Purdue coach Joe Tiller gave the bad news first: the Boilermakers' starting tailback Jaycen Taylor could be out for the season with a broken left arm injured in Purdue's win Saturday against Central Michigan.
But then without missing a breath, Tiller's voiced perked up to ann-ounce the start of the conference season.
"Otherwise, here we go, we're into Big Ten play," he said on yesterday's Big Ten teleconference.
Ten of the Big Ten's 11 teams will begin their conference schedules this weekend. No. 10 Penn State, of course, heads to Ann Arbor to play Michigan. The Big Ten's other nationally ranked teams, No. 8 Ohio State and No. 9 Wisconsin, serve as hosts to Northwestern and Iowa, respectively.
Michigan State will wait one week to begin its conference schedule. The Spartans play at Notre Dame this weekend.
While all teams are looking forward to starting anew with their conference games, it's with some looking back, particularly on noteworthy upsets in the non-conference season.
They range from Duke snapping its national-worst 22-game losing streak by defeating Northwestern last Saturday to Appalachian State knocking off Michigan in the season's opening week.
Couple those results with the fact that Big Ten teams collectively played seven Football Championship Subidvision schools in the non-conference schedule and some pundits have found credence labeling the Big Ten as less competitive nationally than normal.
Jeff Sagarin, whose computer rankings are used in the formula that decides the BCS rankings, has the Big Ten rated as the nation's fifth-toughest conference behind, in order, the Pac-10, SEC, Big East and Big 12.
"I don't make anything of it," Tiller said of the rankings. "I've been around football [all] my life, and I realize things move along and they change. I don't put too much stock in the early season rankings or ratings.
"I think they're good entertainment for the fans, etc., but the games they remember are played in November. And I think that's when you need to take a look at things."
Henne update
Yesterday afternoon, Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said senior quarterback Chad Henne would likely join the team for practice later in the day, meaning there's at least a chance Henne could play against Penn State this weekend.
"We're going to go out here in a couple hours," Carr said shortly after noon.
"I wouldn't be surprised if he took some snaps. We'll have to see what goes on beyond that."
Henne suffered a right leg injury, which Carr termed a "sprain," against Oregon two weeks ago.
Freshman Ryan Mallett started in place of Henne last week against Notre Dame, a 38-0 Michigan win. Mallett completed 7-of-15 passes for 90 yards and three touchdowns.
"We'll see how practice goes and see what transpires on the practice field this week, as far as the quarterback position," Carr said.
On Monday, Carr said Henne's status was "day-to-day" and didn't rule him out for Saturday's game.
Gladiator
Carr was asked if he was considering changing Michigan's traditional maize-and-blue winged helmet to gladiator-styled head gear, given Carr's public friendship with actor Russell Crowe. Crowe gave a pregame speech to the Wolverines before their game against Notre Dame.
"I don't think we're going to change that," Carr said of the helmet after enjoying a brief laugh. "It was nice to have Russell with us. The players enjoyed him and he certainly seemed to enjoy himself."
ND-MSU: The rivalry
It's not hard to forget, especially if you're a Notre Dame fan, coach or player, that some Michigan State players planted a large green and white Spartan flag at midfield following Michigan State's 44-41 upset of the Irish in South Bend in 2005. Those antics won't be happening this time around, first-year coach Mark Dantonio said.
"We're not going to talk about a flag," he said.
"We're going to represent ourselves in a class way. Play emotional and hard, just like we've done."
