0 0 0 24 Kickoff '93 Friday. September 10.1993 ... ..r, ....r..,.....,.. , I F Experienced Badgers primed for Big Ten rise Bigger and Better Ten? After several lean years, Wis- consin coach Barry Alvarez is readyforhismostproductive sea- son yet. The Badgers return eight on offense, seven on defense and second team All-Big Ten punter Sam Veit. A quality backfield will be necessary to continue in- ,freasing point production as Wisconsin has done the last two seasons. 07i Returning its top two quarter- backs and top four running backs from a season ago is a step in the right direction. Quarterback Darrell Bevell's 1,479 yards were the ninth high- est single season total and placed him 20th on the career list after just one season. Despite separat- inghis shoulder in the sixth game ofthe season, Bevell continued to start the rest of the year. If needed Jay Macias is a competent backup. His play was pivotal in saving last season's victory over Purdue. The tailback responsibilities will be split between Brent Moss and Terrell Fletcher. Moss, with 739 yards rushing a year ago only needs 42 yards to cross the 1,000-yard plateau. Fletcher was second only to Moss with 496 yards. Jason Burns (344 yards) moves to tailback from fullback this season behind Mark Mont- gomery (257 yards.) Despite graduating four wide receivers, Bevell will have at least two strong targets. Lee DeRamus, who earned All-Big Ten honorable mention with his 680 yards receiving, is back. Through just two seasons, DeRamus is already ninth on the all-time career receiveing list with 1,054 yards. Continuing at his current pace he has a chance to pass former Badger great, Al Toon, for the record. Fellow jun- ior J.C. Dawkins will take the opposite split end position. A virtual wall will be protect- ing Bevell. Nearly the entire of- fensive line returns, including the tight end, Michael Roan. Roan is one of three on the line, center Cory Raymer and right tackle Joe Panos are the others, who garnered All-Big Ten hon- orable mentions. Panos is also a team captain and is being touted as an All-American candidate. "We have quality starters on both lines this year," Alvarez said. "That's the area where you decide who wins a ballgame." On the defense side of the ball, the line is indeed just as stalwart. The front three is in- tact, including first team All-Big Ten player Lamark Shackerford. Flanked by Carlos Fowler and Mike Thompson, another honor- able mention, the lineman have 64 starts between them. The linebacking unit lost three out of four players but still re- turns an All-Big Ten honorable mention outside linebacker in Chad Yocum. If that distinction seems diluted because ofthe num- ber of players who have it, it should not. Wisconsin is among the lead- ers in distinguished players, and even higher in those players with remaining eligibility. The secondary also has a re- turning honorably mentioned- strong safety, Reggie Holt. Along with Scott Nelson, the senior duo form an experienced group. Holt ranks 19th to Nelson's 17th on Wisconsin all-time tackling list. Jeff Messenger returns to fill a boundary cornerback position. Junior college All-American Kenny Gales rounds out the four- some. Redshirt freshman John Hall will assume the placekicking re- sponsibilities. In attacking this season the Badgers will able to play a rela- tively soft Big Ten schedule. They also have the advantage of three well-placed off Saturdays. - Andy De Korte on the Big Ten in vited Penn State into the conference as its 11th member in 1989, the move sparked a frenzied chain reaction among other confer- ences, each fighting over the re- maining independent football teams in Division I-A. However, since that announcement, the Big Ten has been silent in the expan- sion wars of collegiate athletics. Yet, as the Nittany Lions em- bark on their maiden Big Ten football season, making their admittance to the conference fi- nal, the 11-team conference faces some logistical problems. Most specifically, these involve devel- oping a balanced schedule in an league with an odd number of participants. That might change sometime after next summer, when a university president im- posed moratorium on expansion in the Big Ten ends. "There'has been a great deal of speculation about expansion," Big Ten Assistant Commissioner Mark Rudner said. "But we would not expand unless we found a school that was as good a fit as Penn State was. We would not expand just to make scheduling easier." Like many of the Big Ten schools, Penn State is a large, land-grant, research university with a strong tradition in athlet- ics. Along with its perennial foot- ball powerhouse, the Nittany Li- ons excel in women's basketball, gymnastics and wrestling. Penn State also offers more varsity sports than any Big Ten school except Ohio State. Expansion has many benefits, most notably in enlarging the Big Ten's viewing market. With the addition of Penn State, the Big Ten developed an Eastern following that was previously untapped. Expanding the conference would also generate more rev- enue for its member schools. Rudner said that in the recent TV contract extension between the conference and ABC, each school would bring in more money than under the past contract. However, Penn State also will retain its membership in the College Football Association (CFA) until 1995. This associa- tion works independently of the Big Ten in terms of TV revenues, negotiating its own agreement with the major networks. Thus, along with the money from the Big Ten's contract, the schools will also share Penn State's piece of the CFA pie. Despite these benefits, the move to expand was met with some criticism. One of the big- gest complaints was the added travel with eastward expansion. However, Michigan Athletic Di- rectorJackWeidenbach said that has not been a concern. "Because most of our sports are championship sports, not round robin, travel has not been a major problem," Weidenbach said. "We only play every team in a handful of sports." Penn State has begun to ben- efit from its short marriage with the league. Prior to joining the conference, its only revenue pro- ducing sport was football. "Until we joined the Big Ten, our men's basketball team was losing money," Penn State Direc- tor of Athletics Jim Tarman said. "But now that we share in the television packages, we will be making a profit." While the move has increased revenue in men's basketball, the football team is now forced to share its bowl money and gate receipts. In the Big Ten, schools share their gate receipts equally with a minimum payout of$150,000 and a maximum of $600,000. Tarman said Penn State brings in $1.75 million for each home game. In- stead of paying guarantees of about $250,000, Penn State will share $600,000 a game. "While we have to share more money for football, we also have the guarantee that if we don't make a bowl game, we still get money," Tarman said. The Big Ten is looking most closely at the expansion in the 12-team Southeastern Confer- ence (SEC). With the addition of two teams-Arkansas and South Carolina in 1990 -the SEC has split into an Eastern and West- ern division of six teams each. The financial benefits for this move are great. NCAA rules al- low a conference to hold a one- game championship in football if the conference has 12 or more teams split into two divisions. The SEC earns approximately $11 million from this game. Also, if the Big Ten were to expand to a 12th team, the con- ference would more than likely institute a lucrative postseason Expansion to eleven teams brought benefits and. problems to the Big Ten. Is the Big 12 in the future? by Josh Dubow Bil Ex baske when trying addec great Ta that I pansi ferenc Syrac and N its ow, "Pe expar said. woulk Penn confe: mark schoo Hc there tweer cific s Wisconsin Sports Information Wisconsin's receiver Lee DeRamus made 42 catches for 680 yards in 1992. Barnett expects improvement as weii as Theredit is right on the cover of the media guide, just like last year - Expect Victory. Maybe they mean expect a victory? The Wildcats have Minnesota and In- diana at home on consecutive weekends. They certainly should be able to pull out one of those. An impressive 12-7 third quarter lead Saturday, against Notre Dame evapo- rated under heavy fourth D quarter pres- sure. Coach Gary Barnett be- lieves last season's three victories represented some progress forthe Wildcats. Butthey have had three and even four wins in the last decade. "The wAy you judge being suc- cessful is improvement," Barnett said. "Improvement for me is not four wins but six. If you're not winning more games than losing, you're just like everybody else who's losing." Northwestern's last winning record came in 1971, 7-4. victories Tor uats "Expect victory" originated with Barnett and he believes it, even if no one else outside the Chicago-land area does. Senior Lee Gissendaneris also on the cover, believe that. He deserves the cover as much as anyone and is Northwestern's strongest Heisman candidate ever. Joining him on the offensive side of the ball are nine other returning starters, including quarterback Len Williams. Un- fortunately for the Wildcats that offense ranked last in rushing and total offense in the Big Ten last season. On Northwestern's behalf it was in a period of ad- justment during Barnett's first season as coach. Williams overcame a slow start last season to become the third-highest rated quarterback in the BigTen and the highest returning. He passed for 2,110 yards, good for second in the con- ference. Handing off to Dennis Lundy paid dividends for Williams. The junior running back led the team with 688 yards. Although they will be over- shadowed by Gissendaner, the rest of the wide receivers are tal- ented as well. Chris Gamble and Patrick Wright are returning starters. However, for the time being Wright has been bumped to backup status because of speed demon Mike Senters. With only Tobin Buckner missing from last season's offen- sive line, the returning corps should allow Williams plenty of time to find one of his targets. Defensively, the news is not quite as good - only seven re- turning starters. The linebackers are led by All- Big Ten honorable mention out- side linebacker Steve Shine. Shine ranked second in the con- ference in sacks with 11 for 58 yards lost. Sophomore William Bennett leads the secondary. He led his team with four passes broken up last season. If Barnettcan find a winning season, his fans will place him up among Northwestern coaching greats Ara Parseghian and Alex Agase-the last Wildcat coaches to post winning records. -Andy De Korte PENN STATE SPORTS INFORMATIO The Big Ten adds another large stadium to its repertoire with the addition of Penn State. Beaver Stadium offically seats 93,716, though 95,000+ crowds are the norm.