In August, Ohio State coach John Cooper strode to the front of a ballroom at the Chicago Hilton and Towers at Big Ten media day and told reporters his team had set its sights on the Fiesta Bowl.
“Obviously that’s what we’re talking about right now,” Cooper said. “That’s where the national championship will be decided.”
But in the days since Michigan State exploded that dream with a 28-24 upset of the Buckeyes, Cooper has begun sharply revising his goals. He bristled at a reporter’s suggestion that the Buckeyes’ season had gone down the tubes.
“What is a successful season? Would you take 11-1?” Cooper said. “Anything other than perfect, is that not a successful season?”
If Cooper seems a bit touchy, it’s understandable: He’s being fried in Columbus for calling 12 consecutive running plays as the Buckeyes tried to rally in the fourth quarter.
A week earlier, Cooper had asserted that quarterback Joe Germaine ought to receive Heisman Trophy consideration. But he didn’t give Germaine a chance to win the game until the Spartans knew he would be throwing on every down.
Cooper said he has been too busy preparing for Iowa to pay much attention to public criticism.
“I imagine everybody’s feeling about like I’m feeling,” Cooper said. “But we’re sitting here 8-1 right now. The people who are behind us will be behind us. The people who want to find something to criticize me for, I’m sure will find it.”
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Bookworms: Northwestern is having an abysmal season on the field. But in the classroom the Wildcats remain the elite of the Big Ten, according to an inspection of the latest national graduation-rates report.
Here’s how the Big Ten football standings would look if they were rearranged to reflect graduation rates:
1. Northwestern: 81 percent; 2. Illinois: 77 percent; 3. Penn State: 74 percent; 4. Indiana: 70 percent; 5. Iowa: 66 percent; 6. Wisconsin: 61 percent; 7. Michigan: 59 percent; 8. Minnesota: 50 percent; 9. Michigan State: 46 percent; 10. Ohio State: 41 percent; and 11. Purdue: 40 percent.
The percentages are the four-year graduation averages for scholarship players entering school from 1988-91, according to the 1998 NCAA Division I graduation-rates report. The national Division I-A average is 53 percent.
Carr on Wisconsin: Michigan, the defending conference champion, is all that stands between Wisconsin and the Big Ten title.
The 9-0 Badgers haven’t received a lot of national respect because they played a weak non-league schedule. But Wolverines coach Lloyd Carr could only rave about the Badgers’ plus-21 turnover margin. That’s the best in the nation. Wisconsin has lost only four fumbles this season.
“They’ve done a tremendous job of securing the football,” Carr said. “I’ve seen only one fumble (in game films) they’ve lost in all their Big Ten games. That’s incredible.”
Sidelines: This has been a depressing autumn in Iowa City, but coach Hayden Fry hasn’t lost his sense of humor. Fry opened his appearance on the Big Ten coaches teleconference Tuesday with this: “The best thing I can say is that we didn’t have to play last week, and I don’t have to report on that.” . . . Ohio State cornerback Antoine Winfield and Minnesota safety Tyrone Carter are among the 10 finalists for the 1998 Jim Thorpe Award, given annually to the nation’s top defensive back. . . . Wisconsin quarterback Mike Samuel was cited by Madison police for battery after being involved in a fight outside a tavern in the campus town after Wisconsin’s 26-7 victory over Minnesota. Samuel, 23, was taken into custody, cited and released.