Joe Sports

As long as I’ve covered Bears offensive line coach Harry Hiestand -- and this dates back to the late 1990s when he served as Illinois’ line coach for Ron Turner -- his offensive linemen have been the last unit off the practice field.

While part of that devotion is a work-ethic thing, part of it is simply due to the fact that the O-Line needs more time to get everything right.

In any case, I caught up with Hiestand after Wednesday’s practice (he had just finished tackles Orlando Pace and Chris Williams for some technique work) and we had a six-minute chat on the state of the Bears’ line.

Rather than try to spin the 50-year-old coach’s thoughts or set them up with ledes and transitions and opinions, I thought I’d present them as-is.

Pat Fitzgerald and Mike Kafka are optimistic that the Northwestern senior quarterback’s injured left hamstring will be good enough to go in Saturday’s game at No. 4 Iowa. They spoke at Monday’s noon news conference.

“He’s feeling better today than he did yesterday,” Fitzgerald said. “He felt better Sunday than he did Saturday. We expect him to go through some things tomorrow in practice. He’ll be day-to-day, but at this point we expect Mike to play.”

Does this blog count as a spoiler if it reveals a whole lot of nothing is happening at Soldier Field today?

In the first quarter, Cleveland didn't earn its first first down until the last play of the period. The Browns, in order, faced the following third-down situations:
1) Third and 4 (INC pass)
2) Third and 8 (INC pass)
3) Third and 6 (5-yard Wildcat run by Josh Cribbs)

The Bears weren't much better:
1) Third and 8 (4-yard Cutler scramble)
2) Third and 18 (13-yard Cutler pass to Bennett underneath the coverage...no chance for first down)
3) Third and 5 (28-yard catch and run by Forte!)
4) Third and 9 (19-yard Cutler scramble)
5) Third and 14 (Cutler INC thrown way out of bounds)
6) Third and 8 (INC pass)

After Northwestern sophomore quarterback Dan Persa finished his media responsibilities on Saturday night, he stepped into the Nicolet Center lobby and quickly was surrounded by family and friends.

Some wore Northwestern purple. Some wore Penn State blue. That’s how it goes when you’re a Bethlehem, Penn., native playing for another Big Ten team other than the one from State College.

Perhaps in the future, Persa will make his Penn State pals weep.

But on Saturday, flung into his first real collegiate test when starting quarterback Mike Kafka hurt his left hamstring midway through the second quarter, Persa couldn’t make it happen.
Here’s the breakdown between Kafka’s time and Persa’s time on the field during Penn State’s 34-13 win.

The Wildcats are holding up well against their first ranked opponent this year. Well, everyone not named Mike Kafka.

NU's senior quarterback pulled up lame with about nine minutes left in the second quarter while scrambling. Though he stayed in for one play, Kafka's bad left hamstring sent him to the locker room with six minutes left in the half.

Redshirt sophomore Dan Persa, who grew up three hours east of Penn State in Bethlehem, Pa., has stepped in to lead the Wildcats to the go-ahead field goal just before halftime. Persa, a dual-threat quarterback in Kafka's mold, has hit 3 of 5 passes for 29 yards and rushed 5 times for 27 yards.

Hello from Purplepalooza, where the sun is out, the wind is whipping and the portable lights are blazing.

Injury update:
Senior cornerback Sherrick McManis is nowhere to be seen with the NU secondary, which means sophomore walk-on Ricky Weina will be asked to replicate his second-half magic in last week's Indiana rally.

If Weina starts, he'll be the ninth Wildcat to start in the secondary this year and the 20th defensive starter overall. That's a lot, especially when you consider all of the changes (with the possible exception of DT Adam Hahn's move in front of Marshall Thomas) have been injury-related.

Senior safety Brendan Smith looks ready to go with a wrapped cast protecting his broken left thumb.

Wind update:

Hi college football-loving gang,

The heavy rains throughout the greater America area has forced some serious parking changes at Illinois and Northern Illinois for Saturday's home games. If you're going, give yourself extra time to find a space and get into the game.

FROM ILLINOIS:

Lot 31 ­ Oversized vehicles with a Lot 31 pass are encouraged to park in Lot
33 free of charge.

Lot 36 ­ No changes

Lot 42 ­ CLOSED ­ Lot 42 passes will be allowed to park in Lots 45, 46, 47,
and 48.

Oversized vehicles with a Lot 42 pass will be allowed to park in Lots 45 and
33 free of charge.

Lot 45 ­ Lot 45 passes will be allowed to park in Lots 45, 46, 47, and 48.

Oversized vehicles with a Lot 45 pass will be allowed to park in Lots 45
and 33 free of charge.

Greetings from beautiful downtown Rosemont, where the midwest media horde has descended en masse on this foggy Thursday morning to grill the Big Ten's coaches and players.

We just learned that Indiana coach Tom Crean banned dribbling at one of last week's practices because his guys were being "dribble-abusive."

As always with days like this, we have predictions and lists to provide.

From the official 24-person Big Ten preseason poll:
1. Michigan State
2. Purdue
3. Ohio State

Preseason player of the year:
MSU junior PG Kalin Lucas (last year's POY)

Rest of the first team:
Michigan G Manny Harris
Purdue F Robbie Hummel
Ohio State G Evan Turner
Penn State PG Talor Battle

From the official 31-coach ESPN/USA Today national Top 25 preseason poll:
1. Kansas

After Wednesday's practice, the Bears held their annual Halloween celebration at Halas Hall. A slew of children showed up in their costumes to romp around the facility.

Among the celebrants? One-year-old Tiana Tillman, the daughter of cornerback Charles Tillman. As many Bears fans know, she was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and needed the Berlin Heart to stay alive until she received a heart transplant at 6 months of age.

On Tuesday, Tillman flew to Washington to share his story with Congress.

Benet graduate Dan LeFevour has turned out to be a decent quarterback. How decent?

The Central Michigan senior and Downers Grove resident has jumped to No. 4 ALL-TIME in total yards for Football Bowl Subdivision players. Here's the list:

1. Timmy Chang, Hawaii: 16,910 yards
2. Colt Brennan, Hawaii: 14,740
3. Ty Detmer, BYU: 14,665
4. LeFevour: 13,920
5. Kevin Kolb, Houston: 13,715
6. Philip Rivers, NC State: 13,582

With either five or six games left in his career, LeFevour seems a cinch to wind up No. 2 on the all-time list (he's averaging almost 300 yards per game for his career).