.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
Big Ten East Notebook: Buckeyes, Spartans trying to avoid complacency
Ohio State opened the season by going on the road to beat a Power 5 team in a hostile environment at night. In week two, Michigan State played host to a top 10 opponent and sent their visitors home with a loss.
Now the teams that have most recently claimed the Big Ten championship might not face another ranked opponent until they play each other in Columbus -- a game that is more than two months away.
The top-ranked Buckeyes already might have learned a thing or two about dealing with complacency as they beat Hawaii 38-0 on Saturday, a win that was not as easy as oddsmakers or in all likelihood most fans expected.
"We've got to get much better in certain areas," Urban Meyer said Monday. "We reward the champions, spend a bunch of time on that, make sure we appreciate the great efforts, and then we've got to get better."
The fourth-ranked Spartans could get a taste of what complacency might be like this weekend when they play host to Air Force.
The Falcons are coming off a better stretch of recent seasons than the Rainbow Warriors, including a 10-3 campaign last season, but there is not likely to be as much juice flowing through Spartan Stadium this Saturday at noon when the game kicks off as there was last Saturday for the prime-time visit from then-No. 7 Oregon.
"We have got 10 games left (in the regular season), and as I said, Air Force will bring a whole new dynamic here next week," MSU head coach Mark Dantonio, likely referring to the Falcons' triple-option offense, told reporters in East Lansing after the 31-28 win over Oregon. "So it will be exciting and a challenge to prepare for them."
Dantonio, like his former boss Jim Tressel, has typically stressed the importance of a team peaking at the end of the season.
He acknowledged picking up such a potentially significant win before the halfway point of September could present some challenges to his usual way of doing things.
"We didn't play as well last week as we did today," Dantonio said. "We need to continue to get better. Played against a very high-quality team this week -- not that we didn't last week, just saying we took a step forward.
"We look to play our best football in November. I think that's what we've always tried to do. I think that's what wins championships for you, will put you in those opportunities. But we need to continue to progressively just play, and there's some great football teams left that we have to play, there's no question."
Meanwhile, Meyer is looking forward to having a normal week of preparation after Ohio State took on Hawaii only five days after opening the season with a win at Virginia Tech. Next up is a visit from Northern Illinois, the Buckeyes' second consecutive 3:30 p.m. EDT kickoff.
"We're glad to be back in our routine now," he said.
Frosh Running Backs Shine
A pair of true freshmen threw their hats in the ring for Big Ten Freshman of the Year last weekend as Penn State's Saquon Barkley and Michigan State's L.J. Scott both played big roles in victories for their teams.
Barkley rushed for 115 yards and a touchdown as the Nittany Lions beat Buffalo while Scott contributed 76 yards for the Spartans as they beat the Ducks. Scott came up particularly big late in the evening as he ripped off a 38-yard touchdown run with 10:51 to play. That ended up representing the winning points.
They were named co-winners of the conference's Freshman of the Week Award on Monday.
Tevin Who?
Barkley and Scott aren't the only newcomers turning heads from the running back position in the division.
Through two weeks, Indiana's Jordan Howard leads the Big Ten in rushing at 152 yards per game. A transfer from UAB, Howard has so far helped significantly soften the blow of losing 2,000-yard rusher Tevin Coleman a year early to the NFL.
Indiana also has the conference's top receiver so far, at least statistically, as Ricky Jones has a Big Ten-best 242 receiving yards through two games. Michigan State's Aaron Burbridge is next with 218 yards.
