Rossow's Big Ten report

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SATURDAY'S RESULTS

Ohio State 30 Illinois 0

Michigan 36 Indiana 33

Minnesota 35 Northwestern 24

Wisconsin 38 Michigan State 30

Iowa 21 Penn State 10

Notre Dame 24 Purdue 21

NEXT SATURDAY'S GAMES

Arkansas State at Iowa 11 a.m.

Michigan at Michigan State 11 a.m.

Northwestern at Purdue 11 a.m.

Wisconsin at Minnesota 11 a.m.

Penn State at Illinois 2:30 p.m.

Ohio State at Indiana 6 p.m.

saturday's stars

TRESSELS, all ages. Ohio State's rout of Illinois was the 500th win for the Tressel family. Family patriarch Lee Tressel was 155-52-6 from 1958 to '80 at Baldwin-Wallace, son Dick Tressel was 124-102-2 at Hamline from 1978 to 2000 and son Jim Tressel is now 221-77-2 in 24 years at Youngstown State and with the Buckeyes.

OFFENSIVE LINE, Minnesota. The Big Ten's worst rushing attack (85.7 yards) put up 166 against the Wildcats.

DEFENSE, Ohio State. The Buckeyes have allowed one touchdown the last 11 quarters and have back-to-back shutouts for the first time since 1996, when they blanked Minnesota and Illinois.

GARRETT GRAHAM, Wisconsin. His three scores tied a school record for touchdowns by a tight end, and the senior set a program mark for career TDs (13) at the position.

FRESHMEN, Indiana. Darius Willis rushed for 154 yards – the most by a Hoosiers running back in four years – and two touchdowns. And Nick Freeland tied a school record with four field goals.

JOHN CLAY, Wisconsin. Running back lost his starting spot after fumbling three times last week against Wofford. He got it back Saturday by rushing for 142 yards and a score.

WALK-ONS, Michigan. Safety Jordan Kovacs had a career-high four tackles in his first career start. He is the second walk-on to start for the Wolverines in consecutive weeks after linebacker Kevin Leach got the nod against Eastern Michigan.

SATURDAY'S QUOTE

- "We made way too many mistakes, and I feel like all we did was bail ourselves out. We were able to get water out of the boat and stay afloat." – Michigan defensive tackle Ryan Van Bergen, upset with his team's performance.

BOWL FORECAST

Looking good: Wisconsin. We're starting to believe in the high-scoring Badgers, even if they've played all their games at Camp Randall. If they can split their upcoming two-game swing to Minnesota and Ohio State, they'll be in position for a January game. Not a bad way to end the season: a trip to Hawaii on Dec. 5 before a game in Florida a month later.

Looking bad: Northwestern. Hard to believe the Wildcats have four more wins in them even with Miami (Ohio) and Indiana coming to Evanston. Especially if they keep blowing second-half leads like they've done the last two weeks.

ILLINI RECORD BOOK

Saturday marked the 19th time Illinois has been shut out by Ohio State. The list:

YEAR SCORE SITE

2009 30-0 Columbus

1998 41-0 Champaign

1996 48-0 Columbus

1986 14-0 Champaign

1977 35-0 Champaign

1973 30-0 Champaign

1969 41-0 Columbus

1964 26-0 Champaign

1961 44-0 Columbus

1951 0-0 Columbus

1939 21-0 Columbus

1937 19-0 Columbus

1936 13-0 Champaign

1935 6-0 Columbus

1932 3-0 Champaign

1931 40-0 Columbus

1920 7-0 Champaign

1917 13-0 Columbus

1902 0-0 Columbus

ILLINI SCHEDULE

Sept. 5 Missouri 37, UI 9

Sept. 12 UI 45, Illinois St. 17

Saturday Ohio State 30, UI 0

Oct. 3 vs. Penn State

Oct. 10 vs. Michigan State

Oct. 17 at Indiana

Oct. 24 at Purdue

Oct. 31 vs. Michigan

Nov. 7 at Minnesota

Nov. 14 vs. Northwestern

Nov. 27 at Cincinnati

Dec. 5 vs. Fresno State

Categories (3):Illini Sports, Football, Sports

Comments

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dporreca wrote on September 27, 2009 at 9:09 am

I don't see more than two wins left on that schedule, and I wouldn't be surprised if Illinois goes winless the rest of the way. Who in the Big Ten is playing worse than Illinois?

Ron Guenther made the mistake of hanging onto Lou Tepper and Ron Turner a season longer than he should have. I fear he'll make the same mistake with Zook. If the Illini somehow turn things around and win six or seven games, by all means Zook should return. But if this season continues to be ugly, he's got to go, regardless of the buyout costs.