FanHouse JohnClay

Every Thursday, Pickin' on the Big Ten gives you the bottom line on the upcoming weekend's games.

Every team now has six games on the books. Well, Illinois doesn't, which is good news/bad news. Illinois fans have only had to watch five games so far; that's good news. They have seven games left to watch, which is not such good news.

This would be a perfect time for mid-term report cards, but letter grades are so one-dimensional, don't you think? There are more meaningful comparisons to be made. Make the jump and see every Big Ten team compared to ... well, just go and look.

Every Thursday, Pickin' On the Big Ten stays late to run the TPS reports on the coming weekend's games.

In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his or her level of incompetence.

The above statement is better known as the Peter Principle, and if it doesn't make sense to you, join the club. I didn't get it the first 1,378 times I read it. Now I recognize it for what it is. It's an overly intellectual way of saying "People who do a good job keep getting promoted until they wind up in a job they can't do."

So what does this have to do with Illinois, you ask?

Every Thursday, Pickin' On the Big Ten tries to make sense out of the upcoming weekend's games.

It was not supposed to be like this for Mark Dantonio and the Michigan State Spartans. Sure, they lost in the Capital One Bowl last season, but not by much, which is why many people tagged them as the Big Ten's third-best team going into this year. It was going to be hard to replace Brian Hoyer and Javon Ringer, but at long last things were looking up for Sparty.

Now, after a heart-shattering 1-3 start, things are still looking up, if only because "up" is the only direction left. Now it's time to pull the wreckage of this season out of the ditch to see what can be salvaged.

Every Thursday, Pickin' On the Big Ten previews the weekend's action, or lack thereof.

There are weeks when many of us would trade lives with Jim Tressel. This is not one of those weeks.

Not only did his Buckeyes fail to finish USC when they had the Trojans on the ropes, Tressel also saw "Tresselball" ripped apart by Chris Brown of Smart Football, faced a fan base who want him fired three days ago, had to lash back at some of those same fans, discovered that one of USC's touchdowns may not have happened, and now he has to face a Toledo team that just mashed Colorado into goo.

Yes, there are a lot of reasons why you wouldn't want to be Jim Tressel this week, but "because he's on the hot seat" isn't one of them.

As Mark Hasty mentioned Friday, there is much pressure on the Wisconsin Badgers football team this fall. After a disappointing season a year ago, the heat is on to prove it was nothing but a fluke.

To do so, Wisconsin will rely, in large part, on a "new" starting offensive backfield in 2009. 2008's starting running back, P.J. Hill, is gone. Also gone is the guy who started the season as the top quarterback, Allan Evridge.

Wisconsin junior running back P.J. Hill has decided to turn pro.

The three-year starter battled injuries throughout his Wisconsin career, but still managed just short of 4,000 yards, good for third on the school's all-time rushing list behind Ron Dayne and Anthony Davis.

The Wisconsin State Journal speculates that 770 carries over three years was simply enough for Hill. That's a lot of wear and tear on a body that has also dealt with a lot of injuries over the years. There's also the matter of John Clay being on the roster. Clay has the look of a stronger, faster version of Hill. He looked very good in a complimentary role in 2008 and should step in as the unquestioned starter by the end of 2009 fall camp, if not earlier.

Hill made it clear that it's just time for him to move on.

"I just feel the time is right for me to take the next step in my career," Hill said. "I would like to thank my teammates, coaches and the Badger fans for the great experience I had during my time at UW."

I'm biased, but I think Hill has a puncher's chance of making it in the NFL. A lot of his draft prospects will hinge on what scouts think of his speed and the injuries he's suffered. He's also going to have show more potential as a receiver than he was allowed to show in Wisconsin's offense.

Every Thursday, Pickin' On the Big Ten breaks down action across the conference.

RIGHT: A typical offensive gameplan dreamed up by Woody Hayes.

So now there's one. One team all alone in first place, controlling its destiny. But hey, they have the week off.

The question is, "Has anything really changed in the Big Ten?" and the answer is a qualified "Maybe." The road to the Big Ten championship has run from Ann Arbor to Columbus ever since Murray Warmath hung up his whistle in Minnesota. In eight of the last ten seasons, either Michigan or Ohio State has won at least a share of the conference title; the last time anybody else won an outright title was 2001.

A shakeup in the conference might lead to a change in philosophy. If you can't win the Big Ten without a vertical passing game and the ability to defend same, we've seen the last of "three yards and a cloud of dust." Good riddance. The old-school power running game is ill-suited for the kind of football played in the other BCS conferences. Ball control works great in a game where neither team scores 30 points, but if you're down by ten with five minutes to play, you don't want to (and probably can't) start throwing the ball.

So, while I know Buckeye fans are in pain right now, it's a necessary pain. College football has reinvented itself in the past decade and, as usual, the Big Ten was the last to get the memo.

Sigh. Onward.

Last season Wisconsin running back Lance Smith was not allowed to travel with the team on road trips thanks to pleading guilty to charges of battery and disorderly conduct after getting into a fight with his girlfriend. As long as he followed the rules of the of the first-offenders program he was put into afterwards, Smith was going to avoid any jail time and could continue playing for the Badgers.

Then a month ago it was announced that Bret Bielema had suspended Smith when he failed to live up to the requirements of the program, and on Monday Bielema decided he didn't want to deal with Smith's antics any longer. Which is why Smith was kicked off the team.

Coach Bret Bielema, who suspended Smith last month, announced the dismissal after the team's first practice of the season.

What Smith did to be removed from the first-offender program has not been disclosed.

Smith's case will now be sent back to court for sentencing on battery and disorderly conduct charges.

Smith rushed for 429 yards in seven games for the Badgers last season, averaging six yards per carry, and scored three touchdowns. Still, with P.J. Hill, Zach Brown, and John Clay also on the depth chart, I don't think Smith's absence will hurt the Badgers too much this season.

As for Lance, well, I hope he has a good lawyer.

With the start of a new season in the Big Ten comes new faces. Whether they're the hot new freshman on campus, the juco transfer, or the new head coach, here are five new faces in the Big Ten guaranteed to have a large impact on how this season will play out.

1. Rich Rodriguez-Head Coach-Michigan: Everybody's favorite snake-oil salesman hits Ann Arbor this fall and he has quite a task ahead of him. Say goodbye to Lloyd Carr's mind-numbing vanilla offense and say hello to Rich Rodriguez's spread option that made the West Virginia Mountaineers one of the best teams in the Big East year in and year out.

Now, obviously installing a whole new offense at Michigan and teaching his players how to run it isn't something that can be done in spring practice. Especially when you're not just installing a new offense, as the Big Blue defense will be switching from a 4-3 scheme to the 3-3-5. It's going to take time, and the Wolverines are likely to struggle early, but thankfully their first two conference games are in the Big House this season.

So while there are going to be some bumps in the road in Ann Arbor, the Wolverines shouldn't worry too much. After all, the last time they hired a new head coach from the state of West Virginia things worked out pretty well. All Fielding Yost did was go 165-29-10 while winning six national titles.

I wouldn't expect Michigan to win any national titles in 2008, but if Rich can get this team together and playing well enough to beat Ohio State in Columbus on November 22nd, I can guarantee you fans will pay the $1.5 million he still owes WVU for him.

Last year, Tulsa became the only college football program in history to have a 1,000 yard back, a 5,000 yard passer and three 1,000 yard receivers. A while back I mentioned that one of those 1,000 yard receivers was fullback John Clay.

He led his team with eights catches for 92 yards that day and closed the season with 69 receptions for 1024 yards (14.8 average) and seven touchdowns. Clay was also third on the team in rushing with 304 yards (5.3 average).

Not bad for a guy who by many accounts was only modestly recruited by the school he signed with, a class-filler type recruit.

The Tulsa story continues to get better. Heavily overlooked is the fact that one of their receivers set an NCAA reception average record.

[Brennan] Marion last season averaged an astounding 31.9 yards per catch on 39 receptions, breaking the 39-year-old Division I-A mark set by Houston's Elmo Wright, who averaged 27.9 yards on 43 receptions in 1968. That's an amazing accomplishment, especially considering Marion was in his first season at Tulsa.

Not bad. Read the story by Rivals writer Olin Buchanan for details on Marion's vagabond existence, attending six high schools and two junior colleges, at times without a place to live.