Category: Columnists

Thoughts and Prayers: Big Ten Week 1

Thoughts, prayers, and rambling musings about college football and the Big Ten season going into a big 2022, starting with …

Florida State and LSU put on a show.

Brian Kelly woke up in a cold sweat last night thinking he was reliving the nightmare of being pantsed by Mark Dantonio with “Little Giants” all over again.

Georgia put on a show that supports my decades-long theory that the defending champion of anything always has the right to be #1 in whatever relevant ranking pertaining to the defense of the prior year’s championship.

North Carolina earned a victory in one of the wildest, most entertaining, and most thrilling games featuring App State since the day App State took down Ann Arbor at Ann Arbor.

Don’t sleep on the Backyard Brawl.

Pitt and West Virginia reminded us all that this rivalry maintains its relevance with a good one with Pitt earning a win that might show it was more than just Kenny Pickett last season.

The slugfest at The Swamp was like Ali – Frazier all over again.

Major props to both Florida and Utah for scheduling this game in the first place.

Major props to Utah for going deep into SEC-land and coming within a whisker of what would have been a massive win.

Florida is good – as it should be.

And if the Utes can play like that in that environment against a program that has blue chippers in the 4-deep, the Utes will be ready to take on all comers in the Pac 6 – and that means you, all of you Lincoln Riley/USCers who have assumed that the combination of John McKay, John Robinson, and Pete Carroll is running things in LA now.

North Carolina State – a trendy pick to win the ACC – eeked its way out of Dowdy-Ficklen thanks to a missed extra point and a missed game-winning chip shot.

Here’s something to consider as we head into Week 2:

Every one of these teams that won – no matter how they won, who they defeated, how close the game was, etc – is 1-0 and as the wise and great George Perles famously said after every victory, “They all count one.”

If your team won, walk tall.

What about the happenings around the Big Ten?

Let’s get to it.

SAFETY DANCE – MUCH MORE THAN A WONDERFUL NUMBER BY MEN WITHOUT HATS

If Aaron Blom hadn’t converted 50% of his field goal attempts, the Iowa Hawkeyes would have defeated the South Dakota State Jack Rabbits 4-3.

In the second half, Iowa showed a consistency with its defensive effort by spreading two safeties across the 3rd and 4th quarters, respectively.

Iowa held South Dakota State to six first downs in this game.

Iowa held the Jackrabbits to 120 total yards.

For its part, Iowa gained a total of 166 yards of offense.

South Dakota State ran for 33 yards over the course of the four quarters of play.

Iowa, not to be outdone by SDSU, rushed for 57 total yards.

Kirk Ferentz gave the starting nod to his veteran Spencer Petras who showed his veteran skills by going 11 for 25 for 109 yards (an average of 4.4 yards per completion) and a QBR of 1.1.

And so, some out there are doing what they do every year – questioning the credibility of Iowa’s firepower and so forth.

I watched this football game.

That should earn me some sort of a prize from an Iowa State Fair Chairperson – maybe a Blue Ribbon or something.

But.

When Iowa ends up with another 10-win season that annoys the haters out there, this 7-3 victory, thanks to its two second half safeties, should be celebrated every bit as much as whatever massive win(s) the Hawkeyes earn along the way.

JIM KNOWLES IS GOOD

Columbus fans have had reason to be excited about Ryan Day luring defensive wizard Jim Knowles away from I’m A Man, I’m 40.

Sunday morning, there were more grumpy Columbus fans needing to put hair on the dog who were cranky about not throttling Notre Dame with the NFL-talent at every position on offense failing to rack up 67 points.

Give Notre Dame credit where it’s due.

And Marcus Freeman – even with an 0-2 start to his career as the successor to the winningest coach of all time at Notre Dame – deserves a ton of credit for handling a lifetime of Scarlet & Gray, a career of playing at The Shoe, and the pressures of his very first season opener as a man who will be judged by how he compares to Rockne, Leahy, Parseghian, Holtz, and maybe Kelly.

The Notre Dame defense is stout and may have shown that Columbus might be susceptible to defensive pressure applied to the Heisman Trophy candidate, CJ Stroud.

Even last season, when teams threw Stroud even slightly off kilter, he showed signs of being erratic and indecisive.

Stroud is human – and that isn’t a critique; it’s a statement of fact.

Any Columbus fan worth his/her collection of tattoos might have reason to be a little persnickety after this classic, hard fought slugfest that demonstrated that football continues to be played north of the Mason-Dixon Line and in front of rabid fans who have seen football as “meaning just a little bit more” since long before catchy slogans were integrated into commercials.

Stroud piled up 233 yards through the air and the Columbus ground game pounded out 172 yards and the 395 yards of total offense would be solid for a mortal team.

But, ask any supporter of the Columbus Football Team if that’s acceptable and you’re likely to get some tobacco-spittle in the face during the response.

The real story – Knowles had this defense primed.

Columbus limited Notre Dame to 177 yards through the air and 76 yards on the ground for a total of 253 yards of offense.

Columbus fans want fireworks and dominance and flamboyant performances at every position.

But if Knowles can do this in the season opener – against a damn good Notre Dame team – it might be time to rekindle the appreciation for Woody and the way he emphasized toughness in the trenches and suffocating schemes that demoralized opposing offenses.

Only one game into a bit of a new era for Ryan Day, it looks like traditional defensive toughness and greatness might be the difference maker.

LIGHTNING STRUCK AT ROSS-ADE – BUT SEAN CLIFFORD HAD OTHER IDEAS

It may seem like a month ago since Purdue and Penn State waged a classic, fantastic, exciting, and important kickoff to things off last Thursday in West Lafayette – but that game warrants attention.

Big Ten haters will always hate – but this game was almost as exciting of a way to get Week 1 started as Iowa’s defensive performance against the Jack Rabbits was.

I heard Joel Klatt say this about Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford:

“The relationship between a veteran quarterback and the fan base is a complicated and tough one because if you’re a quarterback who’s still leading the team after four years, it means you’re not good enough to have moved on.”

Okay.

I never would have said something so ridiculous about Joel Klatt as he set countless records for the Colorado Buffaloes in his senior season after serving as the starting quarterback since his sophomore year but I’m merely a basement-dwelling typist.

Moments after Klatt said this, Sean Clifford led Penn State on an epic game-winning drive that led to Klatt praising Clifford for his calm, tough, experienced leadership.

Here’s something for Klatt to consider – maybe Clifford is simply a very good quarterback and that’s all there is to it.

The cauldron of Ross-Ade Stadium seemed as if it had James Franklin in its clutches when Clifford was picked off by Purdue’s Chris Jefferson who thrillingly returned it 72 yards for an electrifying touchdown giving the Boilers a 31-28 lead midway through the 4th quarter.

All Clifford did was calmly and brilliantly lead his team on an 8-play, 80-yard drive with the game – and maybe Penn State’s season – on the line.

When Clifford connected with Keyvone Lee on a 10-yard touchdown pass with 57 seconds left, it was Clifford’s 4th touchdown pass in a game his team had to have.

Make no mistake – Purdue is a damn good team and will give everyone fits all season long.

But what Sean Clifford did on the road in the season opener was the kind of thing that strengthens a relationship between a veteran quarterback and his coach, his team, and his fan base.

UNTIL PROVEN OTHERWISE

Michigan won its first Big Ten Championship since FacePage was launched and Jim Harbaugh apologists could be heard doing their best to muffle their cheers all across Zingerman’s.

Theory I’ve had forever and way to tangibly demonstrate how the theory should manifest itself:

Right now, Georgia should be the #1 team in the country in any poll that exists.

If Georgia is not #1 in the country in any poll, that poll doesn’t register with a 100.00 score on the THOUGHT & PRAYERS credibility scale.

Within the Big Ten, this theory applies.

UMAA won the title last season.

Until proven otherwise, this team is the #1 team in the conference.

And in Week 1, Harbaugh’s team proved the THOUGHTS & PRAYERS theory has legs.

Michigan’s 51-7 win over Colorado State featured speed and athleticism all over the field, big-play ability across the offense, a defense that appears ready to replace the talent from the championship team that is now in the NFL, and a starting quarterback who probably has to be wondering why he won’t be starting the second game of the season.

Which brings us to one of the constants for this program all throughout this Harbaugh Era.

Some point to the way Harbaugh has always managed to “win the games he’s supposed to.”

Those same pundits are quick to point out that he’s had “the unfortunate bad luck” to be Michigan’s head coach during an era when Columbus has been an absolute beast.

But what many overlook is the way Harbaugh has tightened up in games that require mental toughness and laser focus, particularly in crunch time when a game isn’t going according to plan.

Examples?

2015 losses to Michigan State and Columbus – go back and look at how those games went. And for those who will want to claim the loss to State was “fluky,” closely examine Harbaugh’s approach to Michigan’s final few offensive possessions and tell me there wasn’t puckering occurring.

2016 losses to Iowa and Columbus – go back and look at how those games went, particularly the loss to Iowa and tell me there wasn’t puckering occurring.

2017 losses to Michigan State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Columbus, and South Carolina – go back and look at how those games went and tell me there wasn’t puckering occurring.

2018 losses to Notre Dame, Columbus, and Florida – go back and look at how those games went and tell me there wasn’t puckering occurring.

2019 losses to Wisconsin, Penn State, and Columbus – go back and look at how those games went and tell me there wasn’t puckering occurring.

2020 losses to Michigan State, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Penn State – go back and look at how those games went and tell me there wasn’t puckering occurring.

2021 loss to Michigan State in Michigan’s Big Ten Championship season – go back and look at how that game went and tell me there wasn’t puckering occurring.

The point?

Harbaugh may have, indeed/finally, gotten over the hump with last season’s title and his team, according to THOUGHTS & PRAYERS, is the #1 team in the Big Ten until someone takes it down.

But he’s shown over an entire career that he can take a bit of an odd approach to the ways he leads his program.

The quarterback situation for every program is about as important as anything else and when a coach tries to thread a needle when needlepointing is not necessary, needles can prick fingers and produce unwanted blood globules.

I’m not a football coach but I once played one in an impromptu improvisational sketch at a bar in 1998.

But when a football coach has a championship winning quarterback and that championship winning quarterback comes out in Week 1 and plays like the championship quarterback that he is, what can it do to a team if the coach chooses to play another quarterback a week later?

Is Harbaugh in the process of proving he’s a brilliant 3-dimensional chess player or is he in the process of showing that those of us who have dared to question all of the hype and praise and hype might not be crazily driving our own personal agendas?

Again, I’m just a basement dwelling typist – and, according to Harbuagh, it’s biblical.

So, okay.

Biblical.

We’ll monitor the situation.

LAYING IN THE WEEDS AS A VERY SUCCESSFUL COACH ONCE SAID

Sloppy.

Uninspired.

Messy.

These are words I’ve seen more than any others in the aftermath of Michigan State’s 35-13 season-opening win over Western Michigan in East Lansing Friday night.

Junior quarterback Payton Thorne threw for 233 yards and 4 touchdowns to 4 different receivers.

For perspective, when Thorne set program records during last season’s 11-2 campaign, Thorne averaged 249 yards and 2 touchdowns per game.

Wide Receiver Keon Coleman, transfer tight end Daniel Barker, wide receiver Tre Mosley, and wide receiver Germie Bernard all hauled in touchdowns.

State’s future NFL wide receiver, Jayden Reed, has a stable of guys next to him who will give defensive coordinators plenty of sleepless nights this season.

How will State fill the void left by Kenneth Walker III’s departure for the NFL?

After one game, consider this:

Transfers Jalen Berger and Jarek Brossard combined for 174 yards on 26 carries and Berger punched one into the endzone after a 50-yard rumble in the 4th quarter.

Walker was an electrifying talent that comes along once a decade.

State doesn’t need to replace HIM – it needs to replace the yardage and the ability to pound the ball so it can create a balanced offense.

This offense may actually end up being even better than it was last year.

The defense?

Last year’s pass defense was literally the worst in the nation.

Giving up less than 200 yards through the air, zero coverage breakdowns, zero big plays – these are all signs that Mel Tucker and Scottie Hazelton are in the process of shoring up that back seven.

Jaboby Windmon.

Remember the name of the UNLV transfer who registered 4 sacks against Western and looks like he’s a faster Shilique Calhoun.

Injuries to Xavier Henderson and Darius Snow are reason for concern – but in Year 3 of the Tucker Era, depth across the entire roster has developed and there are guys ready and capable of stepping in.

Tucker has plenty to show his guys where improvement is needed and he has more tools to work with than the average fan out there realizes.

Underestimate and consider Tucker and State as a team that falls into the category of “taking a step back” at your own peril.

POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 1

1. Defending champions or not, Zingerman’s is one of the most overrated, overpriced food places/cultural institutions in the Union.

2. First Round Draft Picks galore – but Jim Knowles might be the most important ingredient.

3. Tuck Comin. It’s not just a slogan for a t-shirt.

4. Casual, normal evening of joy and comfort at State Street Brats.

5. Sean Clifford.

6. It’s not just the dark magic of Ross-Ade – the team is damn good, too.

7. Making Jerry Lundegaard happy is one thing; delivering on the expectations of Wade Gustafson (and Stan Grossman) is something entirely different.

8. Before we identify the week to raise the statue of Ralph Friedgen as a way to tout the return of the program to upper-tier status, let’s see a meaningful win or two. Okay?

WORKING ON THINGS
Mustard’s Last Stand will live on forever.

Gloria Trillo was Tony’s finest conquest.

If You’ve Never Seen “Breaking Away,” you must at once.

“The Lonesome Jubilee” is one of the greatest American rock albums of all time

For everyone’s sake, I hope Champaign has a stable of best-in-class cardiologists.

The cardiologists in Lincoln say there is the sign of a heartbeat.

Crowley Sullivan is a 25+ year sports media veteran who spent ten years as a producer and suit-wearer at ESPN before becoming a digital media person. He built, grew, and led a college sports digital platform called “Campus Insiders” as its EVP/GM just as sports fans were beginning to engage with computers and phones. In addition to being a longtime contributor to CollegeFootballNews, he has written for USA Today Digital Sports, Rivals properties, and the St Bede The Venerable Monthly Parish Newsletter, the St Bede Beat. He now serves as the VP/GM of UFC Fight Pass even though the last time he got into a fight was in 2nd grade when he fought David Koller to a draw.

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Thoughts and Prayers: The Big Ten Season Is Here

Thoughts, prayers, and rambling musings about college football and the Big Ten season going into a big 2022, starting with …

EVEN BONAPARTE HAD A RESPECTABLE DEFENSIVE FRONT

The Nebraska onside kick in the third quarter against Northwestern made as much sense as Napoleon’s decision in June of 1812 to invade Russia.

And Scott Frost’s decision played a role in the 31-28 loss in a game the Huskers badly needed.

But the things that nobody considers are:

Northwestern – 214 rushing yards on 47 carries.

Northwestern dominated time of possession – 34:14 to Nebraska’s 25:46.

Northwestern’s Ryan Hilinski – 314 yards on 27 of 38 passing.

And Nebraska rushed for 110 yards on 31 carries.

Against Northwestern.

Nebraska, once again, found a way to lose a game it was in the process of winning.

Toughness in the trenches used to be one of the definitive elements of Nebraska Football.

However, the real takeaway from this game was the way Northwestern manhandled a team that used to manhandle teams to epic degrees.

Nebraska and Scott Frost have a lot of work to do – and not a lot of time to get that work done.

WEEK ZERO MOSTEL

I’m sorry – it simply defies logic.

Week 0.

That means, by definition, that the week doesn’t exist, and I watched college football games on several of my televisions this weekend.

The games counted.

If we’re going to try to treat the initial slate of games as something other than a part of the actual season, it’s time to re-brand the first weekend of games.

Suggestions that would make equal or more sense than “Week 0”:

Week Bicycle.

Week Football.

Day Scrambled Eggs.

Late Summer Applesauce.

Weak Week.

Weak Branding.

CAUGHT IN A RUNDOWN BETWEEN THIRD AND HOME

I’m going to say it this way –

There’s absolutely no excuse for Ohio State to not win the national championship. Ryan Day has the program on third base, and now he has to get it home.

This team seemingly has 219 First Round draft picks on its roster.

There are eleven student athletes who will compete against each other for the Walter Camp Award – and the other award, the Heisman Trophy.

The quarterback could probably start for a dozen NFL teams.

Number 11 is almost too good to be allowed to compete due to his freakishly dominant skills.

And, apparently, defensive coordinator Jim Knowles will unleash Buddy Ryan’s 1985 Junkyard Dogs.

Does every behemoth need to be on high alert in order to avoid letdowns?

Yes.

But Columbus should blast every team on its schedule, steamroll its way to the College Football Playoff, and pound the SEC opponent to claim the title.

It’s national championship or bust. It’s win it all or nothing. It’s Day’s time to get the team home – he’s been able to get to the national title game, but that’s not enough this time around.

Columbus – even though we’ve only just completed Week Nothing, the clock is ticking and you’re up.

BOILERS, ROSS-ADE, AND SOME REALITIES RELATED TO FOOTBALL IN WEST LAFAYETTE

The idea that the West Lafayette team doesn’t register on the “Relevance Meter” took a blow when the Boilermakers handed Tennessee a bowl defeat at a stadium that was, basically, a reconfigured General Neyland Stadium.

Purdue went 9-4 last season with impressive wins.

Taking down a red-hot Michigan State at Ross-Ade counted.

Taking down a good Hawkeye team counted.

And taking down the Vols in the bowl game really, really counted.

Typical Purdue reality – quarterback Aidan O’Connell led the nation’s fifth-best passing attack with an average of 440 yards through the air last year. He’s back for his sixth year and will play like the veteran that he is.

Jeff Brohm will need O’Connell’s experience since explosive receiver David Bell is off to the NFL – but there are standard Boiler pass catchers ready to step in.

Brohm needs his beefeaters up front ready to pave the way for a rushing attack that needs to be more than serviceable – even though the offense will be all about O’Connell.

Am I suggesting Purdue is ready to take on Columbus for Big Ten supremacy?

No.

Will Purdue compete for the Big Ten West title and give everyone fits?

It’s going to be a problem for the rest of the Big Ten.

WHEN A ROWBOAT IS A CANOE IN NEED OF AN OUTBOARD MOTOR

My podcasting partner and lifelong prognosticator, JStone, is more bullish on the Gophers than he is on the lamb chops at Chicago’s decadent nightclub, Fame.

PJ Fleck is entering his sixth season in Minneapolis, and he has done good things.

Does anyone know that Minnesota won nine games last season?

However …

Losses to Bowling Green and Illinois are more representative of this program than the close-but-no-cigar effort against Columbus.

Fleck’s Gophers are a trendy pick to win the West.

Last year, this team finished third in the country in time of possession, third in the conference in rushing, and had a passing attack that was serviceable enough.

Like Purdue, Minnesota has a veteran quarterback in Tanner Morgan who can throw and run – he’s entering his fifth year.

Morgan connected for 30 touchdowns in 2019 – he can whip the ball around.

What should give Jerry Lundegaard reason to be excited, though, is the Gopher ground game.

The line is strong and the running back room is loaded with guys who can pound the ball.

My man JStone isn’t urinating into the wind with his position on the Gophers.

Enough of the stout defense is back.

But …

When it comes to a program like Minnesota, I take a cautionary position.

Show me more.

Now is the moment for this coach and program and there isn’t the luxury of six or eight bye weeks.

Fleck has rowed the boat very, very well. Now he has to bring it ashore and get to the Big Ten Championship.

DEFENDING A CHAMPIONSHIP WHILE BATTLING FOR IN-STATE SUPREMACY

Michigan is the defending Big Ten Champion for the first time since the 2004 title the program won.

Jim Harbaugh slayed the dragon and reached the College Football Playoff.

Michigan has players – this is the case every single year.

Michigan has two talented quarterbacks – but there’s the old axiom says when you have two quarterbacks, you might not have a quarterback.

That might be a bit harsh since both Cade McNamara and JJ McCarthy are truly talented field generals and maybe the two-quarterback system can work under the tutelage of The Quarterback Whisperer.

The losses on defense – Aidan Hutchinson, Daxton Hill, and David Ojaba – will be hard to replace but this is Michigan and that’s what this program is supposed to be able to do.

However.

Lost in all of the talk about how Michigan finally found a way to beat Columbus is the fact that it lost – again – to the program that has a 10-5 edge in the in-state rivalry over the last 15 seasons.

Mel Tucker has the engine revving in East Lansing and he’s 2-0 against Michigan, continuing the way Michigan State has dominated this rivalry dating back to the start of the Mark Dantonio Era.

These two programs will wage war again this season and the dynamics don’t seem to be on the verge of changing.

In last season’s battle in East Lansing, State ran for 197 yards, executed an epic comeback from 16 points down that featured huge plays, huge fourth down conversions, two separate two-point conversions, and an all-timer of a performance from Kenneth Walker III that included five touchdowns.

Payton Thorne is back this season after an underrated sophomore year when he threw for 27 touchdowns and 3,233 yards.

His lifelong best pal, Jayden Reed, hauled in just over 1,000 yards with ten touchdowns and is the Big Ten’s best receiver not wearing #11.

The experts will point to Kenneth Walker III’s departure for the NFL – and that’s fair.

But the additions of transfers Jalen Berger (Wisconsin) and Jarek Broussard (Colorado) combined with a stable of ball carriers should fill the void if the offensive line can continue to evolve.

Tucker’s mission since last season – improve the nation’s worst (“dead ass last”) pass defense.

When a team has the nation’s worst pass defense and finishes 11-2, defeats its rival, wins its New Year’s Six bowl game, and finishes in the Top 10, what does that say about the foundation, the talent and depth, the schemes, and the possibilities if the pass defense improves to, say, 56th in the nation?

Michigan, meanwhile, en route to last season’s conference title led the conference in rushing, allowed the fewest sacks in the Big Ten, and racked up 443 yards of offense per game.

After missing last season, Michigan’s Ronnie Bell should be a big factor at wide receiver for either quarterback and Erik All is a beast at tight end.

Cornelius Johnson and Andrell Anthony round out a talented batch of skill players and Blake Corum’s 952 yards of rushing last season showed that he’s posed for more.
October 29th is a massive day not just for football in the state of Michigan – it’s a massive day for the Big Ten and college football, in general.

If State stampedes into Ann Arbor where it’s 5-2 dating back to Dantonio’s first trip there and does what it’s done in this rivalry consistently, will people begin to recognize what’s been happening here?

Jim Harbaugh and Mel Tucker might not be firing off heavies in the way Harbaugh and Dantonio did – but these two aren’t exchanging Christmas cards and Tucker has let the facts speak for themselves.

Yes, Michigan is the defending Big Ten Champion – but when it comes to this rivalry, one school seems to have a far more intense approach that has worked now for a long time.

The Columbus – Michigan thing always has been and always will be epic.

But the thing that exists between Michigan and Michigan State has a whole lot of drama and storylines and intensity and, yes, fun baked into it and it’s a much more important element related to Big Ten supremacy than most people realize.

IF WINNING IS BORING, COLOR IOWA BORING

Why will Iowa be very good in 2022?

Because that’s what Iowa does.

Michigan was on a magic carpet ride and stomped on the Hawkeyes in the Big Ten Championship last season.

But Iowa, once again, played for the Big Ten Championship.

Critics of Iowa say the program is boring.

If winning is boring, call me a fan of boring.

The Hawkeyes didn’t light the world in fire offensively – this is Iowa, the team that won its division and reached the conference championship game – but it does have to be better than horrible.

Think of it this way – Iowa got to the Big Ten Championship with no offense.

But the defense was its standard stout brick wall.

The Hawkeyes finished the season ninth in the country in yards allowed and surrendered only 20 points per game.

Cornerback Riley Moss is back after missing last season due to injury and he’s going to be a major impact on an already strong overall defensive unit.

Jack Campbell and Seth Benson are the two best linebackers in all of college football that nobody has heard of and they’ll wreak havoc on opponents all season.

The big question for Kirk Ferentz is whether one of his two veteran quarterbacks can step up and be a difference making type of playmaker.

Spencer Petras and Alex Padilla both have experience and can manage a game.

Can they elevate the offense with electricity and explosiveness? Will it REALLY matter if they don’t?

If winning the Big Ten West is boring … okay.

TIME TO SWITCH UP THE MUSTARD ON THE BRATWURST?

Wisconsin has people conditioned to unconditionally respect it because of how the Badgers “make the most out of what they have” and all of that stuff.

Wisconsin hasn’t won the Big Ten Championship since 2012.

The Badgers last victory in the Rose Bowl came on January 1st, 2000.

This feels like an important Autumn for Wisconsin.

Paul Chryst is a hell of a good football coach.

But.

Can Graham Mertz take the next step and become a difference-maker?

The running game should be typically strong with an amazing combo of Braelon Allen and Mellusi ready to pick up where they left off last year when they combined for over 2,000 yards.

But will that ground game dominate in ways that past Wisconsin teams have been able to “Wisconsin” defenses all season long?

Jim Leonhard is among the best defensive coordinators in college football and it’s a credit to the program that he hasn’t left for a head coaching job.

He’ll have another punishing, disciplined, and fearsome defense, anchored by a tremendous front that will make it nearly impossible for teams to rush for anything meaningful.

It’s a cliché to refer to “magic” and “intangibles” and stuff that doesn’t necessarily refer to the players and coaches and football things when trying to assess a program’s status.

But it feels like Wisconsin needs some of that stuff to avoid becoming what Kansas State had become at the peak of the Bill Snyder Era (Google it, folks).

Huge opportunity for the Badgers – an October 15th trip to East Lansing to take on the Spartans.

Beating Columbus in Columbus is too tall of an order for this team.

But if the Badgers were to find a way to get a win at State in what will be a massive game for both programs, that might be a springboard that this team – and this program – needs.

WHEN PAPER IS WET, IT’S EASIER TO RIP

James Franklin – the clock is ticking.

It’s not ticking in the way it’s ticking for Ryan Day, who needs to win the national championship NOW.

It’s ticking in the way it’s ticking for Chip Kelly or David Shaw or Mike Norvell.

You aren’t in Scott Frost territory.

And I know the folks just ponied up a pile of loot for an extension.

But those pieces of paper easily become wet if things don’t go according to plan.

Ross-Ade Stadium can be a nightmare and when it pops up as Game #1, that makes for a dangerous start to what is an under-the-radar important season for Franklin and Penn State.

If this Penn State team wasn’t named Penn State and, instead, was, for instance, named “Purdue,” nobody would be paying any attention to this team right now.

FORMER UMAA ATHLETIC DIRECTOR DAVE BRANDON WAS GREAT WITH BRANDING – PERHAPS HE CAN PROVIDE A CONSULTANCY

Week Begin The Begin by R.E.M.

Week Computer.

Week Football.

Day of Games Before More Games Are Played Next Week.

Week …

WEEK WONDERFUL OVER, WEEK 1 IS HERE, LFG!!!!

Now that we’ve climbed over Week Zilch, it’s time to look at the schedule in a normal way.

Week 1 is here.

Penn State at Purdue – beware of the weirdness and unexpected occurrences at Ross-Ade, Penn State. Seasons go to die here and when you’re kicking things off at that snake pit, it can set a queasy tone for the entire slate.

Notre Dame at Columbus – time for Ryan Day and his troops to show that this season will feature game by game, possession by possession dominance en route to the Promised Land.
What a great opportunity to show that this is the beginning of a statement type of season for a program that still has steam coming out of its ears from the loss to The Team Up North and is anxious to climb over the recent steps on the ladder and close it out with the whole shebang in hand.

The rest of the Big Ten is off and running and the entire conference is riding high after what has been a transformational summer led by the commissioner’s magic wand – and we’ll take a good, hard look at that in the days ahead.

For now – bring it on.

Gorgeous campuses teeming with excitement, color, traditions, intensity, passion, pride, and gratitude for yet another Autumn spent living and dying with the teams that represent those golden years when the most important considerations were whether the tailgate would feature Budweiser or Pabst Blue Ribbon – at least for many of us those were the most important considerations – and whether or not we’d be celebrating on Saturday nights or looking ahead to the next chance at greatness.

Big Ten Football has been happening on campuses around the Midwest – and now beyond – for longer than any other conference.

For those of us attached to the conference, it’s the true page-turner of the calendar.

It’s the arrival of our chances to reconnect with everything that made that time so special.

And it’s here, once again.

Time to dig in and soak up every bit of it.

Crowley Sullivan is a 25+ year sports media veteran who spent ten years as a producer and suit-wearer at ESPN before becoming a digital media person. He built, grew, and led a college sports digital platform called “Campus Insiders” as its EVP/GM just as sports fans were beginning to engage with computers and phones. In addition to being a longtime contributor to CollegeFootballNews, he has written for USA Today Digital Sports, Rivals properties, and the St Bede The Venerable Monthly Parish Newsletter, the St Bede Beat. He now serves as the VP/GM of UFC Fight Pass even though the last time he got into a fight was in 2nd grade when he fought David Koller to a draw.

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