Big Ten Football: What We Learned About the Conference in Week 1

We got our first taste of college football in almost nine months this past weekend, and while a slate of FCS creampuffs, MAC-ky cakes and two BCS conference teams isn't the most enlightening schedule, there are still some important things to take away from Week 1.

Some teams showed they are just as powerful as last year, others showed great improvement in an otherwise weak area and some younger players stepped up for injured starters.

Of course, a couple teams disappointed as well.

Since the Internet was made for judging things well before it is reasonable to do so, let's take a look at the questions that were answered in Week 1. 

Illinois

What We Learned: Illinois can have a big-play passing offense with Nathan Scheelhaase under center.

Last year, redshirt freshman quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase was a large part of Illinois' surprising turnaround, but despite leading a very productive offense, Scheelhaase was only mediocre as a passer.

He was 53rd nationally in pass efficiency rating and threw for just 1,825 yards. This didn't have a big effect on the Illini offense that made most of its noise on the ground, but losing starting running back Mikel Leshoure to the NFL in the offseason left Scheelhaase with one less weapon to rely on.

Coming in to 2011 it was clear: If the Illinois offense hoped to match its production from 2010, Scheelhaase would have to take a big step forward as a passer.

This was a reasonable thing to expect from the young quarterback who would be entering his second year in the system with a full season of starting experience.  

However, the only Big Ten quarterback who was more reliant on his legs last year was Taylor Martinez (not technically a Big Ten quarterback then, but you know what I mean).

Imagine the joy Illinois fans must have felt when Scheehaase came out Saturday and completed 16-of-23 passes for a career-high 267 yards and two touchdowns (good for 11.6 yards per pass).

Scheelhaase did it by relying entirely on his top two receivers: A.J. Jenkins (148 yards, 11 rec, TD) and Darius Millines (119 yards, 5 rec, TD, for an outstanding 23.5 YPC).

In the future, Scheelhaase will need to spread the ball around a little more equally, but his maturation as a passer bodes well for the future in Champaign.  

Indiana

What We Learned: Indiana still has a long way to go.

Kevin Wilson was introduced as the head coach of Indiana last winter because the athletic department felt he was finally the right fit to build the Hoosiers from a Big Ten also-ran into a solid football team capable of challenging for the Big Ten title every few years.

Funny thing is, they said the same thing about Bill Lynch before him.

The fact of the matter is that Indiana has been so bad for so long that any rebuilding process has to start from the very foundation of the program. The team has very little talent, facilities that are only recently starting to catch up and a culture of losing so ingrained that it makes the old "Sparty No!" days of John L. Smith look tame by comparison.

Wilson has done some good things so far, be it getting angry at a couple radio hosts who want to take shots at his team or going out and securing the commitment of a 5-star quarterback prospect.

Wilson wants to build a winner, and his actions show that loud and clear.

Unfortunately, this is Indiana.

Saturday's loss to Ball State is just another symptom of the greater crisis that has befallen the Hoosier program. Wilson simply doesn't have the tools to build a competitive team right now. The Cardinals are a MAC team that by all rights shouldn't be able to hang on the same field as a Big Ten squad, but still have a two-game winning streak.

Things will get better for Indiana, but don't look for improvement anytime soon.

Iowa

What We Learned: James Vandenberg will be fine as long as he has Marvin McNutt.

One of the biggest questions facing the Hawkeyes as the season started was how well new quarterback James Vandenberg would be able to replace three-year starter Ricky Stanzi.

Stanzi was a rock for Iowa, leading the team to a perfect regular season—until his injury—in 2009, then recovering to lead the team to a win in the Orange Bowl against Georgia Tech. Stanzi, paired with a strong defense, was remarkably cool down the stretch in 2009 and posted better stats in the fourth quarter than any other.

Last year the defense struggled to close out games, but Stanzi remained one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the nation.

Vandenberg has a few starts to his name due to a late-season injury to Stanzi in 2009, but despite his experience, no one was totally sure just how well the transition would go.

After this weekend one thing seems clear: James Vandenberg will be fine as long as Marvin McNutt is catching passes for him.

The two hooked up six times for 140 yards and two touchdowns, meaning McNutt caught almost half of Vandenberg's completed passes (13).

McNutt came into this season as the top returning receiver, and if Saturday was any indication, McNutt plans on finishing the season as the top receiver as well.

That's good news for James Vandenberg. 

Michigan

What We Learned: Michigan's defense might not be totally lost in the woods this year.

Watching the first drive of the game you would think you took a time machine back to 2010.  

All the sights were the same: accurate spread quarterback picking apart the secondary at will, linebackers losing containment to let two-yard runs turn into eight-yard runs and four-man rushes getting shut out of the backfield.

It certainly looked like the Michigan defense of the Greg Robinson era.

However, after a quarter and a half of getting trampled by a quarterback who had yet to throw an incomplete pass, Michigan fans got a taste of something they hadn't seen in a while: defensive adjustment.

Midway through the second quarter defensive coordinator Greg Mattison started to dial up the pressure by blitzing linebackers and safeties.

What transpired was a thing of beauty.

One blitzing linebacker, Jake Ryan, tipped a quick pass up in the air and right into the hands of Brandon Herron, who then returned the INT 94 yards for the touchdown.

Soon after it was MLB Kenny Demens breathing down Alex Carder's neck before Jordan Kovacs notched two sacks, one of them leading to a forced fumble that was returned by Herron for his second defensive score of the day.

Once Mattison dialed up the pressure, Carder spent the rest of the game chucking players off his back foot and into the grass.

Without the benefit of the fourth quarter it is tough to judge the Wolverine defense, but one thing is for sure—and that is there finally seems to be somebody leading the charge who has a clue.

Michigan State

What We Learned: Michigan State's skill positions are as strong as ever.

Coming into the season a lot of questions swirled around a Michigan State team that was preparing to do what it hadn't done in a long time: string together two successful seasons.

Mark Dantonio had led the Spartans to nine wins in 2008 before faltering to 6-7 in 2009. Last year MSU surprised everyone by winning 11 games and a share of the Big Ten title.

Now, with the ultimate goal being a second-straight conference championship, it is clear the Spartans will be led by the skill position players.

Kirk Cousins was one of the best quarterbacks in the Big Ten last year, and Friday night he looked every bit of his same old dangerous self, throwing for 222 yards on 18-of-22 passing for a touchdown.

This kind of ridiculous efficiency through the air is only helped by the three-headed monster in the backfield. Edwin Baker led the team in rushing with 91 yards, but it was Le'Veon Bell who capitalized for two touchdowns on 40 yards. On top of that, junior running back Larry Caper added 22 yards rushing and one touchdown, plus 37 receiving yards.

The Spartans seemingly have a running back for any occasion.

On the outside, MSU quickly forgot about the loss of 2010's leading receiver Mark Dell, as B.J. Cunningham stepped up to haul in nine receptions for 130 yards and a touchdown—and in doing so, tied the school record for career receptions. Although speedster Keshawn Martin only saw his number called twice, he is the kind of big-play threat who will complement Cunningham well this season.

So rest assured, Spartan fans—in the fight for conference supremacy, your team is loaded with weapons. 

Minnesota

What We Learned: Minnesota will pull the upset of the year in Big Ten play this year.

If there was any game Big Ten fans were sure would be a loss in Week 1, it was Minnesota's road trip to USC.

Watching the first half, it was hard not to agree.

USC jumped out to a 19-3 lead in the first half, and looked ready to pull away in the second on the backs of Matt Barkley and Robert Woods—the quarterback-receiver combo that combined for all three USC touchdowns in the first half.

Nobody mentioned this to Jerry Kill's team, which came out at halftime and shut the Trojan offense down, holding USC scoreless over the entire second half while simultaneously scoring a touchdown in each quarter.

Not only that, but Minnesota's late push came with its second-string quarterback, Max Shortell, in the game for the injured MarQueis Gray. Shortell was 7-of-13 for 93 yards, one touchdown and one interception in his reserve appearance, pulling the Gophers within two points late before the comeback ultimately fell short.

While Minnesota isn't likely to win 10 games—or even go .500—this kind of comeback shows that the Gophers could very well be dangerous in conference play. All it will take is catching a team looking ahead, and Jerry Kill and his team will get to finish what they started Saturday in the Coliseum. 

Nebraska

What We Learned: Nebraska's new offense could struggle this year.

Nebraska was a much different offensive team in the first game of 2010 than it was during the final weeks of the season.

Taylor Martinez, whose flashy running skills combined perfectly with running backs Roy Helu Jr. and Rex Burkhead, led the Huskers on an offensive tear to begin the season. But injuries to Martinez slowed the juggernaut and eventually turned the fast-paced offense into a dud.

By the time of the bowl game against Washington—a team Nebraska had already throttled earlier in the year—Nebraska was scoring almost at a rate roughly half of what it had started the season at; big surprise that the second game against Washington turned out much different than the first.

With the promotion of Tim Beck this offseason and the maturation of Taylor Martinez as a passer, the offense was supposed to take a big step forward in 2011.

Saturday it looked like the same unit that started 2010—and that isn't a good thing.

Martinez was electric on the ground, rushing for 135 yards and three touchdowns, while Rex Burkhead added 75 yards and a score of his own.  

However, Martinez completed just 50 percent of his passes for 116 yards and no touchdowns.

The worrying aspect isn't the low yardage totals or lack of scoring. Nebraska did enough on the ground that passing was a luxury. However, 50 percent is not a promising completion percentage against a FCS team.

If Nebraska can't find a way to move the ball through the air more efficiently, the offense could see a similar slowdown as the season wears on.

Northwestern

What We Learned: Northwestern has found a running game.

For as efficient as Northwestern's offense was in 2010, it struggled to move the ball on the ground.

Coming in to 2011, things looked up. Dan Persa looked to be returning at full health for the Wildcats, and that meant the top three rushers—including leading rusher Mike Trumpy and third-place Adonis Smith—were back from last season.

As opening day came closer it became clearer that Persa was not going to be fully healthy, and he might not even play. This looked like a serious blow to an offense that depended on Persa for nearly all of its success in 2010—especially considering Northwestern was going to open the season against last year's best rushing defense.

In the end, none of that mattered; backup quarterback Kain Colter stepped in admirably, passing for almost 200 yards and completing more than two-thirds of his passes.

This was good enough to give the ground game the counter-threat it needed, and the Northwestern running backs stepped up. Mike Trumpy led the way with 85 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries, and Adonis Smith added 53 yards and a touchdown of his own.

Even Colter got in to the act with 71 rushing yards and a touchdown.

With an effective running game, this Northwestern offense could take another step toward being the most efficient unit in the Big Ten. One can only imagine what the team could be capable of with a fully healthy Dan Persa. 

Ohio State

What We Learned: Ohio State still has a defense that isn't to be trifled with.

It was hard to tell just how the Ohio State defense would respond to everything that has happened since the last time the Buckeyes took the field*.

First, there was graduation losses that took a heavy toll on the defense. Just four starters return from the Big Ten's unquestioned defensive leader last year.

On top of fielding a unit that is short on experience, the Buckeyes have also had to deal with the dismissal of former head coach Jim Tressel and the promotion of defensive coordinator Luke Fickle to the top job.

Any questions surrounding how the unit would react have been put to rest with the crushing victory over Akron.

The Buckeyes allowed just 90 yards of total offense, and held the Zips to 1.3 yards per rush and 2.9 yards per pass. This stifling defense was good enough to keep the Zips from converting more than two of its 13 third down tries.

Now, don't get me wrong, Akron is horrible.  

But if there is one thing you can count on a very good defense to do, it is grind a bad offense into a find powder.  

Ohio State did this and looks to be, if not the conference-leading unit it was last year, at the very least still a very strong defense that is capable of guiding the suspension-ridden offense through the non-conference schedule and games against the lower half of the Big Ten. That is good enough for eight or nine wins, and with a little help the Buckeyes could easily have a shot at a trip to Indy for a shot at another conference championship**.

*(Vacated)

**(Eligibility not guaranteed)

Penn State

What We Learned: The Nittany Lions have found a No. 1 running back.

Penn State is mired in Year 2 of "The Longest Quarterback Controversy in History," and that ongoing serial shows no signs of ending its run after both Rob Bolden and Matt McGloin put up equally average stats against Indiana State Saturday.

At least Penn State has found one answer on offense: Silas Redd is ready to hold down the top spot on the running back depth chart.

Redd had a good season as a change-of-pace back behind Evan Royster in 2010, and Redd then saw his main competition for the starting job this year transfer in the offseason.

How did Redd respond? He rushed for 104 yards on 12 carries (8.7 YPC) against Indiana State while scoring two touchdowns.

In a year where Penn State has to reboot its defense, reload its offensive line and finally, for God's sake, pick a damn quarterback, it's nice to see that one position looks ready to contribute at a high level for the rest of the season.

Purdue

What We Learned: ACL injuries can't sideline everyone*.

Purdue has suffered through the worst string of injury luck I have ever witnessed.  

Last year the ACL's of Purdue's starting quarterback, running back and best wide receiver all exploded within the first month of the season. This curse even extended to the basketball court when Robbie Hummel tore his ACL as well.

This year was supposed to offer relief, until it became clear that Robert Marve wasn't going to be far enough along in recovery to take over his starting job at quarterback. Since God hates Purdue (come on, you know it in your heart to be true Purdue fans) He quickly doubled down on pain by striking down backup quarterback Rob Henry with, wait for it—an ACL injury.

Starting the season with the third-string quarterback handing off to a running back a year removed from a serious ACL injury, it was natural to suspect that Purdue's offense would be the functional equivalent of a fish flopping around on the deck of a boat, slowly suffocating.

Instead, quarterback Caleb TerBush flipped the script and didn't completely suck. In fact, he played pretty well in the Boilermakers' first game vs. Middle Tennessee State. TerBush was 19-of-33 for 219 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

Joining him in the backfield was the owner of the shattered and surgically-repaired ACL that started all this nonsense, Ralph Bolden. Bolden picked up right where he was supposed to last year around this time by running for 120 yards on 17 carries.

Purdue had better try to run off a few more wins before the big guy upstairs quits chain smoking Marlboro Reds and slowly unearthing bodies in the Miami athletic department and realizes He has to head back to West Lafayette to finish the job.

*Unless they do, in which case I take no responsibility for the huge jinx that this comment most likely is.

Wisconsin

What We Learned: Russell Wilson fits great, actually.

Wisconsin was returning about everything on offense that it needed to make another run at a conference title: two 1,000-yard rushers, three starters on the offensive line (the whole right side in fact), the team's leading wide receiver—and all of this is opposite a defense that was a very good "bend, but don't break" unit.

The only question mark was at quarterback.

Russell Wilson, the transfer from N.C. State gave the Badgers an experienced, athletic signal-caller to rely on for the year, but nobody was sure just how well he would fit in a Wisconsin offense that is 75 percent, "hand it to the running back and get the hell out of the way."

Thursday night we got our first preview—albeit against a pretty bad team. Wilson was nearly perfect in his first performance with the Badgers. He needed only 13 passes (he completed 10 of them) to rack up 255 yards and two touchdowns.

What's more, he added a 46-yard touchdown scramble for good measure.

It now appears that Russell Wilson has the decision-making and accuracy to work well within his limited role in the Wisconsin offense, and the athleticism to make teams pay when they over-pursue him or abandon their pass-rush lanes.