Many Big Ten squads have gotten more time off than they bargained for this season.

In addition to the traditional bye week each school receives during regular-season play, teams were given an extra Saturday off following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C.

While a weekend without play gives teams a chance to rest and extra time to prepare for their upcoming opponents, it can also disrupt the flow of the season.

“I’m kind of getting tired of all these bye weeks,” Purdue quarterback Brandon Hance said. “We’ve had all kinds of practice time. You’d like to think you’re improving in practice, (but) nothing is close to game experience and establishing some kind of momentum for your football team. Every time you have a bye it kind of stunts that momentum.”

For Penn State, however, the bye week was a much-needed break. It allowed Nittany Lions coaches to come up with new schemes to turn things around. Head coach Joe Paterno gave his players time off to handle personal business.

Indiana head coach Cam Cameron said the upcoming bye week could not have come at a better time for his team. The intermission gives his players a chance to concentrate on the midterms they’ll be taking this week. It’s also an opportunity for the coaching staff to go on recruiting trips, a time for players to recover from injuries and a chance to strategize for upcoming opponents.

“Most coaches use bye weeks very similarly — to get healed up,” Cameron said. “I think everybody’s going to make some kind of adjustment going into the Northwestern game because what they do is such a departure from what other people are doing.”

After losing to a rested Penn State squad, Northwestern faces two more opponents coming off bye weeks (Purdue on Oct. 27 and Indiana on Nov. 3).

Praise for paterno: Despite suffering a heartbreaking loss to Paterno’s Nittany Lions on Saturday, NU head coach Randy Walker still had some kind words to say about the legendary coach.

“I want to extend my congratulations to Joe Paterno,” he said. “After watching the tape … you see that Penn State just outplayed us.”

Walker was not the only Big Ten coach with high praise for Paterno, who tied Paul “Bear” Bryant for the most career Division I-A coaching wins with 323.

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, who grew up in Western Pennsylvania, said it was his boyhood dream to go to Penn State. Although he ended up attending Connecticut, Ferentz was pleased to see Paterno win last weekend.

“Coach Paterno didn’t win 300-plus games by being dumb,” Ferentz said. “It’s an outstanding program, an outstanding institution. Other than Randy, probably all of us were happy to see Coach Paterno get that win on Saturday. How can you be a coach and not pull for a man who’s done so much for college football?”

All alone in the bcs: Michigan is clearly the best team in the Big Ten — at least according to the Bowl Championship Series.

The BCS released its first rankings of the season on Monday, and Michigan — ranked No. 7 by the complex system — is the league’s lone representative.

But Wolverines head coach Lloyd Carr isn’t focussed on the polls.

“We have not discussed that at all,” Carr said. “The thing I pointed out to our team in our last team meeting is that when you look at our schedule, we’ve played three games in the Big Ten. We’re not even to the halfway mark yet. So all the polls and everything else really takes a second seat to what we’re trying to accomplish — win this week.”

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Teams split on advantages of extra bye

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Coaches show respect for Paterno; Michigan No. 7 in first BCS poll