Big Ten Football Morning Coffee: John Simon Is Tebowish, You Say?

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

– Urban Meyer called defensive lineman John Simon "Tebowish," so have fun unpacking that one. That's one nugget in Rusty Miller's latest report from Columbus, where the defense is, in Miller's words, "flying under the radar."

Now, sure, offense is glamour in terms of media attention, but two things here: One, the defensive philosophy isn't getting totally overhauled; two, there are more known quantities on that side of the ball.

If people want to read things they already know, they can just go to message boards.

– Stefanie Loh of the Patriot-News asks if the New England offense can work at Penn State with Bill O'Brien in charge. The answer is pretty obviously "no," because Penn State's personnel strengths aren't where the Patriots' are, but that premise doesn't give enough credit to Bill O'Brien as a coach.

Coaches change offenses to suit their personnel all the time. Look at RichRod's offense at Michigan with Tate Forcier at QB and with Denard Robinson in. Two different offenses, basically.

– Wisconsin has four of its five starting line spots more or less settled, but there's a battle brewing at right guard between senior walk-on Robert Burge and sophomore DL convert Kyle Costigan, who's profiled here by the Wisconsin State Journal.

Costigan's still raw and Burge might have the edge for 2012, but if Costigan keeps improving his footwork we might see a lot of him sooner rather than later. 

– Michigan fans with a spare $5,000 lying around can participate in the third annual "Michigan Men's Football Experience" fundraiser, which takes place on the last weekend in May.

The two-day event is to raise money to help fight prostate cancer, and it takes donors through the experience of playing Michigan football, from suiting up in the locker room to a non-contact practice to film studies.

Okay, some real talk: I am personally a strong proponent of fundraising for health care so this is my unsolicited recommendation for Michigan fans with the means to do something like this to please do so. You'll have fun and do good things and get a jersey with your name on it.