3 and Out

1. From the picture taker to the picture takener (not a word, I know)

— You all saw the picture of a young C.J. Beathard with Taylor Swift emerge in the last few weeks.

The picture was taken at a Christmas brunch. Beathard's father, Casey, is a songwriter. He and Taylor Swift worked for the same company and there was that event and, click, there was the picture.

'There was a good meal and she was there and I got to get a picture with her,' the Iowa quarterback said. 'It was cool.'

It was a spur-of-the-moment thing. Beathard is from Nashville, Tenn. His dad works with a multitude of country artists. So no, C.J. isn't running around asking for his picture when he's home.

'Eric Church and my dad work together,' he said. 'I'm not going to go ask Eric Church for a picture. It's kind of cheesy to me. I'm not really into doing that kind of stuff.'

Beathard didn't go all 'fannish' on Taylor Swift.

'No, I've been around her a few times for different things,' Beathard said. 'Like at the VMI Awards, it's like a songwriter awards thing. I've met here a few times. She probably wouldn't remember me. It wasn't like I'm a huge Taylor Swift fan. She was there and I got a picture taken with her.'

You guys ('you guys' = Iowa fans) seem to sort of dig C.J. Beathard. I imagine a few of you have, maybe, asked to have your pictures taken with the Iowa QB who's gone 6-0 in his first career starts.

Beathard kind of got a little embarrassed at the idea that he's gone from the kid getting his picture taken with to the QB who people want their picture taken with.

'Oh nah,' he said.

That hasn't happened yet?

'You mean with Iowa fans?' he asked. 'Oh yeah, Iowa fans have.'

2. Attack of the Interims

— Illinois could've dried up and blown away and no one would've blinked an eye. One week before the season started, Fighting Illini head coach Tim Beckman was fired amid allegations of influencing medical decisions and pressuring players to play hurt.

OK, given that fact maybe you can see how this would be a rallying point and why the Illini are 4-1 (1-0 in the Big Ten with its first win over Nebraska since 1924) and coming to Kinnick Stadium as one of the Big Ten's most improved programs.

Was Beckman an unreasonable tyrant? Illinois athletics director Mike Thomas thought so and made the move one week before the season started. Beckman fired back with a statement denying the implications Thomas made. Maybe that was covering a base, maybe not. See everyone in court.

Bill Cubit is the interim Illinois coach. He's 61 and that's the age in coaching where, you might think, a guy is in 'heck with it' mode and just does what he feels. You don't get that with this group. Cubit was head coach at Western Michigan from 2005-2012. He's a practiced head coach with systems that could easily be put in place. The tone Cubit has set from day 1 has been all business. Illinois players have bought in and it's the rebirth story of the year in the Big Ten right now.

Then Thursday, news broke on the 247Sports site 'Inside MD Sports' that Maryland head coach Randy Edsall will be fired after this weekend's game at Ohio State.

The Terrapins are off to a 2-3 start. The three losses have come by an average score of 40-11. Maryland players had a 'players only' meeting that Edsall didn't find out about until five hours later on the Big Ten teleconference.

'That's news to me. I don't think we had a players-only meeting,' Edsall said.

If Edsall is fired, that will make two straight programs coming into Kinnick with interim coaches. Iowa plays host to Illinois this weekend. The Hawkeyes travel to Northwestern, have a bye week and then entertain Maryland on Oct. 31.

This is either a strange convergence or the stakes have gone up in Big Ten football.

One a positive note, this week is the last of Rutgers coach Kyle Flood's three-game suspension in the wake of allegations that he had 'an inappropriate contact with a faculty member who was the instructor of one of Rutgers football players.'

3. The Big Ten nerd game of the week

— Of course, this isn't the game where I think it's nerd-on-nerd, but the game I think we all, as people of the Big Ten, would find some beauty in even though most would hold their noses and run away.

Hey, every conference has these games.

This week, I'm going to sell you Minnesota (3-2, 0-1) at Purdue (1-4, 0-1).

The last time you saw UM quarterback Mitch Leidner he threw four TD passes in a 51-14 victory over the Hawkeyes. Now, Leidner is fighting to keep his job. He's trying to make things happen behind a patch-work O-line. He doesn't have TE Maxx Williams, who bolted a year early for the NFL (he caught three of those TD passes against Iowa, by the way).

Going into what's a must-win for the Gophers at Purdue, you're probably looking at Leidner on a short leash with true freshman Demry Croft seeing some time and, maybe, more than some time pending Leidner's effectiveness.

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com