Big Ten Coaching Boards - Week 4

This week's Big Ten coaching boards... no movement at the top.

1. Jim Tressell
Ohio State
Yes, the Buckeyes looked horrible against USC, but that doesn't amek Tressell worse than the other coaches in the Big Ten, at least not yet. Even when considering the Oregon State win on Thurs night, most teams would find it challenging to come out of the Coliseum with a victory this season. With Buckie Wells coming back, OSU is going to be a formidable team; some other
people are already talking about this but don't be surprised if the Buckeyes are lurking at the top of the polls come Dec. 1.

2. Bret Bielema
Wisconsin
The Bielema has the Badgers unbeaten, even with the bad calls from the WAC officiating crew in Fresno. Regardless, Wisconsin is going to contend for the Big Ten championship and Bielema hasn't seen to miss a beat after taking over for Barry Alvarez, who, by the way, may have the largest hands in the world.

3. Joe Paterno
Penn State
I'm quite impressed by Penn State's start this season. The Nittany Lions should be getting a lot more respect than they are. The only question for Joe Pa is how many games will he distance himself from Bobby Bowden before the season's over, oh, and when he'll die on the field. I hope the answers are 8 and Nov. 7, 2009 against Ohio State at home. Tressell won't be able to gameplan for that.

4. Joe Tiller
Purdue
Tiller and Purdue lost to Oregon, but it was close and in overtime. The Boilermakers head to Notre Dame for their annual match-up against the Irish. I see Tiller getting one last victory over ND before retiring at season's end. Tiller could actually be removed from this list, considering he's gone next year, but he's actually a good buffer between the cream of the Big Ten crop and what could be dropped into the MAC without anyone really noticing.

5. Rich Rodriguez
Michigan
I really don't like lowering Rich Rod to far on this list just because of the horrible season he's having this year. Perhaps if this was year two, he'd get a farther fall. But he's still living off his days at West Virginia, which makes me wonder whether Rodriguez or West Virginia wishes that he would've stayed more...

6. Pat Fitzgerald
Northwestern
Probably shouldn't be giving Fitz this much credit with wins over Syracuse, Duke, and two non-BCS cream puffs, but Fitz has done a great job thus far in getting the Wildcats to 4-0. They travel to Iowa this weekend, and have a really good shot at getting to five before October, but it's going to be tough as Kirk Ferentz is starting to get some heat in Iowa City.

7. Mark Dantonio
Michigan State
After opening the season with the loss at Cal, MSU has beaten two nobodies before the big win over Notre Dame. While beating the Irish may not seem like much to any top tier BCS team, a Spartan win over the Irish is huge, especially given their mentality to choke when they see gold helmets. Dantonio is a good coach and cleaning up the mess of the John L. Smith era, but he needs to make a move on the upper teams in the Big Ten and needs to do it now - the talent of the Big Ten is going to see an increase soon.

8. Kirk Ferentz
Iowa
I originally had Ferentz No. 5 on this week's board, but then had to take another look at why he should be so high... turns out, he shouldn't be. The Hawkeyes have played no one this season, and lost he close one to Pitt, who gets very little respect in my book. Five years ago Ferentz would've been in the top 5 easily; amazing to see how mediocre Iowa has become since then.

9. Ron Zook
Illinois
The Zooker has had two weeks off to prepare for the Penn State onslaught - actually, with games over Eastern Illinois and U-La-La, they should've had a month off to prepare, but the Rajin Cajuns came close to knocking off the Illini in Champaign. Zook probably deserves to be a little higher than this ranking, but he'll need a big game from Juice Williams to beat the Lions - a win in Happy Valley would push him toward the upper tier of this board.

10. Tim Brewster
Minnesota
Brewster moves up after getting the Gophers to 4-0. Sure the wins haven't come over anyone with a pulse, but that's a lot better than what went on last year in Minneapolis. Tim and Bill may be fighting to stay out of the cellar for the remaining of the season.

11. Bill Lynch
Indiana
Lynch drops following the loss to Ball State. I know he's in a tough situation, but there's really not much to go off of to grade him, and Brewster seems to have rallied his team - at least until the game against Ohio State this weekend. Lynch takes his team to face Michigan State in a big early conference game between two lower teir Big Ten teams.