Home >  Sports >  Notebooks

Thursday, November 16, 2000

How much parity is there in the Big Ten this season? One need only look at the games last week to realize how mediocre, or balanced -- as conference coaches prefer -- the league is this season.

Purdue and Northwestern, with conference title hopes on the line, lost to teams with losing records.

Michigan, Ohio State, Purdue and Northwestern are tied for the conference lead, but Purdue controls its own destiny for the Rose Bowl. All the Boilermakers have to do is beat Indiana at home Saturday, and they go to Pasadena for the first time since 1966.

Unless Ohio State beats Michigan and Purdue loses to Indiana, the conference is assured of sending a team with three losses to the Rose Bowl.

The last time a Big Ten team went to the Rose Bowl with three or more losses was 1990 when Iowa went with an 8-4 record.

From 1991-99, three undefeated teams represented the conference in the Rose Bowl, three teams had one loss and three teams had two losses. None of those teams had two conference losses as the representative this year will.

"I'm not surprised anymore on Saturdays," Northwestern Coach Randy Walker said.

"You need to play your best football every week. If you, don't there's a good chance you won't win."

Heading into the final week, five teams have secured winning seasons, and three others have the chance to do achieve that goal this weekend.

"It speaks volumes about our conference, and yet nationally, we're not where we need to be," Michigan Coach Lloyd Carr said.

Badgers bounce back

After losing four of five games in the middle of the season, Wisconsin qualified for a bowl for the fifth consecutive season and for the seventh time in the past eight seasons with its 43-22 victory against Indiana Saturday.

The Badgers (7-4, 4-4) started 3-0, then lost three in a row, before winning three of their past four. They were ranked No. 4 in the nation at the beginning of the season, but, after the midseason slide, had to readjust their goals.

"Once we were out of the Rose Bowl picture, our next goal was to be in a bowl," Wisconsin Coach Barry Alvarez said. "And we'll go to a good bowl. We'll be excited about it."

There's even talk the Badgers could make a New Year's Day bowl game. Word out of Madison is the Badgers could sneak into the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla. because Northwestern lost for a third time. And even though Northwestern has a better overall and conference record, the Badgers could be awarded a better bowl because Wisconsin fans have proven over the past decade that they will travel with the team.

Sign here

Iowa (3-8, 3-4) is 2-0 since Coach Kirk Ferentz signed a new contract two weeks ago. Those victories came at Penn State and at home Saturday against Northwestern, which has the best offense in the conference.

It was the first time the Hawkeyes have won back-to-back games since 1997.

One of the main reasons for the turnaround is the play of junior quarterback Kyle McCann, who was a third-stringer at the beginning of the season. In the past two games, McCann is 42 for 54 (78 percent) for 482 yards and three touchdowns.

"Kyle has been very smart with his play," Ferentz said. "He'd done a good job of helping us be secure with the football.

"We've only had one turnover the past two weeks, and that's something that haunted us early in the season."

Pressure cooker

Ohio State Coach John Cooper is 2-9-1 against arch-rival Michigan. The game Saturday at Ohio Stadium is for a share of the conference title. In games against Michigan with at least a share of the conference championship on the line, Cooper is 0 for 4.

Attendance up

The conference is on pace to set the attendance record for one season. The record is 67,997 fans per game in 1984.

With four games left Saturday, the average is 68,856 per game. Conference teams could break the record for sellouts, too. There have been 35 so far this year.

The record is 36.