Hoosiers flunk, Purdue holds out Hope

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Updated: January 6, 2012 8:12AM

Changing the culture is a painful process, especially when football is a distant second in this basketball-crazed state. Not even the Indianapolis Colts can contradict that indisputable fact.

So we shouldn’t be surprised that Kevin Wilson’s first year as Indiana’s coach was a complete flop. Once again failure boils down to defensive breakdowns, which have haunted the Hoosiers for years. A 1-11 disaster included yielding 40-plus points in five of their last seven games.

Not even the mojo of being the former offensive coordinator of explosive Oklahoma could revive a program which has won exactly two conference games in the last three seasons.

Who knew that IU’s highlight would be an early 34-31 loss to Virginia, which qualified for a bowl game with late road wins at Miami (Fla.), Maryland and Florida State to finish 8-4.

Losing at North Texas, which limped to a 4-7 record, destroyed the fragile confidence of a team which desperately needed early success. The Hoosiers were competitive against Penn State and Ohio State, but never developed any consistency.

Part of that was Wilson’s decision to abandon “win now” to rebuild with baby steps. Taking his lumps, he went almost entirely with freshmen (12 starters, 4 backups) and sophomores (10 in the two-deeps). Only eight of his top 44 players listed in the season finale were seniors.

How this will play out in 2012  is anybody’s guess, but a little maturity can work wonders for a team in its infancy.

Indiana’s grade — F

How did the rest of the conference grade out?

Illinois (6-6, 2-6) — Three bowl trips in seven years could not save Ron Zook, whose Illini collapsed after a 6-0 start. During their six-game skid they averaged fewer that two touchdowns. A wildly uneven season ended with a 27-7 loss to lowly Minnesota, one of three Big Ten teams to limit the Illini to seven points. Grade — D

Iowa (7-5, 4-4) — A one-point loss at Minnesota tarnished a solid season for the Hawkeyes. They lost three of their last five despite Marcus Coker scoring in seven consecutive games and rushing for 1,384 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Junior James Vandenburg, the latest in a series of overachieving quarterbacks in corn-country, threw 23 TD passes and was only picked off six times in 360 attempts. Grade — B

Michigan (10-2, 6-2) — Brady Hoke deserved coach of the year honors, but put your hands together for defensive coordinator Greg Mattison. The former Notre Dame assistant (1997-2004) helped the Wolverines trim their defensive scoring average from 35.2 points to 17.2 and shave their total yardage to 318, an improvement of 133 yards over 2010.

Four of Michigan’s first five opponents (Notre Dame being the exception) scored fewer than two touchdowns. Mattison is a finalist for the Broyles Award, which is given to the top assistant coach in Division I. On the offensive side QB Denard Robinson and overshadowed Fitz Toussaint rushed for more than 1,000 yards. Grade — A+

Michigan State ( 10-3, 7-1) — Back-to-back victories over Michigan and Wisconsin propelled the Spartans to the first Big Ten championship game, but a foolish roughing-the-punter penalty cost them a last-minute victory in a rematch with the Badgers.

Quarterback Kirk Cousins bowed out with 2,735 yards and 21 TDs and was nearly mistake-proof. Only six of his 338 passes were picked off. B.J. Cunningham (73 catches, 9 TDs) and Keshawn Martin (53 catches) also sparkled. Grade — A

Minnesota (3-9, 2-6) — It was a turbulent year for the Gophers, whose flickering pulse included victories over bowl-eligible Iowa and Illinois. First-year coach Jerry Kill increased their anxiety level by collapsing on the sidelines in an early loss at home to New Mexico State.

Ben Davis grad MarQueis Gray set a school record for quarterback by rushing for 968 yards, making a bumpy transition from wide receiver — he caught 42 passes in 2010. Gray threw eight touchdown passes and posted a 114.5 pass efficiency rating. Grade — D+

Nebraska (9-3, 6-2) — Unusual preparation problems confronted the Cornhuskers, whose tiptoed through a Big Ten minefield and 11 new opponents in their debut. They smothered Michigan State 24-3, but losses to Northwestern and Michigan cost them a berth in Saturday’s championship game.

Running back Rex Burkhead and linebacker LaVonte David provided leadership. Burkhead rushed for 1,268 yards, padded by seven 100-yard games, and 15 TDs. David racked up 122 tackles. Grade — A

Northwestern (6-6, 3-5) — The Wildcats lost some credibility by prematurely promoting Dan Persa for Heisman Trophy honors even though he was coming off an achilles heel injury in 2010. Persa missed three games and shared the QB spot with Colter Kane, who led NU in rushing and caught 40 passes as a part-time wideout.

Offensively, the Wildcats were fun to watch with Persa rallying to complete 72.4 per cent of his passes, many of them to Jeremy Ebert (71 catches) and all-Big Ten tight end Drake Dunsmore. But they needed a 4-1 finish to overcome a porous defense. Grade — C+

Ohio State (6-6, 3-5) — Look for a quick turn-around for the Buckeyes, who endured only their second below-.500 league finish in 23 years. It’s been chaotic for interim coach Luke Fickell, who now defers to Urban Meyer. Fickell had to deal with suspensions spinning off top running back Dan Herron, who missed six games, and two-game suspensions for Cory Brown, Jordan Hall and Travis Howard. They accepted $200 each from one of the overzealous boosters who always seem to be lurking in Columbus.

Coming off his hiatus from Florida, Meyer inherits Braxton Miller for starters. The rookie quarterback led the Buckeyes in rushing and threw 11 TD passes, most notably a last-second 40-yarder which cost Wisconsin a possible national championship. Grade — C-Penn State ( 9-3, 6-2)

— The toothless Nittany Lions scored fewer than three touchdowns in seven games. Even leaky Indiana limited them to 16 points. They struggled with quarterback issues between Matt McGloin and Rob Bolden and were distracted by the sex-abuse scandal, a guilt-by-association blemish, which cost Joe Paterno his job and tainted his legacy. Grade — B+Purdue (6-6, 4-4)

— One of 10 Big Ten bowl-eligible teams, the Boilermakers sparkled defensively with East Chicago’s Kawaan Short, an all-Big 10 lineman who led them with 17 tackles for losses and 6.5 sacks. The team’s defensive MVP also chalked up a career-high 53 tackles. Safety Albert Evans (Portage) anchored the secondary with 49 solos, second-best on the team.

Beating Indiana kept the wolves from snapping at coach Danny Hope’s heels, but he continued to waffle between quarterbacks Caleb TerBush and Robert Marve, who scored the game winning touchdown against Ohio State in overtime. Grade — C

Wisconsin (11-2, 6-2 ) — Early losses to the Spartans and Ohio State on last-minute Hail-Mary passes cost the Badgers a national championship, but they earned their second straight trip to the Rose Bowl, where speedy Oregon awaits.

A backfield combination of Montee Ball, who set a conference record of 34 touchdowns and churned for 135-plus rushing yards per game, and quarterback Russell Wilson provided firepower. Wilson, a transfer from North Carolina State, threw 28 touchdown passes to join Ball and seven other Badgers on the all-conference first-team. Grade — A