ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg

Check these out after we chat. 

• With Purdue at 2-6 and coach Joe Tiller weeks away from retirement, the question begs to be asked: Have the players tuned out Tiller? Several Boilermakers say no, but former Purdue basketball coach Gene Keady says Tiller has a tough task, Tom Kubat writes in The Journal and Courier.
  

"Any time you hire another coach, the coach that is being replaced is a lame duck toward motivating [the players]," Keady said. "They know they don't have to listen to you the next year. It's tough. I can sympathize with Joe. It's not any fun. After you've coached 50 years, you would like to go out a winner, and that's not going to happen. ... You feel like you've let everybody down when that happens."

• Boilermakers quarterback Curtis Painter will make the call on whether he can play Saturday against Michigan after sustaining a separated throwing shoulder, Stacy Clardie writes in The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. 
• Tim Brewster's coaching career came full circle last Friday, on a high school football field in Indiana, Marcus Fuller writes in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Brewster's son, Clint, who transferred from Minnesota this summer, still keeps tabs on his dad and the Gophers. 
• There's some disagreement about how long Northwestern running back Tyrell Sutton could be sidelined. The school says at least six weeks, while Sutton's mom thinks it's more like 6-12 weeks, Shannon Ryan writes in the Chicago Tribune. Quarterback C.J. Bacher hasn't been ruled out yet.
  
• Wisconsin's bowl prospects improved after last week's win against Illinois, though the Badgers still have some work to do, Tom Mulhern writes in the Wisconsin State Journal.
• As poorly as Rich Rodriguez's offense has looked this season, Michigan's defense has endured struggles of its own, John Heuser writes in The Ann Arbor News.  
• Iowa had to replace six starters on defense heading into the season. The Hawkeyes came out with an even better product, Andy Hamilton writes in the Iowa City Press-Citizen.