Overheard at the Big 10 luncheon:
— ”Things were too one-sided when Dennis Green was the coach,” said Bob Dirkes, a 235-pound senior from Fremd High School who`s expected to be a bulwark for Northwestern`s defensive line this season. ”He worried too much about the offense.
”Our offense didn`t hold the ball long enough, so we had problems outlasting other teams. We`d play `em tough at the start, then get beat up and fall apart in the second half.”
Will things be different under Francis Peay, Northwestern`s new coach?
”The defensive philosophy won`t change much, except we`ll work a lot harder on the secondary,” Dirkes replied. ”Coach Peay is using his knowledge of defense to make our offense stronger.”
— ”We were embarrassed,” coach Hayden Fry said of Iowa`s 45-28 Rose Bowl loss to UCLA. ”They beat us up one side and down the other.
”But why dismiss a 10-1 record and No. 1 ranking in the country for five weeks just because of that? You can`t let one defeat erase a great season.”
— ”The key to winning the Big 10 this season is to pace ourselves and keep everybody fresh,” said Ohio State quarterback Jim Karsatos. ”We`re two- deep at most positions, but we can`t afford a letdown like we had against Wisconsin last year.” The Buckeyes were upset 12-7 by Wisconsin, a loss that knocked them out of the Rose Bowl picture.
— Earle Bruce, Ohio State coach: ”I don`t know how you can compete at our level without nine or 10 freshmen contributing. If somebody proves to me it hurts their grades, I`ll change my mind.”
— Mike White, Illinois coach: ”I wish somebody would just bar freshmen, but I`m afraid it will never happen. Anybody who thinks a college athlete`s first priority is academics has to be crazy. Freshmen go through the pressure of two-a-day practices for two weeks before they see the inside of a classroom. Then we shove the kids out and say, `Go to class.` ”
— ”Our defense will have to carry the load at the beginning of the year,” said Rod Woodson, Purdue`s outstanding cornerback.
”We`ll miss (quarterback) Jim Everett, but the defense always gets overlooked, because the offense scores the points.”
— ”On defense, our upperclassmen have gone through three different systems in three years,” said Indiana coach Bill Mallory. ”Now the system is the smoothest it`s been. We`ve got a game plan and we`re going to stick to it. ”I`m not going to blow smoke at people about how fast we`re improving. Indiana has made the commitment to football, and we`ll try to upgrade our talent by recruiting the world.”
— ”It`s not like Jim Bennett was the backbone of our team,” safety Ed White said of quarterback Bennett`s leaving Illinois. ”Shane Lamb can do the job for us. We surprised a lot of people the year (1983) we won the Big 10 and we can do it again.”
— ”Things go in cycles,” said Minnesota`s John Gutekunst, attempting to explain why the new Big 10 head coaches–he, Peay and Wisconsin`s Jim Hilles–all had been defensive coordinators. ”Head coaches had been paying more attention to offense, so defensive coordinators became their top assistants. When the openings came, we stepped up.”
— ”Our quarterback, Mike Howard, kept trying to assert himself and play when he was injured last season,” Hilles said. ”I have to bring his confidence level back up. We`re strong enough to knock the top teams off their perch and be a dark horse in the Big 10, along with Michigan State. But if our seniors get banged up, you`ll see sophomores on the field. That won`t put us in a very good light.”
— ”Now I feel like a comfortable member of the Big 10,” said Illinois coach Mike White. ”It seems like I`ve been fighting my way out of a foxhole ever since I got here, a little bit of an outsider.”
