This time, it's two quarterbacks for Penn State, not the Buckeyes

AP PHOTO

Ohio State quarterback Joe Germaine is on his own this year, and will have to deal with Penn State this Saturday in the Big Ten's true clash of titans.

If you're talking Ohio State-Penn State, and one team uses a two-quarterback system, and the other is suffering an image crisis because of a player's eligibility, you're still talking Ohio State-Penn State, right?

Nope. Reverse it. Try Penn State-Ohio State.

This Saturday's game is as big as it usually is - both teams are undefeated and in the top 10 - but the roles, this year, seem to be reversed.

For the past two years, Ohio State coach John Cooper defied conventional wisdom by platooning Stanley Jackson and Joe Germaine at quarterback all season, right up through the annual Michigan loss.

This year, Germaine's the lone Buckeye behind center, but Penn State has been using both Kevin Thompson and Rashard Casey at quarterback.

Last year, Joe Paterno was duped by clever running back Curtis Enis, who not only broke team rules by accepting a suit from an agent, but was also sneaky enough to wear it on national television to an awards ceremony. He got caught, and was kicked off the team.

This year, John Cooper was duped by heady linebacker Andy Katzenmoyer, who wasn't telling the truth when he told his coach he'd spent the summer improving his grades.

He got caught, and was named a preseason All-American.

But all kidding aside, it is that time of year again: The time when everyone realizes that Michigan-Michigan State wasn't even watched by anyone living outside the state, and that the two real heavyweights in the conference are about to duke it out.

Ohio State-Penn State, or Penn State-Ohio State, is one of those great midseason college games that, more than anything else, passes the time between the Illinois-Indianas and the Wisconsin-Northwesterns.

This year, the twist is that Penn State will rely on two quarterbacks, while the Buckeyes don't have to, because they have the best one in the Big Ten.

"I haven't had enough experience with it yet to tell you whether it's an advantage or a disadvantage," Paterno said of his new system. "This is the first time I've done it. You should ask John Cooper."

Somebody did, actually. But Cooper didn't seem to think it made much difference how many people were playing quarterback.

"I could care less who plays," Cooper said. "Whoever they put in there is gonna do a good job, so it doesn't mater to me who they use."

Another thing Cooper dismissed was the fact that Penn State didn't play this past weekend. The Nittany Lions had an extra week to prepare for the Buckeyes, but Cooper didn't seem to think the extra time would have much of an effect on the game.

"Penn State doesn't need an extra week to prepare," he said. "Anytime you have a coach that has 300 victories, you know, you don't need an extra week to get ready. Penn State is always ready."

Last year, the Nittany Lions ran for 316 yards against Ohio State, but the bulk of the workload was carried by Enis and Aaron Harris, who has been working to get back in shape after injuring his knee.

Paterno said Harris would play, but he wasn't sure how much - not to mention how well.

"I'm sure he'll play," Paterno said. "Whether he's 80-percent, or 85- or 90-percent, I don't know. That's what we'll have to see."

North-worst-ern ... again?: Northwestern coach Gary Barnett, just two years removed from his (premature?) anointing as The Next Great College Coach, hasn't had the best of luck this fall.

Last weekend, Wisconsin romped on Barnett's squad, 38-7.

The Badgers scored touchdowns on runs, passes, punt returns and even a blocked punt.

But Barnett explained.

"We got victimized by some illegal tactics, and they went unnoticed by the officials," Barnett said.

Oh, so that was the problem? Illegal tactics?

Barnett said the early-game naughty rules violations by the Badgers "resulted in a punt being blocked, and we sort of lost our poise from that point on."

Apparently so. Northwestern gave up 38 straight points.

Fortunately for Barnett, his Wildcats get the Illini on Saturday, who managed to hold Iowa to just 37 points last weekend while even scoring 14 of their own. It promises to be an evenly matched game, if nothing else. But, probably, it will be nothing else.

"This has always been a big rivalry that everybody probably knows about," Barnett said in total seriousness. "Both teams are very similar statistically. We're almost identical, actually."

Don't admit that, Gary.

Hayden Fried: In recent weeks, farmers in Iowa City and the other development in the state of Iowa, Des Moines, have been in an uproar. It seems that an article in The Chicago Tribune called for Iowa coach Hayden Fry's resignation.

Fry is 70 years old, and has been in charge of Iowa's football program for 20 years.

He's just the sixth coach in Big Ten history to last that long at one school.

The article suggested that Fry is too old to relate to today's players, and that he should get out before he ruins all the good years he's had at Iowa, and that the game has passed him by, and so on and so on.

Big Ten coaches, naturally, scoffed at the suggestion that Hayden might be too old to coach and rallied to his defense.

Lloyd Carr said Fry was as unpredictable as ever and called the article "inappropriate." Barnett said that "only those of us in the business can appreciate what Hayden has done, and how he has done it, over the years. He'll be a great coach for as long as he wants to do it."

Since 1991, Carr is 5-0 against Fry. Barnett hasn't lost to Fry since 1994.

Hmmm.

- Jim Rose can be reached at jwrose@umich.edu

JIM ROSE Rose Beef

09-30-98