Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature currently requires accessing the site using the built-in Safari browser.
*
True fact: Ohio State coach Woody Hayes (1) watched his team run the ball 49 straight plays against Michigan in 1973, in a 10-10 tie.
*
![]()
[Drew Tate] spiked the ball to take Iowa out of field goal range on one of its few successful drives that day.
Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college football ("Bush Push" T-shirts sold separately):
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]Big Points, Big Drama In The Big Ten[/FONT]
True fact: Ohio State coach Woody Hayes (1) watched his team run the ball 49 straight plays against Michigan in 1973, in a 10-10 tie.
![]()
Ohio State legend Woody Hayes wouldn't recognize the Big Ten if he saw it today.
Given that information, you know what Woodrow would do if he saw today's Big Ten (2): slug the nearest opposing player for turning his league into a touch football outfit.
Somebody stole Woody's Big Ten and replaced it with a wide-bodied WAC (3). Scoreboards are lighting up, last-minute games are the norm and offense is trumping defense in a conference that built its reputation on cloud-of-dust conservatism.
The Dash offers a sampling of outrageous statistics to consider:
• In 18 of 19 league games, the winning team has scored at least 23 points. (Lone exception: Penn State 17, Ohio State 10.) In 16 of those 19 games, the winner has scored at least 30.
• For the first time since it started Big Ten play in 1896, Michigan (4) has given up 23 or more points in each of its first four conference games. That's from pre-Fielding H. Yost until today. First time. Ever.
• For the sixth time in its history, Wisconsin (5) has given up 20 or more points in its first four Big Ten games. Its combined record the previous five times: 4-16. Its record this time: 3-1.
• For the first time since it began recording scores of games in 1888, Northwestern (6) has opened the season by scoring 21 or more points in each of its first six games.
• Seven teams are in the top 35 nationally in scoring offense, all at 31 points per game or higher. The only other conference with seven teams (and with more than four) in the top 35 is the perennially porous Pacific-10.
But this hasn't become just a shootout league. It's a nailbiter league, too. Ten of 19 games have been decided by a touchdown or less, and half of those by a field goal or less. Eight games have been won in the last two minutes or in overtime, and six have gone down to the final minute or OT.
That includes all four of the Wolverines' league games. They've lost by three points twice, won by three and won by two.
And if you want unpredictable, you've got it. It's only mid-October, and already nobody is undefeated in league play. It's only the second time in the last 20 years that nobody's started 4-0.
"It speaks to the parity in the league," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr (7) said.
Spread offenses seem to have helped level the playing field and crank up the scoring, as defenses scramble to catch up. Carr and Ohio State coach Jim Tressel (8) said this week that they continue to put faith in defense first to win championships, and wonder whether touchdowns scored on special teams and on defense might be inflating the point totals.
Maybe not. The Big Ten has seven teams in the national top 40 in scoring offense and only four in scoring defense -- and that's actually better than the league's numbers in total offense (seven in the top 40) and total defense (just three in the top 40).
Hopefully Woody isn't listening in Buckeye Heaven, because here's the reality of Big Ten football in 2005: The league winner is going to have to score its way to the top.
Actually, he'd probably say, "Damn that tree-huggin' democrat Al Gore and his Internet!!!"Woody would say:
My first thread merge.