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Reversals of fortune

Illinois'Kurt Kittner could be celebrating a BCS berth if things go right. AP 1   Michigan 2   Illinois 3   Iowa 4   Purdue 5   Ohio State 6   Michigan State 7   Penn State 8   Wisconsin 9   Indiana 10   Northwestern 11   Minnesota 50.4 Purdue kicker Travis Dorsch's nation-best punting average. Only one other Big Ten punter, Michigan State's Craig Jarrett, is in the top 20. "We're not happy with the Citrus Bowl. We want a BCS bowl. We're greedy." -- Illinois receiver Walter Young on the 9-1 Illini's postseason hopes. By Brian Hamilton, Special to CNNSI.com Someone asked Randy Walker if Northwestern would take special delight in spoiling Illinois' Big Ten title aspirations this Thanksgiving. Walker laughed. "We would take special delight in winning a football game at this point," the Wildcats coach said. Oh, how the allegedly mighty have fallen, and how the allegedly average have risen to take their place. The regular seasons of both the Wildcats and Illini will end Thursday, though Illinois, No. 8 in the BCS rankings, will travel somewhere warm for New Year's while reeling Northwestern, a league preseason favorite, will spend a few months using its academic pedigree to figure out when exactly its season turned into a heaping ball of flame. But besides the tangible aspects of this game, is there another matchup that better embodies the thorough, complete and utter miscalculations made before this Big Ten season started? There are other individual teams that would fit the bill (Iowa and Wisconsin, for making and not making a bowl, respectively, come to mind). But no two teams taking the same field -- from the same state, no less -- have traded fortune so entirely in the course of a year. Consider this scenario: A team in heated contention for a Big Ten title hosts its downward-spiraling in-state rival and, very unceremoniously, wallops them with a 38-point drubbing that seals a spot of prominence, maybe even a conference championship. Nov. 18, 2000: Northwestern 61, Illinois 23. Given that the Wildcats have surrendered 56, 59 and 43 points in three straight games (the crescendo of five straight losses), and given that the host 9-1 Illini have scored at least 33 points in their last five games (all wins), and given that a win might get them at least a BCS at-large bid (if not the automatic, with some help), is this freaky or what? The Wildcats have lost the magic that boosted them a year ago. The Illini have come from behind to win four times. Is anyone thinking that this could be renamed the Karma Bowl? "Momentum's the most important thing in this game, and you kind of get things swinging the right way and you get on a roll and you stay on a roll," Walker said this week. "And other times you don't get on a roll and can't find it, and you have to find it. "We haven't found it, didn't find it. There are a lot of ways to say it, a lot of ways to make excuses. But we never got momentum, we never made the plays in some key games, games we could have won." Said Illinois coach Ron Turner : "When you're not winning some games, especially late in the game with chance to win them, the confidence slips a little bit, and you end up looking around saying, who's going to do this? You end up playing a little tight. "We found a way [this year] to win some very, very close games. We were in same situation in a lot of games last year and didn't win them. It's not much different from last year, except we're on a little bit of a roll." Actually, it's plenty different, it's just that no one picked up on it. Northwestern was the preseason pick for conference champion. Illinois, though hardly thought of as a featherweight, was hardly burdened with those expectations. That they're sharing the same spotlight as one year ago with a compete role reversal, well, given the way things have gone in the Big Ten in 2001, it isn't surprising. Purdue is winning games with defense. As mentioned above, Iowa is going to a bowl and Wisconsin, with maybe the most potent offensive weapons around, isn't. Joe Paterno has gone from the cusp of history to the cusp of being pushed out the door to the cusp of a bowl-eligible season in the course of a month. Illinois and Northwestern: would-be vs. has-been? It figures. Take a look at any of the preseason rags that list the favorites for the Groza Award, annually divvied out to the nation's best kicker. Find Travis Dorsch's name among them, and the CIA would probably like to talk to you about finding Osama Bin Laden. Purdue's senior kicker clearly has become the most overlooked kicker in the country,. Dorsch ranks No. 1 in the nation in punting, with 50.4 yards per kick, and just last weekend had a 61-yarder against Michigan State. And that's not all, folks. With the Dorsch Kicking Machine, you also get a field-goal kickerwho has hit 80 percent of his tries (16 for 20) and leads league kickers in scoring at 7.1 points per game. At Minnesota, all Dorsch did was run onto the field with one second left and hit a 48-yarder to send the game into overtime. Dorsch has probably earned himself a spot in the NFL Draft next April, but for now, he's earned a spot in the race for hardware nationally. HOT: Iowa offense Takes advantage against two of the league's worst defenses, dropping 59 on Northwestern and then scoring TDs on six of first seven possessions against Minnesota. NOT: Minnesota defense Young defense is now a young and injury-depleted defense has given up 926 yards in last two weeks. HOT: Illinois and adversity For four straight games, the Illini have had to come from behind, and for four straight games, they have. NOT: Wisconsin special teams First, had punt blocked and returned for a TD. Then missed 36-yard field goal by Mark Neuser cost the Badgers the lead against Michigan. Then, the gaffe by Brett Bell -- allowing a punt to bounce off of him -- cost the Badgers the game.   In one of the more glaring mental blunders in recent memory, Wisconsin freshman Brett Bell allowed a Michigan punt to bounce off his leg with 14 seconds left in a 17-17 game. Michigan's Brandon Williams recovered, and one snap later, Hayden Epstein kicked a game-winning 31-yard field goal. After the game, Bell insisted he hadn't been told of anything but a regular punt coverage scheme, even though the Badgers didn't send anyone back to receive the kick. Returner Nick Davis said the play was "punt safe all the way." Whatever the reason, it ensured that Wisconsin would go bowl-less for the first time since 1994. Larry and Christine Johnson Their offspring -- Penn State's RB Larry and WR Tony -- accounted for 186 yards of offense and three TDs against Indiana. Purdue QB Kyle Orton Relieved Brandon Hance late in the first half and then completed nearly all of his passes for double-digit gains and on scoring drives. Iowa RB Ladell Betts Ran with purpose for 171 of Iowa's 267 yards on the ground in a sharp offensive effort that cinched the first bowl bid since 1997.   And now for something completely different... Michigan vs. Ohio State, with the Big Ten title on the line. Of course, the Buckeyes won't be vying for the championship after faltering against Illinois last weekend. Michigan, meanwhile, takes the title with a win, since it beat Illinois earlier in the year to take the first tie-breaker, should the Illini get by Northwestern on Thursday. Speaking of games that have title implications for one team, wasn't this Illini-Wildcats matchup supposed to have meaning for both teams? There is indeed a tremendous amount of pressure on the Wolverines, if only because the Northwestern defense appears incapable of stopping a stiff breeze, let alone the potent, multi-faceted Illini attack. And talk about big: Michigan State and Penn State becomes a huge game for both teams' bowl hopes. If the Nittany Lions lose, their impressive upswing ends with bowl hopes dashed. If the Spartans lose, their hopes are still alive, but it would be yet another collapse on the collapse-ridden record of the program.   One reason that Illinois might not slide into an at-large BCS bid, if it doesn't automatically go as Big Ten champion: attendance. Despite the team's success this year, Memorial Stadium has hardly been jam-packed. And it's bad luck that the intrastate rivalry game against Northwestern was scheduled for Thanksgiving -- campus should be significantly empty, and the game isn't even on television. ... Somehow, Michigan beat Wisconsin last weekend despite a paltry 163 yards of total offense. Wolverines coach Lloyd Carr was reminded earlier this week that Michigan won the famed 1950 Snow Bowl against Ohio State without completing a pass or getting a first down. Said Carr, "That would be fine with me." ... Predictably, Carr was a bit miffed that LB Larry Foote didn't make the final cut for the Butkus Award, given to the nation's best linebacker. Foote has anchored a stalwart Michigan defense and leads the Big Ten with a school-record 21.5 tackles-for-loss on the season. "There must be some incredible linebackers out there, because certainly, Larry Foote has had one of greatest years a linebacker has had at Michigan," Carr said. ... Michigan State QB Jeff Smoker returned to practice this week after missing a game with a shoulder problem. Spartans coach Bobby Williams figures to play both Smoker, the league leader in pass efficiency, and freshman Damon Dowdell , who threw for 304 yards in a loss to Purdue last weekend. ... Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said it's "very unlikely" that QB Steve Bellisari will play this weekend at Michigan. Bellisari was arrested for driving under the influence last Thursday and was indefinitely suspended from the team. He has been reinstated, but stripped of his captaincy, and Craig Krenzel will get the start against the Wolverines. "When problems occur, you have to work through them, you have to make good decisions," Tressel said. "I think you know that when you go into the people business. If you weren't interested in dealing with human experiences, you wouldn't be in coaching." ... After three starters missed all or a signifcant portion of a blowout loss at Iowa, Minnesota should have safeties Eli Ward and Jack Brewer and linebacker Phil Archer in the fold for Saturday's date with Wisconsin. Brewer and Archer are first and sixth in the Big Ten, respectively, in tackles per game. ... Brave Soul of the Week Award goes to the mother of walk-on Iowa offensive lineman Erik Chinander . She invited the entire Hawkeyes offensive line for Thanksgiving dinner at their Allison, Iowa, home. "That town may never be the same," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said.

Brian Hamilton covers the Big Ten for the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press. His "This Week in the Big Ten" column appears each Wednesday during the season.

 

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