Here are 11 things to keep in mind as the league kicks off conference play Saturday in its 115th season, with the Buckeyes opening at Illinois.
Can Iowa's Ricky Stanzi (a Lake Catholic graduate) lead the Hawkeyes to a third straight win over Penn State this Saturday? That's just one of Doug Lesmerises' Big 11 topics.COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State without a Big Ten title? Buckeyes' running back Dan Herron admits it would be weird not to win it.
"It would be very strange," the OSU fourth-year junior running back said Tuesday. "I don't want to be part of that group that doesn't win it. I want to be the guy that says I won it every year I was here. ... It never gets old."
This is the last year of the old Big Ten as we know it. Here are 11 things to keep in mind as the league kicks off conference play Saturday in its 115th season, with the Buckeyes opening at Illinois.
1. Ohio State is trying to tie the Big Ten record of six straight conference titles, matching the Buckeyes' run from 1972-1977. There are no "Drive Past Five" or "Get a Fix on Six" banners at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
"Any time you win the Big Ten, that's a huge accomplishment," senior linebacker Ross Homan said. "But you can't just go in and say, 'This is our year again.'"
2. Next season, when Nebraska joins the league and the Big Ten goes to two six-team divisions with a title game, a conference championship will be more difficult to come by.
Beyond winning an extra game, there won't be any co-titles. Five of Ohio State's six titles in their '72-'77 stretch were shared, as were recent championships in 2005 and 2008. Under the new setup, the Buckeyes would have lost the tiebreaker to reach the title game to Penn State after the Nittany Lions beat them in 2005 and 2008, so those titles wouldn't have happened.
3. The Big Ten is tied with the SEC for the most teams in the top 25 (six) and tied with the Big 12 for the most undefeated teams (six). Indiana and Illinois each have a game yet to play, but so far the Big Ten is 34-8 in nonconference play. Since 2006, the year college football went to 12 games, the Big Ten lost 12, 9, 12 and 12 nonconference games.
So the league must be better, right?
"This may be the best the Big Ten has been in a long time, and that's not just my opinion," Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said, saying he's heard the same sentiment from others.
4. Broken down, that 34-8 record includes a 9-1 record against lower-level FCS schools; an 18-2 mark against teams from the MAC, Sun Belt, Conference USA, Mountain West and WAC; and a 7-5 record against BCS conference schools and Notre Dame.
5. Maybe the conference is deeper, but there are questions at the top for the teams picked to finish second and third behind Ohio State. Iowa lost at Arizona and Wisconsin beat Arizona State by one point at home.
6. Iowa's loss killed national title darkhorse buzz for the Hawkeyes, but they can still establish their Big Ten bonafides against Penn State this week. Iowa beat the Nittany Lions the last two seasons as underdogs but are favored in Iowa City, and the Hawkeyes have to assert themselves.
"I'm not sure why [Penn State would] be considered the underdog," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz told reporters in Iowa City on Tuesday. "I'm looking at a team that's won 51 games [in the last] five years, they don't give up points. I mean, I think our biggest margin of victory in this series is 12 points back in '03. We've had tough games with them or we've gotten nailed pretty good."
7. Wisconsin has battled injuries and been happy to survive.
"I made a statement to our guys during Sunday's meeting that what we've done every week is we've won the football game," Badgers coach Bret Bielema said at his news conference this week.
8. The 4-0 Badgers could be vulnerable at 4-0 Michigan State because the Spartans, with the tandem of Edwin Baker (112 yards per game) and Le'Veon Bell (99 ypg), have been running it as well as Wisconsin has with John Clay (125 ypg).
"Last year we weren't able to run it as effectively," MSU coach Mark Dantonio said. "I think we're getting good production from our backs."
9. That makes the Spartans a Big Ten darkhorse, in part because they don't have Ohio State on their schedule. Dantonio will be back at Saturday's game two weeks after suffering a mild heart attack.
10. The other coach to watch this week is Minnesota's Tim Brewster, who could really use a win against Northwestern after a 1-3 start. He said the idea that he's worrying about his job is ludicrous.
"I mean with all my heart I believe we should and could be 4-0 at this particular point with our football team," Brewster said at his Tuesday news conference in Minneapolis. "I understand our fans' frustration. I understand. But you know what, just compound that about 50 times, okay, and that's me."
11. Undefeated Indiana vs. undefeated Michigan could be a first-one-to-50 battle. The teams are second and third in the Big Ten in scoring offense and eighth and 10th in scoring defense.
"We have to play a lot better defense than we have at times this year," Rodriguez said.
12. A bonus, in honor of Nebraska. The Buckeyes entered the season as conference favorites, and they should be perceived as even bigger favorites now. The rest of the conference has to prove otherwise, as Ohio State hits the road for the first time.
Illinois coach Ron Zook said this about quarterback OSU Terrelle Pryor: "It's a great challenge to play an awfully good football team," Zook said, "and arguably maybe the best player in college football."
Injury update: OSU coach Jim Tressel said backup cornerback Travis Howard and backup linebacker Dorian Bell are expected back this week after missing the Eastern Michigan game. The status of tight end Jake Stoneburner, who injured his left ankle Saturday, will be determined later in the week.