Big Ten Football Morning Coffee: Spring Is a-Springin'

Rise and shine, friends, here's what's going down in the Big Ten today.

- The Ohio State spring game was on Saturday, and hoo boy have we got a lot to talk about. For now, Urban Meyer's promises of a 3-to-1 pass-run ratio were a little overblown, but what we did see in the passing game was quite a joy indeed. Mike Thomas as a go-to wide receiver? Time to start believing. 

- Recruiting was also key for the Buckeyes in the spring game. Visiting 5-star DE Joey Bosa verballed to OSU this morning, 4-star LB Alex Anzalone (whose offer sheet is basically everybody nationwide) committed at the spring game on Saturday, and 4-star TE Mike Heuerman is, according to Eleven Warriors, "expected to go Scarlet at any moment." Heuerman was at the spring game as well and tweeted a picture with him, Bosa and Anzalone hashtagged "#Trio." Read into that what you will.

- The Penn State spring game was also on Saturday, and to no surprise, the defense carried the day in the modified scoring arrangement, winning by a "score" of 77-65. The real stats of note (.PDF link)--and keep in mind that registering a sack is a little easier with the QBs wearing red--are eight sacks, 13 tackles for loss, five interceptions, and seven pass breakups for the defense.

At the very least, Penn State worked its downfield passing game pretty regularly, and a majority of the team's 23 completions went for at least 10 yards. More on this game later today as well.

- Michigan's decision not to bring its band to Dallas for the season opener against Alabama is starting to make more sense in Brian Cook's eyes, since one look at the game contract makes it clear that the UM athletic department is getting absolutely hosed.

Here's the basic rundown: they're getting significantly less money than a regular cupcake home game would bring in, the $4.7 million guarantee is where the payment is capped, and they're not making any money selling anything else. Getting hosed by Jerry Jones? Give me a breaksville!

- Minnesota announced that its "lone finalist" for the vacant athletic department role is VCU's Norwood Teague. Although hiring someone with no recent experience managing a football program is cause for concern, at the very least Teague looks like he's been living in Minnesota his whole life already. He'll fit right in.