At Midway, Will Michigan and Ohio State Go Non-Stop?

By Paul Smith
paul.smith@collegeblitz.com

Chesterton, Ind. -- Snowflakes flying in Evanston. Wind-chill temperatures in Minneapolis, Ann Arbor, Madison...

We must be halfway through another football season. Time flies when your halfing fun! (bad puns, no extra cost)...

So while The Best Damn Band in the Land dots the i, while the Big Blue Band goes through its Penn State medley, while the Block M forms, we take a look at the first half of 2006 and we see some telling realities while posing a few questions for the class.

The first of which is -- what part of the Southeast does the one doofus coaches' polster who didn't vote for Ohio State as No. 1 live in? In an awful year for Florida's I-A teams, the first time both Florida State and Miami are out of the Top 25 since Herbert Hoover was in the Oval Office...

Well, apparently the Enlightened One actually lives in another province, but you can betcha dupa he's a Southeastern Conference fellow traveler.

The second: Could this be the year Michigan actually plays totally up to the oft-spread "All that talent" label and the battle for the national title becomes a scenario too many Big Ten fans know all too well -- U-M and The Ohio State University playing for the national championship?

Could happen. Seriously. See below.

The third: If No. 5 Michigan runs the table -- its game at Penn State is something of a challenge and the Wolverines do have to face a pretty solid Iowa team, albeit in Ann Arbor -- and loses, say, an overtime game at Ohio State, could Meeeshigan wind up playing the Buckeyes a second time?

If teams like West Virginia (which plays at Louisville), Florida (a couple of toughies left) and U.S.C. (Notre Dame and a couple of potentially tough Pac-10s) all post losses, it says here, don't rule it out.

A few realities...

The Wolverines' job was made much tougher when word came Tuesday that sophomore wideout Mario Manningham, who has scored nine touchdowns in U-M's six games, underwent arthroscopic knee surgery and will miss the Penn State game and possible others.

Not that there's that much weeping in Happy Valley -- particularly after Manningham's hotly-disputed game-winning touchdown at the 60:03 mark last year in Ann Arbor capped yet another "ref job" Nittany Lions loss to the Wolverines.

But if Manningham is out for any significant period of time -- or doesn't come back at full efficiency, Michigan can kiss goodbye to that run at the national championship.

It being Michigan Week in Central Pennsylvania, Penn State coach Joe Paterno came up with this revelation, told as only he could tell it.

When Bump Elliott resigned after the 1968 season in Ann Arbor, Paterno very seriously considered replacing him when Michigan athletic director Don Canham approached him.

"I called him up the next day and said, 'I appreciate it,' " Paterno told the weekly press conference audience, " 'but there were so many things I wanted to get done at Penn State (such as contending powerfully for the 1969 national title),, and I know you're going to get a good coach.'

"They went out and got Bo Schembechler. I think when they look back, they say, 'Thank God Paterno turned it down.' "

In Iowa City, after No. 15 Iowa bounced back from the Ohio State beatdown with an impressive 47-17 romp over Purdue, the Hawkeyes (5-1 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) eyeball Indiana warily.

Coach Kirk Ferentz knows the Hoosiers (3-3, 1-2) under second year coach Terry Hoeppner, aren't quite the free lunch they've traditionally been. "One guy who really wore us out was (wide receiver James) Hardy," he said, recalling the Hawks only led I.U. 24-21 in the fourth quarter. "We just couldn't defend him at all."

Defense would not appear to be a major issue for 25th-ranked Wisconsin, which will see an angry Minnesota team that lost a tough, controversial overtime game against Penn State in the Humpdome last Saturday.

But Minnesota will test just about anybody's goal line guardians. The Badgers (5-1, 2-1) , who seem most comfortable in the typical Big Ten smashmouth style that usually produces final scores like 17-14, saw Lawrence Maroney and friends push the game into the final seconds before the Badgers held on.

Maroney is a New England Patriot now, but quarterback Brian Cupito is having a standout senior year with 11 touchdown passes and, in a 2-4 season, 1,300 passing yards.

Purdue (4-2, 2-1) will play at Northwestern (2-4, 0-2). Coach Joe Tiller only needs to look back to two years ago when the Wildcats upset the Boilermakers at Ryan Field. Sophomore quarterback Curtis Painter may or may not post Drtew Brees or Kyle Orton-like numbers, but there is no question the Boilers' offense is nearly all the way back to the "Basketball-on-Grass" Tiller savors.

"We think he's on schedule," Tiller told Greenstein. "He's not where he's going to be in the future, but as a sophomore, we're pleased where he's at."

For Penn State (4-2, 2-1), Michigan is a cause, Manningham or no Manningham. Over 109,000 of Joe Pa's best friends (save 4-5,000 obligatory interlopers from "Up North,") will turn Beaver Stadium into what some are calling the nation's most hostile college football environment.

One question: Will Michigan coach Lloyd Carr's under-his-breath sideline hystrionics affect the officiating? Again??

In the darkest corners...

How else to open but with a Michigan State team that has blown all of a promising 3-0 start, 0-2 Big Ten, which only has to face the nation's top-ranked team.

The traditional 74,000 screamers will witness, but are the Spartans up to the year's most daunting task, particularly coming off a 31-13 loss at bitter in-state rival Michigan?

"...The thing is that no one will ever convince me is that John L. Smith is a winner," recalled O.S.U. head coach Jim Tressel, citing a question asked of him in the weekly Big Ten conference call re: Smith's shaky job status.

"The guy won 131 games or something, I read something (Ohio State Sports Information Director Steve Snapp) gave me just before we came in. There's not that many people that have coached this game that ahve won that many games and the number of different venues that he's been in, and when you say, 'Do you feel for him?', I feel for anyone that coaches in this league."

But after the Bucks' overwhelming performance at Iowa, the feeling here is the only real Ohio State foe this week will be itself. Under John Cooper, quite a formidable foe. Under Jim Tressel, well, the 56-13 record and one national championship in six seasons says the rest.

Speaking of struggling teams, anybody who blows a 25-7 "gimme" home lead against an Indiana team struggling for its identity could use some form of an off-week. Ohio University should -- repeat, should, provide that for Illinois.

The Illini (2-4, 1-2), seemingly having built some momentum after the 23-20 overtime upset at Michigan State, seemed totally in control against the Hoosiers, but you don't need to read Lewis Carroll to know things aren't always as they seem.

The Illini blew all of the early massive lead, then another advantage in fourth-quarter advantage.

"Any time a team steps out of the conference, and feels like it has an opportunity to get some respect, they do that," head coach Ron Zook told Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune, trying desperately to put the best possible face on a season nadir.

Let's just say Ohio is a must-win for a coach who grew up within an hour's drive of O.U.'s Athens campus. If it doesn't happen, and Zook struggles again next year, the Indiana/Ohio nadir this year would be a huge part of the reason why the Zookster would be looking for work again.