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ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 24, ISSUE 6
f
don't have an abundance of football talent (like Indi-
ana, Purdue and Minnesota) will be at a competitive
disadvantage to Rutgers and Maryland. It is pretty sim-
ple."
NEEDING WINS
It is no secret Michigan's Brady Hoke and Illinois'
Tim Beckman are the two coaches who are need of
victories — now. The Wolverines are trending in the
wrong direction under Hoke heading into Year 4, and
patience is wearing thin, at least a little bit, in Ann
Arbor.
"In all comes down to the offensive line at Michi-
gan. They have struggled there for two years," Dien-
hart said. "If they can protect Gardner and he has a
breakout year, things could be good there, but playing
second fiddle to your rivals in East Lansing and Colum-
bus is never good if you are a Maize and Blue fan."
Beckman has managed just one conference win
in two seasons in Champaign. Yet, there is talent at
Illinois and a chance to win some games early. But
to win big in the league, Illinois will have to survive
trips to Nebraska, Wisconsin and Ohio State in its
first three conference road games.
It's how teams expected to be near or at the bottom
— like Illinois and Purdue — compete that will tell
the story to the season.
"I said Purdue was the most improved team I saw
when I visited all the league teams in spring ball," Di-
Nardo said. "That is based on one practice, but I don't
believe improvement is automatic just because Purdue
only won one game last year. I saw some good things
and I think Darrell (Hazell) had to do a lot of things in
his first year to start the process of getting better.
"There's work to be done for sure, but there are
good signs."
j
Minnesota
Minnesota's Jerry Kill has fought through health issues, but
appears to be in good shape heading into 2014.
