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Thursday, October 05, 2000

The Big Ten Conference has long been renown for its power mentality. The biggest teams and the teams that rushed the ball the best usually found their way to the top of the conference standings.

Purdue Coach Joe Tiller introduced a wide open, spread offense to the conference four years ago, and the Boilermakers have enjoyed some success.

Now Northwestern Coach Randy Walker has implemented the spread. Walker is running the offense with a couple of twists.

Unlike Tiller, Walker is not committed to the pass. From Walker's perspective, the spread offense can create running lanes as effectively as it opens the field for four and five receivers.

Also, Walker has added the no-huddle, something he picked up from the Cincinnati Bengals when he was coach at Miami of Ohio early last decade.

Northwestern (4-1, 2-0) is ranked No. 22 in the Associated Press poll this week. The Wildcats used the offense to upset Wisconsin, 47-44, in overtime two weeks ago and overwhelmed Michigan State with it, 37-10, last week. Both games were on the road.

"It's sort of a new thing to the league," Michigan State Coach Bobby Williams said. "They really run it at a fast pace where you can't get players on and off the field.

"It was very surprising to see them beat Wisconsin and then to come in here and dominate us the way they did. The offense they're running is going to give a lot of people problems."

Northwestern quarterback Zak Kustok is calling plays at the line of scrimmage based on the number of players the opponent plays near the line of scrimmage. If there are six or more players up close trying to stop the run, the Northwestern coaching staff relays a pass play to Kustok, who then calls the play at the line. If there are fewer than six players "in the box", Kustok audibles to a running play for Damien Anderson, who is second in the Big Ten in rushing and fifth in the nation, averaging 151.6 yards per game.

Northwestern ranks second in the conference in rushing with 244 yards per game.

"I believe in balance," Walker said. "In a perfect world, we would be 50-50 with the pass and run. But it doesn't always work out that way. Against Wisconsin we passed 50 times. Against Michigan State, we ran 50 times. We're doing a good job of taking what the defense is giving us. We've had a better competency throwing the football this season, and that's given us a better blend."

Northwestern is second in the conference in scoring, averaging 34.2 points per game. The Wildcats play host to Indiana this week. Indiana is giving up 30 points per game.

Illinois letdown

Illinois had some trouble putting its last-minute defeat against Michigan in the past. The Illini lost big, 44-10, at Minnesota last week.

"I didn't like the look we had in our eyes [last] Tuesday after the Michigan game," Illinois Coach Ron Turner said. "Wednesday we didn't have a good practice. Then Thursday I was hoping to see some spark and anger. In the past, they always responded. But they didn't this time.

"I don't know what the deal was. It was the whole team. Nobody was able to light a spark to get the team going."

Illinois, which has an open date this week before playing host to Iowa, dropped out of the Top 25 for the first time this season after the loss at Minnesota. One big problem for Illinois is its run defense. The Illini are 10th in the conference against the run, allowing 225 yards per game. They gave up 364 yards against Minnesota last week.

Getting closer

Purdue was picked to finish third in the Big Ten this season, despite never having beaten Michigan, Ohio State or Penn State during Joe Tiller's three-year tenure as head coach.

After losing to Penn State last week, Tiller's record dropped to 0-6 against those three top programs.

"Part of that is you have to be in the arena and experience it more than one time to understand what it takes to win against the top teams," Tiller said. "As long as we're competitive and in a position to win these games in the fourth quarter, we will win one of these games, and we'll be closer to closing the gap."

Tough times in Madison

Wisconsin, the two-time defending conference champion, is 0-2 in conference play for the first time since the 1996 season after losing at Michigan last week.

It doesn't get any easier for the Badgers this week. They play host to undefeated and No. 8 Ohio State, which will have had two weeks to prepare.

"We don't want to put the weight of the world on these kids' shoulders," Wisconsin Coach Barry Alvarez said. "But obviously, this is a very important game."