This week in Big Ten football, Ohio State reemerged as a Big Ten powerhouse; Northwestern made a splash as it has quietly built upon an undefeated season; Wisconsin took a second crushing blow, falling from No. 9 nationally to slipping out of the AP poll altogether; and Penn State continued to crush every opponent they encountered, winning their way to a No. 6 national ranking.
The Buckeyes captured a terrific win from the Badgers after Terrelle Pryor ended a long drive with an 11-yard touchdown run with only 1:08 left in the game to put Ohio State up by 3 points. The Buckeyes showed a lot of determination and maturity, coming into a hostile environment in Camp Randall and securing a late victory. With Ohio State regaining its usual place as Big Ten leader, it seems as though they and Penn State will battle it out for the rest of the season for a shot in the Rose Bowl.
Northwestern has surprised everyone with its 5-0 start but has its big first test against Michigan State, which is also undefeated in Big Ten play. Northwestern is coming off a bye week but is ready for the tough conference match up.
“This is an obvious challenge for us,” Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “Michigan State is playing as good of football as anyone in the nation. [The bye week] was a positive. … We wanted to get healthy. We wanted to improve fundamentally and technically. And we wanted to have a little bit of fun and keep the momentum going. To have us all on the same page right now is a positive.”
In addition to that matchup, the other big game coming up this week is Penn State traveling to Madison to see if they can prove its status as leaders of the Big Ten. Penn State head coach Joe Paterno and Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema had only good things to say about each other’s programs.
“The strength of what they do and what they try to showcase is up-front,” Bielema said. “Penn State was the No. 1 rush offense, the No. 1 total offense, the No. 1 rush defense and the No. 1 total defense in the Big Ten. So those are impressive numbers.”
“It’s a combination of a bunch of guys who like each other, they want to have a good football team, they help each other, and they’re willing to pay the price to be good,” Paterno said of his defense.
He did not discredit Wisconsin for losing its last two games, though, and he expects to battle for a victory this weekend.
“[Wisconsin] plays the game the way I like to see it played. And if you’re a football player, you ought to like it,” Paterno continued.
In addition to the big games, the coaches have noticed a new style being adopted in the Big Ten — the spread offense. The Big Ten has been known for a long time as a running, bruising conference, but teams like Ohio State, Michigan State, Northwestern, Illinois, Purdue and Indiana have changed the dynamic of the league.
“Kellen Lewis is a very capable quarterback. He can kill you running the football, throwing the football,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said of Indiana’s quarterback.
“Ohio State has the type of talent that you can’t defend everything all of the time, or else you play tentative,” said Purdue head coach Joe Tiller of the Buckeyes’ numerous weapons and willingness to use them all.
Tiller’s Purdue squad has been credited by other coaches around the league as changing the style of the Big Ten.
“We had a different approach, a different flair,” Tiller said of his decision to turn to the spread. “And it happened to appeal to young people and appealing to fans. You turn on the TV and see multiple spread offenses in multiple styles; we just happened to be the first in the Big Ten.”
