Conference has won almost 70 percent of its non-league football games this season.
By Michael Pointer
michael.pointer@indystar.com
September 21, 2002
Last Saturday was billed as a measuring-stick day, a 24-hour period filled with juicy intersectional college football matchups that would provide an idea of which teams and conferences are the nation's best.
It was a perfect day for the grand, ol' Big Ten to prove it was back after a couple of down years.
Instead, after the conference went 7-4, it showed that any improvement for the Big Ten, which concludes pre-conference play today, has been slight.
"I think the Big Ten is better from top to bottom," said former Notre Dame coach Bob Davie, a Big Ten color analyst for ESPN. "I think there's a lot of really good teams. There's just not a great team out there."
Former Indiana University coach Bill Mallory, who has sons serving as assistants at Indiana and Illinois, doesn't disagree.
Like Davie, Mallory doesn't expect to see a Big Ten team in the national-championship mix at the end of the season. No league team has played for the title since the Bowl Championship Series was formed in 1998.
"I'm not saying there aren't good teams," Mallory said. "But when you're talking great teams, power-type teams, I just don't see that now."
Several coaches, not surprisingly, say the Big Ten has improved since last season, in part because the top players in the league were younger than usual.
"As you evaluate our league going into this year, you would have to say it was going to be much better than it was in 2001," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said. "With the way it's unfolding, you would say that's definitely true."
There's plenty of evidence to support or refute Tressel's point.
Entering today's full schedule of non-conference games, Big Ten teams are 23-10 (69.7 percent) against non-league foes. That should go up after this weekend. The only Big Ten team not favored in its game today is Northwestern against Navy.
Big Ten teams are 2-1 against the Pac-10, which has lost just four non-conference games this season. That includes Michigan's wild season-opening victory over Washington.
From 1994-99, the Big Ten won at least 70 percent of its non-conference games, topped by a sterling 33-9 record (78.6 percent) in 1999.
But in some of this season's more meaningful non-conference games, the league has fallen flat.
Both Purdue and Michigan lost to resurgent Notre Dame. Iowa blew a 24-7 halftime lead in a 36-31 home loss to Iowa State last Saturday. Michigan State was humiliated in a 46-22 home loss to California that same day.
"You just don't know who's going to show up at Michigan State," Mallory said. "Sometimes they play like gangbusters; sometimes you wonder why they bother. They just tend to be an erratic bunch."
Even in victories, there's plenty to pick at it.
Minnesota, Purdue and Wisconsin either were tied or trailed Mid-American Conference teams (Toledo, Western Michigan and Northern Illinois, respectively) in the fourth quarter before rallying to win last Saturday.
Penn State drilled then-No. 8 Nebraska 40-7, but the Cornhuskers' defense has been shaky for a year. No. 6 Ohio State beat then No. 10 Washington State 25-7, but the Buckeyes and star freshman running back Maurice Clarett (230 yards on 31 carries) took advantage of the Cougars' suspect run defense.
"I think the Big Ten is better than it's been, but the only conference that stands out is the Pac-10," said Jerry Palm, publisher of collegebcs.com, whose prediction of the BCS standings are the most accurate in the nation. "Everyone else has some hits and misses. The Big 12 and the (Southeastern Conference) are clearly not as good as hyped."
At No. 6 in The Associated Press poll, Ohio State is the Big Ten's top-ranked team. But the Buckeyes may not have a strong enough passing game to win the national title, Davie said.
"We recruited Maurice Clarett at Notre Dame," Davie said. "He's a great player. But are they going to beat a really good team that's good against the run?"
Mallory said Ohio State's situation is similar to other Big Ten teams. It has some tremendous strengths, including one of the nation's top defensive players in strong safety Mike Doss.
But it also has a major weakness. Quarterback Craig Krenzel could not beat out the much-maligned Steve Bellisari last season.
"I would really pack it in there (defensively) on Ohio State," Mallory said. "I don't know why you wouldn't. I don't know if at quarterback they're going to scare you off."
Penn State has some holes on defense, specifically at linebacker. Illinois has a strong receiving corps led by Brandon Lloyd, but is struggling at QB.
Among the quarterbacks the Big Ten has lost in recent years are Purdue's Drew Brees, Indiana's Antwaan Randle El, Illinois' Kurt Kittner and Michigan's Drew Henson. That kind of talent has not been replaced, Mallory said.
"Maybe recruiting has tailed off a little bit," he said. "I don't know if the league is coming up with the big playmakers."
Purdue coach Joe Tiller said not much can be read into the early season results except for one thing: "It looks to me that there are people that are going to separate themselves. Those are the ones in Columbus (Ohio State) and the ones in State College (Penn State)."
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