One Thing Every Big Ten Team Needs to Do to Turn Their Season Around

The Big Ten is awful this year. Just wretched. The stuff nightmares and the Sun Belt are made of. We know this, you know this, everybody knows this.

And yet there's one glimmer of hope that every single team in the Big Ten can cling to: They're all 0-0 in conference play.

Every team sets out to win a Big Ten championship at the beginning of the year. And yes, Ohio State and Penn State are precluded from a trip to Pasadena (or even Indianapolis, for that matter), but if those teams win the division, the Big Ten will acknowledge it. So that's still a goal, even for them.

So, with the conference race effectively reset, here's a look at what each team needs to improve to make a Big Ten title run.

Onward!

Illinois: Step Up in the Secondary

Louisiana Tech quarterback Colby Cameron was absolutely merciless in last week's 52-24 victory over the Fighting Illini, throwing for 284 yards and four touchdowns on 15-of-22 passing. That's a passer rating of 236.6, a pace that, if he could keep it up for the season, would obliterate the modern college football record (191.8, Russell Wilson, last year).

So, not to put too fine a point on it, but the Illinois secondary just made Cameron look like the greatest quarterback of all time.

That doesn't come as a surprise to anyone who saw the Arizona State-Illinois game, though, as the Sun Devils completed their first 14 passes in a row against the hapless Illini defense. Arizona State's good, but it's not that good.

Getting Supo Sanni back at safety will be a big boost for the Illinois secondary, and missing Steve Hull back there doesn't help, either. However, this is just a unit that needs to start playing better, period. 

Indiana: Magically Heal Tre Roberson's Leg

When Indiana lost Tre Roberson for the year with a nasty broken leg, it lost more than just its starting quarterback; Roberson was developing into a serious playmaker both through the air and on the ground. Cameron Coffman is trying hard in Roberson's lieu, but he's dinged up already and just doesn't bring nearly as much to the Indiana attack.

So, while Roberson's at least taking a medical redshirt this year and focusing on 2013, it'd be even better if one of those sci-fi healing rays were to be invented in the next couple days or so. There aren't many other scenarios in which Indiana competes for a shot at going to the Big Ten championship.

Iowa: Get James Vandenberg's Groove Back

It's been so long that most of the sports world has already forgotten, but way back in the day, in the long, long ago of 2011, James Vandenberg was a good quarterback. He threw for more than 3,000 yards last season with 25 touchdowns and only seven interceptions. He came into the 2012 season widely regarded as the best pure passer in the conference, and Iowa was sure to lean on its senior for leadership.

Um, about that.

Vandenberg has thrown all of one touchdown in four games this year, despite throwing virtually the same amount of passes per game as he did last year. His yardage per pass is down significantly as well, and as a result he's not even in the top 100 of passing efficiency in college football this year.

Iowa needs the 2011 Vandenberg back—the one who wasn't afraid to go downfield and who wasn't throwing two-yard crossing routes on 3rd-and-long. We don't know where that Vandenberg went, but Iowa needs to find him pronto.

Michigan: Learn to Win on the Road

Denard Robinson's struggles on the road are practically legendary at this point, but the fact of the matter is that Michigan's road woes are a team problem, not a Denard Robinson problem.

Unfortunately, Michigan can't hide from its struggles away from Ann Arbor this year, as the 2-2 start to the season suggests; Minnesota, Purdue, Nebraska and Ohio State all host the Wolverines this year, and all three of those games are eminently losable for Michigan. Yes, even the Gophers could give Michigan problems this year.

So, however Michigan plans to get back on the right side of things, the time to do so is ASAP. The Wolverines are off this week, but the trip to Purdue looms large in Week 6.

Michigan State: Maybe Catch a Pass or Two

We knew coming into this year that Michigan State's wideouts were going to struggle. But this? This is a disaster. Andrew Maxwell has an absolute beastman at tight end in Dion Sims, but he cannot count on Tony Lippett, Keith Mumphery, Bennie Fowler and Co. to catch passes with any regularity whatsoever.

So maybe give these guys stick-um. Tape some thumbtacks to their fingers. Declare a new rule that if the ball touches both of their hands it's an automatic catch, like when you give five-year-olds a point in basketball for hitting the rim.

Do anything to justify the wideouts' continued existence on the field.

Minnesota: Keep on Keepin' on

4-0! Minnesota! Seriously! Jerry Kill's men are playing inspired football, and although the list of victories isn't the most impressive, there are plenty of teams in the Big Ten who still don't have a win against a more impressive opponent. Hi, Michigan. Hi, Nebraska.

The key to the turnaround has been a suddenly stifling defense, one that allows just 179 yards passing per game and ranks 11th nationally in pass-efficiency defense. That same unit last year? Two hundred and sixteen yards passing allowed per game, but 107th nationally in efficiency. Opponents are trying to throw on Minnesota, and they can't do it.

Minnesota's got a date with a slumping Iowa team in Iowa City this week with the Floyd of Rosedale Trophy up for grabs. Minnesota's had the trophy for two years running; if the Gophers win this one, it won't feel like much of an upset.

Nebraska: Don't Let the T-Magic Time Bomb Go off in Your Face

It's been four weeks, and Taylor Martinez is still throwing the ball remarkably well. Or efficiently, anyway—that throwing motion is still quite unwell. 

It's not sustainable. There's no way it's sustainable. Bad Taylor Martinez is going to come back, and he is going to deliver pain and suffering one armpunt at a time.

So, Nebraska needs to be aware of this, and the Huskers need to plan for it. After the second pick of the day in some game where you'd never see it coming, it's time for Bo Pelini to just lean on that brutally effective (and now deep) ground game and push through for the win.

You know why Denard Robinson threw four interceptions in one half against Notre Dame? Because he kept throwing the ball. Nebraska needs to learn from Michigan's mistake there and be prepared for Bad Taylor Martinez. Because he's coming.

Northwestern: Start Tanking Immediately

Joining Minnesota at 4-0 among the Legends Division teams is Northwestern, who boasts three BCS conference victories in its non-conference slate coming into the season. The Wildcats look as poised as anybody in that division to put together a run at anywhere from 8-10 wins on the year, which would wildly exceed most preseason expectations.

Our advice is to stop this immediately.

Here's the thing: Northwestern fans are thirsty for a bowl win. They haven't had one since the Rose Bowl in 1948, which is before players were even wearing face masks.

But if Northwestern keeps up this pace of play, we might see the Wildcats get into, say, the Outback Bowl. And let's be honest, the Wildcats aren't winning the Outback Bowl. Not if they're squeaking by Vanderbilt.

Ah, but the TicketCity Bowl? The Meineke Car Care Bowl? There's where the wins are for Northwestern, even though 6-6 or 7-5 is what the Wildcats would need to get there—especially in a conference that's going to struggle to get to eight bowl bids in the first place.

So if Northwestern wants to break through to the land of bowl-winners, it owes itself to take things down a couple notches here in conference play. It's for your own good, 'Cats.

Ohio State: Finish, Finish, Finish

The Buckeyes don't have too much to complain about after four weeks, if we're being objective. If we're being Urban Meyer, the Buckeyes deserve to be 0-4 and need to improve if they even want to win one Big Ten game, but we're not Urban Meyer, so we won't say things like that.

Nonetheless, there appears to be a bit of a blueprint for playing the Buckeyes, and it's one Big Ten teams should be better-suited to exploit than, say, UAB. It's throwing to the outside, putting your receivers in space against a secondary that really doesn't wrap up well and getting your yards that way, then score enough just to hang around. In a one-possession game, anything can happen.

The Buckeyes have to be able to put their feet down better than that. They can finish drives remarkably well—14 touchdowns in 17 red-zone appearances is outstanding—but they're not finishing tackles, and they're not finishing games. UAB is the kind of opponent a great Ohio State team absolutely throttles.

Now we're getting to a conference where the teams fight harder for 60 minutes. If Ohio State's lines want to exert their wills at the end of games, now would be as good a time as any to start.

Penn State: Ask Very Politely for Silas Redd to Come Back

"We don't need Silas Redd, and we don't miss him," said the lying liar in blue and white. Penn State absolutely does need Silas Redd, and it does miss his presence.

The result is a Nittany Lions offense that ranks dead last in the Big Ten in rushing yardage at 124 yards per game, and an inability to rush the football is fatal to any team's chances of controlling the clock and protecting a lead down the stretch.

Bill Belton is going to be returning from a Week 1 ankle injury very soon, and Penn State certainly misses him. So that's a boost. But what Penn State really needs is just more depth at running back, period, and it needs guys who are further along than redshirt candidate Akeel Lynch, who physically isn't ready for Big Ten ball.

It needs Silas Redd back.

Now, if we want to be technical about it, Redd can't come back, because there are no takebacksies in the NCAA once the season starts. It's just that Penn State needs one reliable running back,—just one!—and the last guy we saw in a Nittany Lion jersey who fit that bill is currently in Los Angeles instead.

Purdue: Keep Caleb TerBush Upright

Purdue is in rather rare air here. Ohio State is ineligible for a trip to the Big Ten championship. Penn State is, too. Wisconsin is an utter wreck, Indiana is still Indiana and Illinois just got scored on again by Louisiana Tech—just now, two seconds ago. This could be the year.

Slight problem, though. For the myriad of things Purdue is actually doing well this year, protecting the quarterback is not one of them. Purdue has given up seven sacks in three games. And with Robert Marve's knee once again a question mark for the rest of the year, maintaining the health of Caleb TerBush is going to be critical for Purdue's success.

Wisconsin: Establish a Second Receiver

It could very well be the case that Wisconsin already has made the move it needs to turn its season around by benching Danny O'Brien and inserting redshirt freshman Joel Stave at quarterback. The offense looks to have turned a bit of a corner with this setup, even as Montee Ball's brain health is back in question after taking a huge hit last week against UTEP.

But if Stave's going to succeed, he's going to have to do so by diversifying the offense just a little bit more. Currently, Jared Abbrederis is the (unsurprising) leader of the Wisconsin receiving corps, topping the Badgers with 13 catches for 245 yards and three TDs through the air. Tight end Jacob Pedersen is next in line with nine grabs for 95 yards and a score.

After that? In terms of actual production from a wide receiver, the next-best yardage-wise is redshirt freshman Jordan Frederick with five catches for 75 yards, while Wisconsin also has Jeff Duckworth contributing seven catches for 55 yards.

That's it.

Regardless of which of those two guys steps up, it's instrumental that at least one does; if Wisconsin can demonstrate a variety of potent receivers (which is to say, two), it forces the defense to cheat less and opens up the box for a more potent ground game. It also keeps double coverage off Abbrederis.

If that all happens, Wisconsin should be able to climb out of the cellar in which its offense has operated, and since the defense has played more or less good football, a relatively good season could and should still be in order for the Badgers.