It’s bad enough that a 7-5 Wisconsin team won the “Big Ten Championship” game. It’s bad enough that Nebraska, the other team in the “Big Ten Championship” game, gave up 70 points in getting crushed by Wisconsin. It’s bad enough that the Ohio State Buckeyes, the best team in the conference, weren’t playing. But the crowning indignity is that Wisconsin’s head coach, Bret Bielema, is now reportedly bolting the Big Ten for Arkansas and the SEC.
Don’t get me wrong here. I don’t think that Bielema, the former Badgers coach who now reportedly will be leading the Razorbacks, is a great football coach. He won or tied for the lead in the Big Ten three times — at least, according to the conference title game organizers — but I never thought he matched up well, in terms of coaching or recruiting ability, against Ohio State or other premier college programs. Bielema always had a squinty, slack-jawed look on his face, seemed overmatched in in-game coaching contests, and rarely won the big games. If Arkansas thinks they are getting a great coach, they may well be mistaken.
No, what’s embarrassing is that the “Big Ten Championship” coach is skedaddling the conference to go to a marginal team in the SEC. Arkansas apparently was willing to pay him a lot more money than Wisconsin would shell out, and perhaps Wisconsin’s discretion in that regard is wise. Still, if winning coaches are bolting for a second-division team in a different conference, what does it tell you about the Big Ten?
Nebraska is not a bad team. They’re 10-2 and have only lost one game in the conference — although it was a crushing loss, a 63-38 spanking at the hands of the Ohio State Buckeyes. Wisconsin, on the other hand, is a different story. The Badgers are 7-5 overall, and only 4-4 in the conference. Wisconsin lost three of its last four games, all in overtime.
Not surprisingly, there’s not a lot of interest in the game. Many tickets are for sale at a steep discount from face value, and organizers are expecting a number of empty seats. I’m confident that the Rose Bowl organizers, too, are holding their breath and hoping that Nebraska wins, so the Granddaddy of all bowl games doesn’t feature a team that barely has a winning record.
One of the 
After a lackluster first quarter, the Buckeyes roared back and blew out the Cornhuskers, 63-38. Sometimes one play can turn a game around, and in this case it was a long run by Braxton Miller that set up the score that allowed Ohio State to close to 17-14. After that, it was off to the races. Ohio State scored 28 points in the second quarter to go into halftime with a 35-24 lead, and then kept their foot on the accelerator in the second half to score another 28 points and pull away. The Buckeyes are now 6-0 and are likely to move into the top ten.
What will make the game extra special is that it is under the lights at the Old Horseshoe. Ohio Stadium is a classic, storied college football venue — you can’t walk into the Stadium without feeling the history sunk deep into the turf, the concrete rows and ramps up to B and C decks, and the pillars with their Block O capstones — but it becomes an especially spectacular place for a football game under the lights. The Stadium itself is brightly lit, and the crowd is lit, too.
The results of pre-conference play were not kind to the teams in the Old Conference. Michigan got pulverized by Alabama and then played badly in a loss to Notre Dame. Wisconsin lost to Oregon State and has struggled mightily against mediocre teams like Utah State and UNLV. Pre-season favorites Michigan State and Nebraska have fallen from the ranks of the unbeaten, with the Spartans getting pounded by Notre Dame and the Cornhuskers dropping a winnable game to UCLA. Iowa, Penn State, and Illinois already have two defeats. Minnesota is undefeated, but hasn’t played anybody. The best team in the conference could be Northwestern, which has knocked off Syracuse, Vanderbilt, and Boston College.
The good? No Buckeye seemed to sustain a serious injury. Ohio State finally got a runner other than Braxton Miller — in the case, Jordan Hall — more than 100 yards on the ground in a game. The defense forced two turnovers, and John Simon and Johnathan Hankins are terrors on the defensive line. And that’s about it.
Don’t be swayed by the big plays; for much of the game the Buckeyes looked clueless on offense. Cal outgained the Buckeyes and easily won the time of possession battle. The offensive line isn’t very good right now, and the team seems to be incapable of moving the ball consistently on the ground through a traditional running game. The defense gave up a huge number of big plays and let a previously unknown, unused tailback make them look slow and stupid. The D experienced repeated failures at the most fundamental level — tackling. And the team as a whole played an undisciplined game, full of stupid penalties and cheap, embarrassingly chippy behavior. In short, the game was not a pretty sight for a Buckeyes fan.
Many people will focus on the game at East Lansing, where Ohio State seeks revenge for the Spartans’ win last month. The Buckeyes’ dreadful showing in that contest triggered several inconsistent performances that have tested Ohio State’s mettle and raised questions about its NCAA Tournament hopes. A win against a top 10 team, coached by legendary Tom Izzo, in a brutal venue — and on Michigan State’s senior day, to boot — would answer those questions. Ohio State will need to shoot a lot better and rebound a lot better if they hope to do so.
The stories aren’t so pretty at the bottom of the conference. Minnesota’s season has been crippled by injuries, but Illinois has experienced an outright collapse that probably will result in the ouster of coach Bruce Weber. The Illini are baffling because they have one of the best big men in the conference in Meyers Leonard and a great scorer in Brandon Paul, but they play poor defense and lack the leadership and chemistry needed to win consistently. Nebraska’s coach, too, is likely on the chopping block; the Cornhuskers look to be far away from being competitive in the conference. And Penn State, which has a new coach this year, always seems to be rebuilding, but never quite getting to the top.
Officials at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln 
In the “Legends” division, Michigan State leads at 4-1, with Michigan, Nebraska, and Iowa right behind at 3-2. Yesterday’s games made the division race a lot more interesting, with Northwestern gutting out a shocking win at Nebraska and Iowa toppling Michigan. All of the leaders in the Legends division (pun intended) have tough games remaining; Michigan State must play Iowa and Northwestern; Nebraska plays Iowa, Michigan, and Penn State; Iowa has Michigan State and Nebraska; and Michigan still has Illinois, Nebraska and the Buckeyes. The eventual winner of this division is anybody’s guess.
In the “Leaders” division, Penn State leads the way. The Nittany Lions are undefeated in the Big Ten and have only one loss overall, but they aren’t getting much respect — largely because the general perception is that the team hasn’t played many tough games. That will change straightaway, as Penn State must close with Nebraska at home and then Ohio State and Wisconsin on the road. Ohio State and Wisconsin are 3-2, and both will be rooting for the other to knock off the Nittany Lions — but then lose another game, besides.
