A look around the Big Ten

Can Penn State complete its magical season with a FedEx Orange Bowl win against Florida State? How will Ohio State fare against Notre Dame in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl? Can Illinois' Ron Zook and Indiana's Terry Hoeppner revive their programs? Our Big Ten notebook addresses those questions and much more.

Illinois
No one said it would be easy for Zook to resuscitate Illinois. Of course, no one said it would be this hard, either. The abuse he took at Florida might not seem so bad now that Zooker has had a season of watching his team get outscored by a collective 386-114 as it went winless in the Big Ten. That's an average score of 48-14, which makes Zook's motto, "Believe," all the more unbelievable. He's hitting the recruiting trail hard and promising that opponents who thumped Illinois this year will face a day of reckoning soon. On the bright side, Zook made it through 2005 without anyone restarting FireRonZook.com.

To continue reading this article you must be an Insider

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Email
• Subscribe