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Thursday, November 02, 2000

Big Ten teams are scoring more than ever this season. Seven teams are among the top 37 in the nation in scoring offense. Nine of the 11 teams have scored 40 or more points at least once this season.

Conference defenses don't rank among the best in the nation, but the top teams in the conference boast the best defenses, reinforcing that basic football truism: You win with defense.

Ohio State is the only Big Ten team among the top 43 teams in total defense, and the Buckeyes are No. 20. Michigan and Purdue are Nos. 44 and 45.

Ohio State, Michigan and Purdue are three of the top four teams in the conference. Northwestern is the other team. The Wildcats give up 25 points per game and are ranked 84th in the nation in total defense.

How are the Wildcats doing it?They are scoring 34 points per game and have scored 40 or points three times. On two of those occasions, they won by six points or fewer.

One team that hasn't been able to overcome poor defense is Minnesota. The Gophers were near the top of the conference standings a couple of weeks ago and had Rose Bowl aspirations after beating Ohio State.

Since then, Minnesota has given up 92 points and 1,154 yards the past two weeks. The Gophers gave up 611 yards and 51 points to Indiana and 543 yards and 41 points to Northwestern. This from a team that gave up just 90 points in its previous five games and just 200 yards against Ohio State.

"I think our defense missed the bus on the way back from Columbus," Minnesota Coach Glen Mason said. "Consistent defensive play is what's hurting us. We've been riddled by big plays. We were hurt by Antwaan Randle El and the option, and last week against Northwestern, we were hurt by [Damien] Anderson and [Zak] Kustok. We had a lot of trouble in the second half against those guys. I thought we made improvements here when I took over, but we're back to playing lousy defense."

The magic number

Northwestern Coach Randy Walker said his first goal when he took over the Wildcats' program last year was to win six games. With three games left in the season, Walker and the Wildcats have already reached that goal.

"Being a winning program was always our first goal," Walker said. "Six wins has always been the magic number. You get there, you can say you have a winning program and you can go to a bowl game. Another of our goals is to be the Big Ten champions. It's nice with three games left in the season to be in that position."

Northwestern plays Michigan this week, then Iowa and Illinois to close out the season. The Wildcats would have to win out and hope Purdue loses to either Michigan State or Indiana.

Spartans win ugly

Michigan State last week was without its top defensive player, its top offensive player and had to go to a true freshman at quarterback midway through the game. And still, the Spartans managed to pick up their first conference victory of the season.

Without defensive tackle Josh Shaw, running back T.J. Duckett and with Jeff Smoker at the helm in the second half, Michigan State beat Illinois, 14-10, ending a four-game losing streak.

All four of Michigan State's victories this season have been by 10 points or fewer, three of them by six points or fewer.

"I've had four ugly wins," Coach Bobby Williams said.

Williams said Smoker will start this week against Ohio State.

Kittner failing Illinois

Illinois has lost three of its past four games and is quickly falling out of bowl contention. One of the reasons has been the play of highly touted junior quarterback Kurt Kittner.

When Illinois went 8-4 last season and beat Virginia in the Micronpc.com Bowl, Kittner threw 24 touchdowns and just five interceptions. This season, Kittner has 15 touchdowns and seven interceptions. But in the past four games, Kittner has thrown six interceptions and just six touchdowns passes.

"Kurt has played very well with the exception of last game," Illinois Coach Ron Turner said. "We're confident he'll bounce back."

Quote of the Week

"Drew Brees is probably the best quarterback I've faced since I've been in this league. He is certainly the most accurate."

- Ohio State Coach John Cooper, who has been the Buckeyes' head coach since 1988.