Ron Zook is wearing the “Coach February” label after Illinois stumbled to a 3-5 Big Ten season, 5-7 overall. Zook is known as a superb recruiter who has rounded up impressive talent on February signing days but he’s produced only one winning season in four years at Illinois. The Illini, 9-4 last season and a Rose Bowl team, had a majority of their starters back from last season but they are among the conference’s biggest flops in 2008. A low point was a 23-17 loss to Western Michigan earlier this month before 12,865 fans at Ford Field in Detroit. Junior quarterback Juice Williams led the Big Ten in total offense and passing offense per game, but Illinois faltered on defense. Illinois earns a D grade and a cap D for disappointing.
Desperate Michigan would probably love a D. Instead the Wolverines receive an F in coach Rich Rodriguez’s first season in Ann Arbor. How could it be anything else for Michigan, 9-4 last year and a team that returned about half its starters? The Wolverines were 2-6 in the conference, 3-9 overall. You’ve heard multiple times the historic firsts about this season: most school losses in school history, first losing season since 1967 and 33 year streak of bowl games halted. Michigan’s problems started with not having a quarterback who could fit into the new spread system Rich-Rod brought from West Virginia. A 2009 recruiting class will help make the Wolverines better next season but 2008 will long be remembered in Ann Arbor.
Michigan State used the performance of senior players and the tough mindedness of second year coach Mark Dantonio to finish second in the Big Ten with a 6-2 record, 9-3 overall. Senior running back Javon Ringer rushed for 21 touchdowns, best in the Big Ten. The offense benefited, too, from a senior leader at quarterback, Brian Hoyer. Senior safety Otis Wiley was among the conference leaders in interceptions and part of a Spartan defense that both performed well and failed. The defense helped beat Wisconsin by one point and Iowa by three, but the Spartans gave up 45 to Ohio State and 48 to Penn State. The Spartans weren’t quite ready to play with the league’s best but still they almost won the school’s first conference title since 1990. They deserve their A-.
Northwestern used a senior group and a coach still young enough to be playing on Sundays to shock the Big Ten world with a 9-3 season, 5-3. Senior quarterback C.J. Bacher was third in conference total offense. Senior receivers Ross Lane and Eric Peterman were Big Ten leaders in receptions and before he was injured senior running back Tyrell Sutton was outstanding rushing and catching. But Northwestern’s rise from 6-6 a year ago was partially attributable to a defense led by first year defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz. He had been dismissed after last season from the same job at Wisconsin. The man smart enough to hire him was Pat Fitzgerald, the 33-year- -old head coach already in his third season in Evanston. Give the Wildcats a savvy A grade for the season.
In Iowa the lunatic fringe who had been disrespecting coach Kirk Ferentz after a 6-6 season last year and 3-3 start this season is now presumably cowering behind closed doors. The Hawkeyes, 8-4 overall and 5-3 in the conference, played classic late season Big Ten football, winning five of their last six games behind a power running game and solid defense. Junior running back Shonn Greene leads the nation’s runners with 1,729 yards. The Hawkeye defense finished in the top three in the conference in scoring defense, run defense and total defense. Orchestrating the defense was coordinator Norm Parker, an assistant at Minnesota in the 1970s. Doesn’t matter whether he’s working with under recruited kids from Florida, or no name high schoolers from Iowa or Minnesota, they become players under Parker. For juicing the most possible out of the material, rallying from that 3-3 start and playing wonderful football at season’s end, the Hawks earn an A. By the way, Iowa’s four losses were by a combined 12 points.
Purdue and Indiana are in the same state so we’ll lump them into a final paragraph. A little more than a .500 season was expected at Purdue in coach Joe Tiller’s last season. Instead the Boilers, who experienced internal dissension and injury to senior quarterback Curtis Painter, finished 2-6 in the Big Ten and 4-8 overall. Tiller won more games than any Purdue coach in history but he’s riding off to a retirement home in Wyoming with a D+ for the season. Assistant Danny Hope will be his successor. The last name is a positive start to the post-Tiller era. As for Indiana, the Hoosiers fulfilled expectations, minimal as they were. Picked for near the bottom of the conference, the Hoosiers finished 1-7 and in last place in the Big Ten, and 3-9 overall. Wins were against Western Kentucky, Murray State and Northwestern. The Hoosiers deserve an F including for their 62-10 loss to Purdue in their final game. A sad season, bad tradition and gloomy future.