People around the country are starting to notice Northwestern is 5-0. Too bad some of its own students haven’t.
Running back Tyrell Sutton has seen increased fan support on campus but still gets frustrated with the abundance of support for other Big Ten teams by his peers.
“I’ve seen some people on campus decide to jump on the bandwagon,” the senior said. “We want people to stop wearing Michigan shirts and Ohio State shirts and start representing our school and bleeding purple. That’s one of the biggest things that, as upperclassmen, we’re trying to change around the school.”
Sutton isn’t the only Wildcat to notice. Senior linebacker Mike Dinard illustrated a cartoon for the school newspaper that commented on the same subject.
The Wildcats (along with No. 6 Penn State) are one of only 15 unbeatens left in the Football Bowl Subdivision. This is their best start since going 6-0 in 1962.
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BE LIKE JOEPA: Remember two years ago when Penn State coach Joe Paterno went to the locker room in the first half of the game at Ohio State because he was suffering from the flu?
Seems you don’t have to be an octogenarian to encounter that problem on a football field.
Ohio State offensive lineman Steve Rehring disappeared from the Ohio State sideline during crucial points of the close game at Wisconsin on Saturday night.
Fellow lineman Alex Boone picks up the story.
“Someone said he had to go to the bathroom and I’m, like, ‘What? Who leaves a football game to go to the bathroom?”’ he said. “That’s like Joe Paterno style.”
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FAMILY CONNECTION: Minnesota tight end Jack Simmons went to coach Tim Brewster in the offseason with a simple request – on Senior Day he wanted to wear No. 15, which his father wore for the Gophers.
Brewster did him one better, suggesting Simmons switch from No. 80 for the entire season.
So at Christmas, Simmons got an old Minnesota jersey with No. 15 and had his name stitched on the back and gave it to his father, Terry.
“He thought it was just a gift,” said Simmons, who has 11 catches and a touchdown for the 5-1 Gophers. “Then I explained to him that I switched my number. It was a cool moment.”
It served him well in the offseason, when Jack Simmons suffered a foot injury and went through a grueling rehab to get ready for his final season in maroon in gold.
‘m representing,” Jack Simmons said. “That’s really an honor.”
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HOOSIER DADDY: Indiana doesn’t have its way with many teams in the Big Ten, but try telling that to Iowa. The Hoosiers and their spread offense have baffled the Hawkeyes in each of their last two meetings, scoring 69 points en route to a pair of wins.
Indiana rallied for a 31-28 upset in 2006, kicking off a stretch that saw Iowa stumble from the Top 25 to a 6-7 finish. Last season, Kellen Lewis threw for 322 yards and the Hoosiers dominated the Hawkeyes, 38-20.
The pair meet again on Saturday in a game that Iowa simply must win. The Hawkeyes have lost three straight by a total of nine points, and their toughest stretch of the season – Wisconsin, Illinois and No. 6 Penn State – is still ahead.
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LOUD CROWDS: As Illinois coach Ron Zook pleaded this week for a big homecoming crowd at Memorial Stadium Saturday for a game against Minnesota, Illini players talked about how they fed off the six-figure road crowds they played in front of the past two weeks.
The Illini, whose home stadium seats about 62,000, played in front of 100,000-plus two weeks ago in a loss at Penn State and last Saturday in a win at Michigan.
a big play.
“It’s a pretty big, fun feeling to prove something to thousands of people who don’t think you can do it, and to hear the silence after you make a big play,” he said.
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DAZED AND CONFUSED: Wisconsin’s confusion on Terrelle Pryor’s go-ahead, 11-yard touchdown run with 1:08 left in Ohio State’s 20-17 win wasn’t just on the field.
Coach Bret Bielema said he thought his defense was in a better position from his vantage point on the sideline. Turns out, his linebackers weren’t prepared for the snap, allowing Pryor to reach the end zone virtually untouched.
“From what I saw on the field, I didn’t feel we were in as bad a position as I saw when we watched the film,” Bielema said.
Wisconsin, which had a timeout remaining, didn’t call one. But Bielema said it’s up to the coaching staff to make that decision – not the players on the field – and his defensive assistants watching upstairs didn’t alert him.
The Badgers never got to use that timeout on their ensuing possession, either, after throwing an interception on the next offensive play with 53 seconds left.
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NORWOOD’S HAMMY: WR Jordan Norwood expects to return Saturday night for No. 6 Penn State’s game at Wisconsin following a two-game layoff for a strained left hamstring.
st reliable receiver.
“It’s been tough. I think ‘going nuts’ is the right phrase to use,” Norwood said about the wait.
Norwood had been a favorite target for Daryll Clark over the season’s first four games with 18 catches for 318 yards and four touchdowns.
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QUICK-HITTERS: Williams, Illinois LB Brit Miller and Ks Brett Swenson of Michigan State and Joel Monroe of Minnesota were the conference’s players of the week. … Michigan State RB Javon Ringer is tied for the NCAA lead in rushing TDs with 12 in six games and is second in rushing yards with 164.7 per game heading into Saturday’s game at Northwestern. A year ago, Wildcats QB C.J. Bacher threw for 520 yards and 5 TDs with no interceptions. … Michigan and Toledo, despite being just 43 miles apart, meet for the first time on Saturday.
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AP Sports Writers Cliff Brunt, Larry Lage, Luke Meredith, Colin Fly and Dave Campbell, and Associated Press Writers David Mercer, Joe Esse and Genaro Armas contributed to this report.
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