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It was so inept in going 0-8 in league play last season that Tim Beckman is already in hot water after just one year. Minnesota made a bowl game last season, riding a soft non-conference schedule to a 4-0 start that made six wins possible. It will aim for more in Year 3 under Jerry Kill but might be hard-pressed to break through into the upper half of the league. Then there's Purdue, the uncommon case of a team that had been to back-to-back bowl games firing its coach. One of Darrell Hazell's first jobs is to quell the erraticism that made the Boilermakers the Big Ten's most inconsistent team in 2012, capable of nearly taking down unbeaten Notre Dame and Ohio State at their places, but incapable of playing Minnesota within four touchdowns in the first half at theirs. Purdue loses a great deal of the personnel that delivered it to the postseason in 2011 and 2012, most importantly at quarterback and running back, but the change on the sideline makes it one of the league's most unknown commodities leading into 2013. LACKING: STARPOWER It's an uncommon season in the Big Ten, a Penn State league this season devoid of marquee stars. Penn State coach Bill O'Brien surprised in his first season in Happy Gone are name-brand players like WisValley, but as scholarship limits take affect, how will the Lions fare consin's Montee Ball and Michigan's Denard in 2013? Robinson, leaving the Big Ten with very few nationally prominent names. rod for criticism. The Big Ten hasn't won a Heisman since 2006 and Iowa's problem, among others: Offense. enters the season without a leading candidate, or so Same for Michigan State, which followed up an it would seem. appearance in the 2011 Big Ten championship game Its greatest hope might be Ohio State's Miller, not with a season in which it just couldn't score, and just because of his dynamic skills so well complethus it was a disappointment as a team. Defensively, mented by Meyer's offense but also because of the it's great, though. fact the Buckeyes should be very good, if not great, Offensively, Indiana was great last year, piling up in 2013. yards and points despite a revolving door at quarter"After that, you sort of shrug your shoulders," Diback. But it still only won five games, mostly because enhart said. "You lose some good running backs in of a turnstile defense that will continue to cost the Montee Ball and Le'Veon Bell. The wide receiver poHoosiers games if they can't get it fixed. sition has been abysmal in the Big Ten for a number Michigan State can stop people. IU can score. of years. Nobody that is really elite there. Illinois, based on last season, can do neither. 90 • Gold and Black IllustrateD • volume 23, issue 6 GBIprint.com GoldandBlack.com