Maybe it was only appropriate that a Big Ten football coach was discussing the "Pistol" offense this week in light of the fact that the conference got pistol-whipped last Saturday in the only three games that mattered from a national perception viewpoint.

No offense to Indiana, Iowa, Ohio State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Penn State and Wisconsin, which scored opening wins over Western Kentucky, Maine, Youngstown State, Northern Illinois, Syracuse, Coastal Carolina and Akron, respectively.

The competition level speaks for itself. So does 0-3, which is the Big Ten's record against quality competition after Illinois' 52-45 loss to Missouri, Michigan's 25-23 loss to Utah and Michigan State's 38-31 loss to California.

"We got three losses in all three of those games, but I don't think we have to apologize for how our teams played," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel contended during his weekly presser in Columbus.

"I thought they played extremely hard," he said of his fraternity brothers. "I think people will find out Utah is a good football team, Missouri is a good football team, and so is Cal.

"We didn't do what we needed to do (as a conference)," Tressel finally acknowledged, "but we played like crazy."

Or, at least, they played like crazy -- the Illini, the Wolverines and the Spartans -- in losing efforts that nonetheless continued to tarnish the league's national profile and credibility.

But here's the crazy part: Minnesota, coming off a 1-11 season, has a chance to restore some luster to the Big Ten this week if the Gophers can "upset" Bowling Green.

Seriously.

How upsetting is that?

Minnesota is the only conference team that has been listed as an underdog going into Saturday's lackluster matchups, which loom mostly as mismatches.

Maybe if Oregon State had not fumbled away a chance to beat Stanford in its opener, there would be more buzz for Penn State taking on the Beavers in aptly-named Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa.

Not that the venue was named after a rodent or Jerry Mathers. (James A. Beaver was a former Pennsylvania governor and president of the board of trustees.)

As it was, the Beavers had a player fumble the ball at the goal line -- resulting in a touchback with just 47 seconds left. A touchdown would have put them in a position to convert a two-point conversion and force overtime with Stanford.

Oregon State's Darrell Catchings was trying to break the plane of the goal line by extending the ball when he fumbled (not unlike Wisconsin's P.J. Hill fumbling against Akron).

Penn State's Joe Paterno was asked during his weekly news conference how he might handle that situation with a player.

"I don't know whether he's a sensitive kid that needs a pat on the back," he said. "I don't know whether he's a cocky kid ... and needed a kick in the rear end."

"I wouldn't have the slightest idea what I would do until it happened," added JoePa, who then cited Mark Twain as his compass on this matter. "You know, he was a riverboat captain." (Twain, in fact, was a steamboat pilot.)