The best measure of the strength of the Big 10 came in a closed-door meeting of the league’s coaches last week.
Gathered for their annual preseason hash session, the coaches talked about switching to a round-robin conference schedule but ultimately decided they preferred to play only eight of 10 conference rivals.
Some liked the round-robin concept because it would determine a “true champion,” as Commissioner Jim Delany put it. But others disliked it because it also would limit teams to one non-conference game-and that would mean a tougher schedule for most schools.
Take a look at this year’s slates. Would Purdue want to trade Ball State or Toledo for Penn State? Would Penn State like to trade Rutgers or Temple for Wisconsin?
One of the few coaches who liked the idea of a change is Iowa’s Hayden Fry. “I’d just as soon be playing all the schools in the Big 10 than schools X, Y and Z across the country,” Fry said. “Otherwise, play six (league) games because you aren’t going to have a true champion and you could schedule teams you could beat up on, and you’d have even more teams in bowls.”
Another reason for resisting a round-robin format is Notre Dame, which plays four Big 10 opponents this fall. A date with the Irish means a certain sellout and national TV exposure. Big 10 teams would have trouble finding room for the Irish on the schedule if they had only one non-conference game.
Gators No. 1? As is often the case, the might of the Big 10 is being cited as the main reason a conference school will have trouble winning the national title. The Southeastern Conference is no cakewalk either, but many are picking Florida as a potential No. 1.
Gators coach Steve Spurrier won’t douse the title talk in Gainesville.
“We have a chance to be an outstanding team,” said Spurrier, 39-10 as he enters his fifth year at his alma mater. “We need young players to come through at wide receiver and running back, and our defense needs to continue to improve like it did in the spring.”
Mark it down: One of the Big 10’s bigger games comes Oct. 15, when Penn State visits Michigan. It’ll mark the first trip to Ann Arbor for Nittany Lions coach Joe Paterno, whose 28-year career has taken him to almost all citadels of the college game.
“I’m going to think about (Fielding) Yost and all that tradition,” he said. “And I’m going to remind the kids that it’s still a 100-yard field.”
The Lions don’t lack for motivation. They’re still smarting over last year’s home loss to the Wolverines. If Penn State had won, it would have gone to the Rose Bowl in its first Big 10 season.
Still no answer: The bowl alliance, which will try to pair the top two teams in a New Year’s Day bowl, bills itself as a better way to answer that nagging national championship question.
But alliance proponent Steve Hatchell, the commissioner of the Southwest Conference, rejects the notion that the alliance was a reaction to talk of a Division I-A playoff.
“This was in place before the NCAA started studying a national title game,” he said. “I think there are far too many questions surrounding a playoff system.”
The alliance has its share of questions, too. The biggest one: What happens if one of the top two teams is in the Big 10 or Pac-10, which are contractually committed to sending ther champions to the Rose Bowl?
Answer: We’re back to 1991, when Washington and Miami split the title.
Spartan `D’: Michigan State coach George Perles said he is so excited by new defensive coordinator Henry Bullough, “I’m not sure I’m going to wear a headset this year.” It’s up to Spartans fans to decide whether this would be a positive development.
Odds and ends: Spurred on by the addition of Penn State and by sellouts at rockin’ Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wis., the Big 10 led the land in average attendance in 1993. The league drew a total of 4,282,894 fans, or 63,924 per game, and 24 of 67 contests sold out. The upward trend didn’t catch on at Illinois, which drew only 51,018 per game, its lowest average since 1979. . . . We’re not saying Illinois officials hope for a lengthy major-league players’ strike, but they might be perfectly content not to have baseball on Sept. 1. That’s the night the Fighting Illini open against Washington State at Soldier Field. As one pessimistic Illini staffer pointed out, it’s also the date major-league rosters expand to 40 men. If-and this is a rather large “if”-the White Sox decide to call up a certain outfielder from Birmingham for that night’s game against Baltimore at Comiskey Park, the Illini’s big night in the city lights would be lost in the shuffle. . . . Who says football coaches are paranoid? Illini coach Lou Tepper told a ballroom of Big 10 writers last week that Illinois planned to try “new things on defense” this year. Asked how much he could expand on that statement, a straight-faced Tepper said, “Not a lot-especially in this environment.” Tepper did acknowledge that offensive coordinator Greg Landry will pull out the no-huddle from time to time. . . . Iowa had granted only three full scholarships to homegrown quarterbacks in 15 years, said Fry. This season, the Hawkeyes have two in-staters: sophomore Ryan Driscoll of Cedar Rapids and freshman Matt Sherman of St. Ansgar.
