said Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr. “There’s no question that the time has passed, and those issues need to be addressed.”
Currently, there are four black head coaches in Division 1-A football. Considering that there are over 100 teams, this is an extremely low percentage.
With the low number of black coaches in D-1 football, there will be a unique opportunity to see two of the four coaches play against each other this weekend.
Michigan State, under Bobby Williams, takes on Tyrone Willingham’s Notre Dame team.
Williams will try to lead his team back into the polls after losing to California this past weekend. Willingham, meanwhile, is trying to solidify Notre Dame’s standing as an elite team in his first season at Notre Dame.
Much has been made of the fact that there are not many minority coaches in college football. As continued success builds under these coaches, other athletic directors and college boards will be more apt to consider minority candidates for future coaching vacancies.
“It’s tremendous; it shows how far we’ve come in college football that you have two coaches and (the game) is in the national spotlight,” Williams said.
