By Blake Dowson
All 14 Big Ten head football coaches were on call Tuesday morning to field questions from media around the conference.
This week, such programs as Indiana and Maryland soared to the forefront of conversation, stealing some of the spotlight from the such blue-blood programs as Michigan and Ohio State.
Indiana’s big win
The Hoosiers beating the Spartans was a big deal. First of all, it had been seven years since that had happened. Keep in mind, this is a trophy game between the two programs. To have a trophy case that has collected an awful lot of dust over the past seven years finally be occupied again has to be a good feeling.
And although Spartans have now lost two straight, they are still a very talented football team that will win a lot of games this season.
Indiana’s reward for beating its rival? A trip to Columbus to take on Ohio State in the Shoe. Head coach Kevin Wilson said the Buckeyes don’t have any weaknesses.
“We’ve got to cross the line with the ‘G,’ and that’s going to be hard to do,” he said. “If their offense wouldn’t have played [this season], I still think they would be undefeated because I think their defense has outscored their offense. And then their offense, they run an up-tempo offense but lead the league in time of possession … you look at their punter, who leads the nation in punting, he can’t make the stats because he hasn’t punted enough.”
The defense at Indiana the past couple years (if you could call it that) has been suspect. The Hoosiers were basically a Big 12 scheme team playing in the Big Ten — a spread offense with a defense that gives up a lot of points.
But that has not been the case this season. The defense has been stingy enough to lead the team to a 3-1 start. Wilson said that can be credited to new leadership on that side of the ball.
“We’ve been playing harder,” Wilson said. “We’ve got a new defensive coordinator, Tom Allen, who’s done a great job trying to get our coaches on the same page. He’s very, very consistent staying with what he wants.”
Maryland is quietly undefeated
Playing in the same division as Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State will make you fly under the radar.
Maryland head coach D.J. Durkin is probably OK with that; his squad is unblemished so far this season.
Granted, the Terrapins have wins over some not-so-good teams (Howard, Florida International, Central Florida, and Purdue), but it’s better than sitting at 3-2.
“We just focus every day on what we need to do to get better,” Durkin said. “Our guys have done a great job of embracing a routine, and a process, and everything else. We come in, it’s a Tuesday, there are certain things we do here on a Tuesday, and there’s a mentality to it. When you focus on that, you don’t let the other stuff creep in.”
Maryland finally gets a real test this week — it will head to Happy Valley to take on the Nittany Lions, who are coming off an overtime win against Minnesota.
With both teams vying for as many victories as possible outside of games against Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State, this game couldn’t be more important for either program.
