A week after its comeback victory against Northwestern, Penn State has a rough task on its hands in slowing down emerging Heisman candidate Laurence Maroney. Maroney ran for 217 yards last week in the Gophers’ double overtime victory over Purdue and 333 all-purpose yards earning him co-Big Ten offensive player of the week honors. Purdue had been the No. 1 rushing defense in the country.
When asked on how he planned to stop Maroney, Penn State coach Joe Paterno was straight forward.
“Pray,” Paterno said. “We’re not gonna stop Maroney. Nobody’s going to stop him.”
Paterno acknowledged yesterday that the test will lie not in stopping Maroney, but in remaining alert and holding down a diverse offense that racked up over 700 yards of total offense against the Boilermakers.
“He’s going to get his 125 yards,” Paterno said. “We’re gonna have to hang in there though, not give him any easy ones, and not fall asleep and let the play action pass kill us.”
a big ten tradition
The Big Ten is slowly starting to resemble the NFL, as bottom feeders have started switching places with preseason favorites.
“I think there’s great parity,” said Ohio State coach Jim Tressel. “There are a lot of great coaching staffs in the Big Ten and there are great institutions.”
Many in the conference are stressing that it is too soon to make any rush judgements about transfers of power. As Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz noted Tuesday, the Hawkeyes started slowly last year as well before winning the Big Ten.
With only one conference game out of the way there is still plenty of time for the traditional powers to right themselves in the standings.
“I haven’t really looked at them,” Ferentz said. “A bunch of us are 1-0 and the rest of us are 0-1. You don’t get really excited about it.”
Still, coaches around the Big Ten believe that the conference is a much closer group than it used to be. “It’s fascinating to me to see the quality and the competitiveness and the eveness of competition in the Big Ten this year,” Paterno said. “We’ve just got one heck of a conference right now.”
talk to the hand
After losing to Wisconsin on Saturday, the Wolverines have begun the week accepting that their title hopes are likely done for the year.
“I think whether things are going great or whether they’re going poorly you have challenges,” coach Lloyd Carr said. “The challenges when things are going well are a lot more fun but they’re no less difficult.”
The Wolverines did have some good news as Mike Hart began his road back from injury by practicing on Tuesday. Hart has not played since injuring his left leg against Notre Dame on September 10th.
If Carr is looking for help to shore up his depleted backfield, he can look to East Lansing where his opponent for this week, Michigan State, has three running backs who are averaging more than six yards per carry.
Unfortunately for Michigan, the Wolverines have the task of shutting down the Spartans’ versatile three-pronged ground attack.
“I’m hoping that they only play one at a time,” Carr said.
In East Lansing, the undefeated Spartans are taking extreme measures to prepare for the game. Coach John L. Smith has closed his practices to the media.
“Basically it’s a good excuse for me not to have to open the door to you guys,” Smith said yesterday. “We’re a young enough crew that we don’t need anything extra right now. All we need is to go to the field and focus on the things at hand, so its more that than anything.”
Reach David Kalan at [email protected].
Power Poll: Kanye Edition
- Ohio St. (3-1, 1-0): Already clinched
- Michigan St. (4-0, 1-0): Closing in on their magic number
- Minnesota (4-0, 1-0): Starting to pull away
- Wisconsin (4-0, 1-0): Streaking like the Tribe
- Purdue (2-1, 0-1): Chances are slipping away
- Michigan (2-2, 0-1): Dropping like the Sox
- Iowa (2-2, 0-1): Just fell out of the race
- Penn State (4-0, 1-0): Have hope, but not this year
- Indiana (3-0, 0-0): Waving ‘Bye next week
- Northwestern (2-2, 0-1): Thinking about next spring
- Illinois (2-2, 0-1): Out of it since last spring
