Big Ten Football Q&A: Ohio State as Season Spoilers?

Every Thursday on The Big Ten Blog, we will feature questions from the B/R inbox, Twitter and e-mail. Do you have a question for next week's Q&A? Send them to Big Ten Lead Blogger Adam Jacobi via the B/R inbox, on Twitter @Adam_Jacobi or at [e-mail].

From Phil Tyckoski (@PhilTyckoski) on Twitter: "Chances Michigan goes into the Ohio State game undefeated. Only to have the buckeyes ruin the title run?"

If the Buckeyes and Wolverines played in September, I'd give OSU basically no chance to beat Michigan. It's nearly impossible to keep the Michigan offense down forever, especially with a shaky secondary.

But they play at the end of the season, and if there's any Big Ten team that's going to improve substantially over the course of the year, it's Ohio State, as the Buckeyes acclimate themselves to the new offensive and defensive gameplans of Urban Meyer. The game's at the Shoe, too, so the better Michigan performs on the year, the more electric the atmosphere will be.

In fact, the biggest hurdle toward your dream scenario is Week 1, when Michigan goes to Cowboys Stadium to face the Alabama Crimson Tide. They're good. A loss in that game wouldn't necessarily be fatal to Michigan's title hopes, depending on how the rest of the seasons shake out, so Ohio State's season finale is probably going to be special to watch no matter what.

From Patrick S. Johnston (@TheRealPSJ) on Twitter: "When is Minnesota going to get a Prince song as their entrance music at TCF Bank Stadium?"

This is a fantastic question. Minnesota, where the hell are you on this one? Call the song "Maroon Rain" or  "Computer Maroon" or "Gopher Control" or whatever. JUST MAKE IT HAPPEN.

From Collin McCollough (@cmcollo) on Twitter: "Is there any chance in hell IU can ever become a respectable football program, and what's the blueprint if so?"

The short answer is one word long: PATIENCE. Indiana made the right hire in Kevin Wilson; his pedigree is impeccable, and his track record of having assistants hired away by more prominent programs speaks to his ability to identify and put together a good staff.

For a sense of what it'll take to make Indiana respectable, look at how Northwestern did it, even in the money era of college football. Indiana right now is nowhere near as bad as Northwestern was for decades, and with the Big Ten Network pouring money into the athletic department, Indiana doesn't face nearly the financial hurdle that Northwestern used to.

So the closest thing to a Big Ten blueprint for respectability is basically to hire your coach (check), hope he identifies some talented, probably under-recruited players (check?) and then wait and wait for him to build the program in the image he wants.

Give him as much money as is necessary to keep as many assistants as possible to do so. Building institutional tradition and familiarity is crucial, plus the more times you fire a coach, the more players transfer out, and that's how senior leaders vanish from a program, leaving the freshmen adrift.

That's not what you want. Indiana just needs to get out of the three-to-five-year firing cycle and let Wilson work, and good things will probably happen.

From Sean Adekunle (@seanadekunle) on Twitter: "Does Minnesota ever get back to the Glen Mason days? A sad benchmark."

"Ever"? Yes. Football is too cyclical for Minnesota not to put together a good run.

"Within the next 10 years"? With the way the divisions are set up right now, I'm not terribly optimistic.

At a minimum, Minnesota is going to have to improve past the point of two of its division rivals and put one of them in the basement. Iowa and Northwestern would be the most likely targets, but Northwestern is in the middle of its own renaissance under Pat Fitzgerald, who ain't going anywhere, and Iowa's current doldrums still involve winning about eight games a year.

Maybe the hope is Michigan State tumbling after Mark Dantonio calls it quits (which will be sooner than you think), but that's hardly a sure thing.

It goes to show the inherent danger in a non-powerhouse program firing a middling coach. If Coach Mediocre is clearly never getting the program to a BCS bowl but still puts together a winning season every season, a football program needs to take a very honest look at its resources and facilities relative to the rest of its conference before letting that coach go.

And firing a coach for blowing a 31-point lead might be immediately satisfying, but it is very, very stupid.