Monday Big Ten Reading Room -- Pat Fitzgerald says don't listen to freshmen, Bret Bielema says his Badgers are 'very, very good'

So the wounds are still wide-open and it's harder to transition into the week of the Ohio State game than you would have imagined, eh, Hawkeye fans?

Northwestern's 21-17 win over Iowa Saturday in Evanston is beyond bitter, you say?

Well, you may not to read some of what has been written about the game from those beyond Iowa's borders. Or you may. At any rate, Mark Hasty of Fanhouse.com wasn't what you would call charitable to the Hawkeyes in this column entitled "Iowa, Northwestern Do Not Have a Rivalry." An excerpt:

Iowa fans want the right to be dismissive of Northwestern's attempted rivalry. They want to call the occasional loss to the Wildcats a result of the opposing team spending its entire season prepping for one game. That only works if the losses are actually occasional.

"Well, what do you expect? It's their Super Bowl."

I've read that comment on more than one Iowa message board over the years, directed at Northwestern. Um, no. Northwestern doesn't keep winning solely because Fitzgerald makes it a priority, though that certainly doesn't hurt. He has Iowa's defense figured out. He knows exactly where to hit the Hawkeyes to make it hurt. Last year he spoiled Iowa's perfect season; this year, he almost certainly knocked Iowa out of the Big Ten title race and guaranteed the Hawkeyes will not go to a BCS game this season.

What else does Fitzgerald have to do, Iowa fans, before you make him and his team your rival? Grow a handlebar mustache, put on a top hat, and start saying you must pay the rent?

Meanwhile, ESPN.com's Big Ten man, Adam Rittenberg, draws these conclusions from Saturday's affairs around the conference, including these:

Dan Persa is the league's most valuable player.

The Big Ten is a non-factor in the Heisman race.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune talked to the father of Persa, the quarterback who led Northwestern to victory Saturday. Persa tore an Achilles tendon on his game-winning pass and is done playing this season. A passage:

The elder Persa told the Tribune that the operation to repair Persa's ruptured right Achilles' tendon - appropriately performed at Northwestern Memorial Hospital - was "textbook. The surgical staff was first-rate and we've received nothing but positive comments. By April or May, he should be good to go."

Wildcat fans hope that's right, but there's no guarantee. A study published in January by the Foot & Ankle Specialist journal found that more than one third of NFL players who sustained an Achilles' tendon injury never returned to the league and those that did averaged a "50 percent reduction in their power ratings."

As reported here last week, NU freshman running back Adonis Smith said Wildcats Coach Pat Fitzgerald "hates" Iowa. Fitzgerald's reply, as quoted by Greenstein:

"It's so funny when you guys listen to freshmen. Give me a break. I have the utmost respect for (coach) Kirk (Ferentz), his young men and his program. Back when I was a student-athlete here, it was ingrained in me: If we wanted to take the necessary steps to compete in this league and be a winner, we'd have to get over the Iowa hurdle."

OK, that's enough of that. Until next year.

"We're a very, very good football team." -- Wisconsin Coach Bret Bielema after his team's 83-20 thrashing of Indiana.

New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick wasn't quite as taken with Bielema. In this column, he wrote the following:

Saturday, as seen on ESPN2, Bielema had his quarterback throw a 74-yard TD pass to make it 76-13 over Indiana, final score, 83-20. What a guy.

Why beat them, and badly, when you can stomp them, humiliate them? You've seen the NCAA image ads: Participation in athletics teaches sportsmanship and builds good character in young men. Yeah, sure.

The biggest loser on Saturday was the day's biggest winner, Bielema.

Here are other quotes from around the Big Ten this weekend:

“At the end of the season I'll go back and look at all the games just like I do with all sports. This was obviously a very tough day. But as bad as it was, I expect our players will come back hard next week and get ready for Penn State.” -- Indiana Athletics Director Fred Glass.

"I saw coaches crying because I think they just wanted to see us celebrate. I hugged every coach." -- Minnesota running back DeLeon Eskridge after the Gophers' 38-34 win at Illinois, Minnesota's first Big Ten win of the year and second overall.

“We didn't deserve to win when it came down to it.” -- Illinois Coach Ron Zook.

"He is close to becoming the top defensive player in the country and the closer he gets to that goal, the harder he plays." -- Purdue Coach Danny Hope, talking about Boilermaker defensive end Ryan Kerrigan.

"Coach Tressel was fired up; that was the most I've ever seen him fired up. Normally, coach Tressel is a calm, passive, relaxed guy. He never yells in practice. But when he came in that locker room, I saw something in him that I've never seen. I didn't even know it was there.

"It wasn't necessarily screaming and yelling. You could just see it in his eyes. I can't explain it. I've never seen it in the four years I've been here. I've seen him get a little bit angry or a little bit upset, but it was something different right there. The team had never been that quiet. Usually there's moving papers or something, but everybody was just still." -- Ohio State cornerback

Devon Torrence on OSU coach

Jim Tressel at halftime of OSU's 38-14 win over Penn State. The Buckeyes trailed 14-3 at the half.