With every Big Ten football team in action this past weekend and three of them playing Top 25 teams, pundits around the country were calling it a statement weekend for the conference.
What exactly that statement turned out to be is hard to figure out. The performances of teams in the conference ran the gamut from dominating to downright putrid.
Penn State's 40-7 mauling of then-No. 8 Nebraska opened eyes around the league and the country, and Ohio State's 25-7 victory over then-No. 10 Washington State was further proof of the Buckeyes' potential. However, Michigan fell 25-23 at the hands of then-No. 21 Notre Dame, Wisconsin needed a late touchdown to defeat Northern Illinois, and Michigan State, one of the conference's favorites, took a 46-22 pounding at the hands of California.
Most of the conference's coaches preferred to look on the bright side.
"I didn't get to see much of Penn State game other than the end," Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel said. "But when I saw the final score, I just thought that it was a big feather in the cap of the Big Ten. I'd like to think other people in the conference felt the same with us getting a win over Washington State."
The conference has been losing some of its national recognition during the last two years. After six straight seasons with non-conference winning percentages of over .700, the conference was just eight games over .500 against teams outside of the Big Ten in each of the last two seasons. They have also had back-to-back 2-4 performances in bowl seasons, and they haven't had a team finish in the top 10 since 1999.
Last Saturday's games were supposed to give the Big Ten a chance to let the college football world know it was back. Though that statement wasn't emphatically made, the Big Ten's coaches are still expecting an improvement this season.
"I haven't had a chance to evaluate everyone in the league," Michigan State coach Bobby Williams said. "But I saw Penn State play the other night, and I've watched film from the Notre Dame-Michigan game from last weekend. I've had a chance to look at some other people, and I'll tell you, the Big Ten is going to be tough."
Not wasting time
Just three games into his first season in college football, Ohio State freshman tailback Maurice Clarett is already getting his name in the Buckeyes' record books.
Clarett rolled up 230 yards and two touchdowns against Washington State Saturday. It was the sixth-best rushing performance in Ohio State history, and two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin was the only Buckeye to ever rush for more yards in a game as a freshman, with 239.
The performance won him his second Big Ten offensive player of the week award and put him at the top of the Big Ten rushing list with 157 yards per game. He also leads the conference with seven touchdowns in three games.
Clarett got banged up a bit in his performance this week. He had a simple scope operation done on his knee yesterday, and he is questionable for Saturday's game at Cincinnati. Considering Clarett's personality, Tressel knows that if it is possible for his tailback to be back on the field by Saturday, he will be there.
"Maurice is a guy that's very passionate about excelling," he said. "He works that way in the weight room, on the practice field and obviously on game day."
Packing the houses
The Big Ten broke the 150 million mark in attendance, finishing the week with a total of 150,292,262 since the figures started being recorded in 1962.
Five of the conference's nine home games were sellouts, including the record-setting crowd at Beaver Stadium for the Nittany Lions' win over Nebraska.
