Big Ten Notebook: Notre Dame to Big Ten was never going to happen

Bo Pelini has a low tolerance for players unwilling to compete for their positions, so he had no trouble saying goodbye to DT Chase Rome. (US Presswire)

News and notes from around the Big Ten:

• Is DT Chase Rome’s departure from Nebraska indicative of a systemic problem with coach Bo Pelini or is it just that Rome didn’t like competing for playing time as a former four-star recruit? Rome was the fourth four-star recruit to leave the program since spring practice but judged individually, Steven Sipple of the Lincoln Journal Star argued the problem doesn’t lie with Pelini. 

• Wisconsin’s redshirt sophomore S Michael Trotter will start his first collegiate game against Utah State on Saturday night, filling in for veteran safety Shelton Johnson, who suffered a broken right arm against Oregon State. Johnson has spent the week watching film with Trotter and helping to prepare his understudy. “He’s Mr. Reliable,” UW’s defensive coordinator Chris Ash said to Jeff Potrykus of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “He knows his assignments inside and out.”  

• Ohio State’s Urban Meyer is hoping that injured RB Jordan Hall, who’s expected to return from a foot injury on Saturday, will develop into a hybrid player much like Percy Harvin did for Meyer while at Florida. Hall could thrive in Meyer’s spread offense, wrote Bill Livingston of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The senior ran for 405 yards last year and was a threat out of the backfield, scoring three touchdowns on 12 receptions.

• Despite Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany’s good relationship with Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, a marriage never would’ve worked, wrote Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune. “The Irish wanted to maintain football independence, and the Big Ten would not even consider adding a partial member,” he wrote. 

• Michigan State has a number of pro prospects on its vaunted defense, which has yet to allow a touchdown. But the backbone resides in the secondary with veteran cornerbacks Johnny Adams and Darqueze Dennard. The pair, which is often left to single coverage, afford the defense to be more aggressive with their linebacker blitzes. “You just don’t have to worry about them,” LB Max Bullough said. “Sure, someone’s going to make a play on them at times -- that’s how football is. But for the most part, we feel like we have better corners than a lot of the receivers we got against,” he told Joe Rexrode of the Detroit Free Press.