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| Tuesday, October 3 Purdue's done everything but beat Big Three By Jeff Potrykus Special to ESPN.com | |||||
No one should have the gall to criticize the work done by Joe Tiller over the last three-plus seasons at Purdue:
Three consecutive bowl trips.
Two bowl victories, including a 37-34 shocker over No. 4 Kansas State in the 1998 Alamo Bowl.
An overall record of 25-12 entering this season.
When you consider that the Boilermakers won a total of 26 games from 1989 through 1996 and spent every bowl season at home, it is obvious Tiller deserves any perk the folks in West Lafayette have to offer.
Yet until Tiller beats a member of the Big Ten's Holy Trinity -- Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State -- some critics won't be willing to accept the Boilermakers as one of the league's elite teams.
After the 22-20 loss at Penn State last week, Tiller's record against the Big Three is a combined 0-5. He is 0-3 against the Nittany Lions; 0-1 against Ohio State and 0-1 against Michigan.
And look who visits West Lafayette on Saturday. The sixth-ranked Wolverines, who spanked the Boilermakers, 38-12, last season in Ann Arbor.
If Purdue (3-2 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) is to have any hope of winning the conference title this year, it must beat Michigan (4-1, 2-0).
"If we don't win," wide receiver Vinny Sutherland said, "then there are some serious attitude problems on this team."
Those comments, in the wake of the two-point loss to Penn State, constituted a thinly veiled message to the Purdue players. Sutherland was essentially saying that the Boilermakers had to stop making the stupid mistakes that have consistently cropped up against the Big Ten's best.
Against Penn State, the punting unit twice allowed the Nittany Lions to tackle punter Travis Dorsch before he could even get off a kick. The result: Penn State needed to drive 11 and 6 yards for touchdowns.
"We put a number of new players in there after the third game," Tiller said. "What we've got to do is get players executing better."
Already this season, Purdue's special teams have been responsible for two blocked punts, three missed field goals and countless other mistakes.
"It's something we've got to figure out as a unit," said Dorsch, who missed a 46-yard field-goal attempt late in the game. "We've got to get 11 guys on the same page."
Tiller added: "I've never been around one place where one unit found a way at a different spot to mess it up."
Last season against Ohio State, Dorsch's 29-yard field-goal attempt in the final seconds was blocked and the Boilermakers lost by 25-22.
Illinois Two weeks ago, Illinois coach Ron Turner was upset with the officials who blew two calls in the loss to Michigan. After last week, Turner's anger was focused on his own players, who apparently forgot they had a road game with Minnesota. The 44-10 loss left the Illini at 0-2 in the conference heading into their bye week. "There were two teams out there," Turner said. "One came to play with passion and to fight and one didn't. It's real simple: We didn't show up."... Fortunately for the Illini, they won't have to show up for a game this week. They are off until Oct. 14, when they meet winless Iowa. Turner, sounding a lot like Lou Holtz, obviously doesn't want his players to overlook the Hawkeyes. "I think they're a dangerous team because they're a good team. They're a much better team than their record indicates. When you say that and they are 0-5 people probably think you're crazy. But the combined record of the teams they've played is 19-3."... Illinois lost senior cornerback Trayvon Waller for the season with a broken ankle. Waller had recovered a fumble and blocked a field goal before suffering the injury. Indiana Forgive the Indiana players if their concentration wanes from time to time. On Friday, assistant coach Pete Schmidt died after a 10-month battle with cancer. The Hoosiers responded with a 45-33 victory over Iowa on Saturday. On Sunday, they attended a memorial service for Schmidt. The funeral is set for Wednesday in Albion, Mich. On Saturday, the Hoosiers face the hottest team in the Big Ten -- Northwestern. "It's going to be a very difficult week for our players," Indiana coach Cam Cameron said. "Somehow, it will be our job to keep them focused. That won't be an easy task." ... Indiana quarterback Antwaan Randle El had 298 total yards, including 187 rushing, in the victory over Iowa. last week, including a career-high 187 yards rushing, a record for an IU quarterback. In 26 games, he has 4,730 passing yards and 2,059 rushing yards. Only five other Division I-A players have passed for 4,000 yards and rushed for 2,000. ... Indiana ranks seventh nationally in total offense (477.8 yards) and 106th in total defense (444.2 yards per game). Iowa OK, so the Hawkeyes are 0-2 in the Big Ten and 0-5 overall. But they may have discovered a budding star in quarterback Jon Beutjer. The redshirt freshman made his first start against Indiana and completed 30 of 47 passes for nearly 400 yards and four touchdowns to spark the Iowa offense to 33 points, its best effort of the season. "You're always looking at your personnel and always trying to get the guys on the field that you feel give your team the best chance to win," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. "We've been high on Jon since he got on campus. And Jon certainly did some great things." ... Unfortunately for Ferentz, Beutjer can't play defense this week when the Hawkeyes try to slow Michigan State tailback T.J. Duckett. The sophomore is No. 4 in the Big Ten in rushing with an average of 140.5 yards per game. "I won't call him Ron Dayne yet," Ferentz said, "but he certainly is a very, very scary performer." ... Iowa's defense, by the way, is last in the Big Ten against the run at 249.4 yards per game. Michigan Michigan coach Lloyd Carr is concerned about stopping Brees. He is even more worried, though, about moving the ball against the Boilermakers' defense. Brees gets all the headlines, but Purdue is No. 1 in the Big Ten in total defense (273.8 yards per game) and No. 3 in scoring defense (15.8 yards per game). "Everyone knows how prolific they've been," Carr said. "The question they've had in the past has been defensively. Certainly this Purdue defense is the best Purdue defense I've seen in a number of years." ... Michigan's offense will have to be more efficient against Purdue than it was against Wisconsin. Behind first-time starter Drew Henson, the Wolverines rolled up 375 yards, including 257 passing. Yet they had only two field goals until Henson drove the Wolverines 79 yards for the winning touchdown midway through the fourth quarter. ... Senior Jeff Del Verne has taken over the place-kicking duties from junior Hayden Epstein, who had made only 1 of 5 field-goal attempts in the Wolverines' first four games. Del Verne made 1 of 2 attempts, missing from 29 yards, against the Badgers. ... By beating Wisconsin, Michigan became the first Division I-A program to record 800 victories. In 121 years of football, the Wolverines are 800-260-36. Michigan State Will Ryan Van Dyke play any time soon? The junior quarterback suffered a bruised thumb on his throwing hand in the first half of the season opener and hasn't played since. That has left the offense in the hands of freshman Jeff Smoker, who was unable to rally the Spartans' offense last week against Northwestern as he had done against Notre Dame. "We're not exactly sure where he is," Michigan State coach Bobby Williams said of Van Dyke. "But he's a lot better than he was when he first got the injury. There's no damage to the ligaments. He just got hit in the spot where it's really made it hard to function." ... Williams was grilled regarding his use of tailback T.J. Duckett against the Wildcats. Duckett entered the day averaging 163.7 yards per game and rushed nine times for 53 yards and a touchdown in the opening quarter. However, after the Wildcats went ahead, Duckett disappeared from the offense. He had only 10 more carries after the first quarter, for 18 yards. Williams cited the Wildcats' 13-point halftime lead for Duckett's lack of work. "It's hard to play catch-up when you're running the ball," he said. It's also hard to comeback when you take the ball out of the hands of your best player. ... The Spartans have lost their last two games in Iowa City and haven't won there since 1989. Minnesota Two weeks into the Big Ten season and with a pivotal home game against Penn State on Saturday, the Gophers apparently have found the quarterback and tailback they'll need to contend for an upper-division conference finish. Surprisingly, they are players expected to spend much of the season in reserve roles. Junior college transfer Travis Cole made his first start at quarterback in place of Asad Abdul-Khaliq and passed for 170 yards and ran for 82 in three quarters against the Illini. Sophomore Tellis Redmon took over at tailback for highly touted but oft-injured freshman Thomas Tapeh and rolled up 183 rushing yards and 116 receiving yards. "I always preach to the players that no one owns a position," Minnesota coach Glen Mason said. "If you've got one, you've got to protect it every day. And if you don't have one, you have a chance to earn one every day." It appears Cole and Redmon have earned their starting positions. ... After the manner in which Matt Anderle disrupted Illinois' passing attack last week, opposing quarterbacks would be wise to stray from his side of the field. Anderle, a 6-foot-6, 271-pound freshman defensive tackle, batted down six passes in the Gophers' victory and has seven knockdowns this season. "He's got those long arms and he's got a knack for it," Penn State coach Joe Paterno said. "He must have quick hands." Northwestern The chant is beginning to pick up steam in Evanston: Rose Bowl. Rose Bowl. Rose Bowl. After whipping Wisconsin and Michigan State on the road, the Wildcats are 2-0 in the Big Ten, 4-1 overall and just two victories away from being bowl eligible. The last two times they started the season so quickly came in 1995 and '96 under Gary Barnett. Northwestern won the conference title outright in '95 and went to the Rose Bowl. They shared the league title in '96 with Ohio State and went to the Citrus Bowl. ... The Wildcats already have 171 points this season, 30 more than they scored in 11 games last season. "This doesn't surprise us a bit," quarterback Zak Kustok said after the victory over Michigan State. "We feel that if we do our job and execute our offense, we can put up 30 or 40 points and a lot of yards against any team in the Big Ten or in the country." Anyone who considers Northwestern's offense nothing more flash and trickery and the Wildcats' 2-0 Big Ten start a fluke should listen to the Michigan State coaches. "I've never said there was trickery involved," Williams said. "Their line is doing an excellent job. And Damien Anderson is an outstanding running back. I was impressed by what they did (against) Wisconsin and I was doubly impressed with what they did in East Lansing." Ohio State So you think the Ohio State players have been looking forward to their next opponent? The unbeaten Buckeyes travel to Madison to play Wisconsin, a team that whipped them by 42-17 in Columbus last season. Cooper and his players have downplayed any talk of revenge but you know they are looking for payback. "Last year they were just not a very good football team and the shocking game was the Wisconsin game," ABC-TV analyst Gary Danielson said. "They just never in their wildest imagination thought that could happen to them." ... After four games, the Buckeyes are 4-0 and ranked No. 7 nationally. Suddenly everyone wants John Cooper to explain how his team could be so bad in '99 and so much better this season. Cooper still doesn't think the Buckeyes were all that bad last season, despite their 6-6 finish last. "We were 6-3 last year and lost our last three games," he said. "The six teams that beat us last year were pretty good. All of them went to and won bowl games." ... Ohio State is an improved team this season largely because its defense, to this point at least, has been more aggressive and fundamentally sound than in '99. Last season, the Buckeyes surrendered 362.3 yards and 23.9 points per game and had one defensive touchdown in 12 games. Thus far in 2000, they are allowing 286.8 yards and 12.2 points per game. They have five defensive touchdowns -- three on fumble returns and two on interceptions. In addition, the Buckeyes have a conference-high 15 sacks, more than half the total they had in 12 games last season, and are tied for No. 1 in turnovers forced with 13. Penn State Penn State's players and coaches will be thinking of fallen teammate Adam Taliaferro when they travel to Minnesota this weekend. Taliaferro, a freshman defensive back who suffered a bruised spinal cord while making a tackle against Ohio State two weeks ago, remains paralyzed, though he is breathing on his own. "He is getting a little better," Paterno said. "But he has a tough road ahead of him. We're all praying for him." ... The victory over Purdue was the 319th for Paterno, lifting him into a tie for second place on the major-college all-time list with Pop Warner. Paterno needs four victories to tie Bear Bryant. ... Since joining the Big Ten in 1993, the Nittany Lions are 6-0 against Purdue. Wisconsin One week after looking like a JV unit in a loss to Northwestern, Wisconsin's defense displayed the form against Michigan that was the norm in 1998 and '99, when the Badgers boasted two of the better defensive units in the nation. Wisconsin's defense held the Wolverines to 13 points, 20.8 points below their season scoring average. In the end, though, they allowed the Wolverines to drive 79 yards for the winning touchdown in the fourth quarter. Both Cincinnati and Northwestern drove in the final minute of regulation for game-tying field goals. "I don't see the same relentless attacking on the defensive side, getting the turnovers," senior defensive tackle Ross Kolodziej said. "Things like that just don't happen. That's guys flying to the football, making things happen. I thought we played a great game this weekend. But once again, there were a couple of big plays, that one drive." ... Wisconsin quarterback Brooks Bollinger and his teammates on offense must fashion a better performance against Ohio State than they did in the loss to Michigan. Wisconsin had the ball six times inside Michigan's 35 yard line and managed only a field goal and a touchdown. Jeff Potrykus covers the Big Ten for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. | ALSO SEE Big East notebook Big 12 notebook Big West notebook MAC notebook Mountain West notebook WAC notebook AUDIO/VIDEO   Northwestern's Damien Anderson runs the rock 41 yards for the TD against Michigan State.avi: 1787 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Penn State's Rashard Casey dives in for the TD on this 2-yard run.avi: 1499 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Tellis Redmon goes up the middle for a 20-yard TD run.avi: 730 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | ||||
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