(Video courtesy mgovideo)

News and notes from around the Big Ten:

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  • Michigan LB Kenny Demens is leading a revived Wolverines defense, Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press reported. Demens credits LBs coach Mark Smith with helping him turn his season around. "I was too focused on only one thing, and Coach Smith brought me in his office and said 'just play football, play like I know I play,'” Demens told the newspaper. "It was more of, 'Kenny just let loose, be yourself. He was giving me tools so I could do better. I feel like I wanted to do too much, whatever the reason was."
  • The Iowa Hawkeyes are expecting dozens of top recruits in attendance for Saturday night’s game against Penn State in Iowa City, Pat Harty of the Press-Citizen reported. Most of the high school players will be on unofficial visits. “They have somewhere in the neighborhood of seven or eight guys that have already verbally committed [to Iowa] who are going to wait until January to take their official visits,” Rob Howe, publisher of HawkeyeInsider.com, told the newspaper. “But I think that’s a component of what kids are doing all over the country."
  • Indiana P Erich Toth, a former high school soccer goalie, went from walk-on to starter after an injury to incumbent P Mitchell Voss two weeks ago against Michigan State, Terry Hutchins of the Indianapolis Star reported. “I was shocked,’’ Toth told the newspaper. “It didn’t really hit me until I had to go out there and hold that first field goal snap. And to be honest, I don’t really remember that game at all. It was so nerve-racking. Having your first punt be in a Big Ten game against Michigan State is a pretty big step up from punting at Brebeuf [High].’’
  • Michigan State has a simple goal for a fourth-straight season: contain Michigan QB Denard Robinson. The Spartans are 3-0 against the Heisman Trophy candidate and have won four straight against the Wolverines, Joe Rexrode of the Detroit Free Press reported. "We need to make sure we know where he's at at all times that [No.] 16 is on the playing field," MSU coach Mark Dantonio told the newspaper. "He can make a play at any given moment and turn a game around. He's been a great football player at Michigan, and he'll always be remembered as that."
  • Northwestern didn’t need long to replace an empty space on its 2013 schedule. The Wildcats, who had Vanderbilt back out of a series earlier this week, will host Western Michigan next year, Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune reported. Wake Forest and North Carolina were also considered for the slot.

For more up-to-the-minute news and analysis from Big Ten bloggers Dave Carey and Mike Singer, follow @CBSSportsBigTen.