Tom Dienhart, BTN.com Senior Writer, July 30, 2013

The debate on if players should be paid rages. And, it will for a while. The great Dirk Chatelain of the Omaha World-Herald has a nice synopsis of the issues.

Yes, I think football players and men?s basketball players deserve some type of stipend. But I don?t think scholarship athletes in any other sport deserve one. Is that fair? Maybe not. But, life isn?t fair. College is a good time to teach students that. Football and men?s hoops are massive revenue generators for colleges. Other sports wouldn?t exist without them. So, that?s why football and men?s basketball players are the only ones who should be paid.

EARLY MICHIGAN-OHIO STATE PREVIEW: Can?t wait for the Ohio State at Michigan game on Nov. 30? Neither can I. Here is a video preview of how Michigan?s defense matchups? with Ohio State?s offense.

If this doesn?t stoke your fire for some football, I don?t know what will.

TICKET PRICES: If Penn State wonders how its football ticket prices compare with other schools, click here.

IOWA QB DERBY: No big revelation here: All three quarterbacks competing for the Iowa job are on equal footing.

Here is how Marc Morehouse of the Cedar Rapids Gazette handicaps the race coming out of spring drills and heading into fall camp: Sophomore Jake Rudock probably held an edge over junior Cody Sokol and redshirt freshman C.J. Beathard. During spring practice, the Iowa staff was very conscious of evenly distributing practice repetitions with each signal-caller seeing the same amount of snaps with the first through third teams.

But, it won?t matter who plays quarterback unless Iowa gets better play from its wideouts.

SN ALL-BIG TEN TEAM: I was with Sporting News for too many years to count. Still enjoy the ?publication.? I very much enjoyed its preseason All-Big Ten football team.

Difficult to squabble with any of their choices. But no Max Bullough at linebacker? And I like Devin Funchess at tight end.

BADGER RECEIVERS: There is a lot to like about Wisconsin?s offense in 2013. Nice line, good options at quarterback, loaded at tight end, playmakers at running back. Receiver? Lots of questions. The wideouts must step up for a passing game that ranked last in the Big Ten last season. Jared Abbrederis is legit. But who else will step up for a corps that needs some big-play ability? The Badger offense needs the ability to be able to stretch the field consistently.

MINNESOTA LOSES WIDEOUT: It?s not like Minnesota has a lot of great options at wideout. So, news of Devfin Crawford-Tufts leaving the team to focus on track isn?t good.

Crawford-Tufts was the third-leading receiver returning, with 16 catches for 189 yards and a touchdown in 2012. The Gophers need the likes of senior Derrick Engel, junior Isaac Fruechte, sophomore K.J. Maye, redshirt freshman Jamel Harbison and sophomore Andre McDonald to take the next step to give the Golden Gophers? attack some oomph and big-play explosiveness.

CALLING PURDUE FANS: If you wanna participate in Purdue?s training camp, you have to receive a written invitation from rookie coach Darrell Hazell. Really. I?m not making this up. You can read what an invite look like here.

MORE PURDUE: I?m not totally sure what to expect from the Boilermakers on offense. I have talked to coordinator John Shoop. I have talked to Darrell Hazell. Still, I don?t know what to expect. See what you think after reading this.

NOT UNDER THE LIGHTS: A Michigan-Michigan State game at night? Michigan A.D. David Brandon doesn?t think it?s a good idea.

"We don't think it's a good idea," Brandon said. "From our perspective, the nature of that rivalry and the intensity of it, when you put that on in prime time and you give everybody all day long to gear up for it.

"Hosting that at Michigan Stadium, that's probably taking that a step further than it needs to go."

I think we all know what Brandon means by ?gear up,? am I right? If not, please email me.

CUPCAKES NO MORE: Ready or not, ?guarantee? games vs. tomato can foes may be coming to an end soon for various reasons.

But, the big boys should be careful for what they wish for. Listen to Southern Miss coach Todd Monken.

?Just have a nice NFL crossover where you play each other,? Monken told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. ?Then when you fire up a nice 7-5, and you?re at a pretty good place and they fire you, they won?t be real excited about it, because you won?t have those games that they?ve been able to win. Plain and simple.?

?Some of those teams that get bowl eligible when they go 2-6 in their league and they go 6-6. Well, you?ll be 2-10, or 3-9, and it won?t feel so damn salty.?

TWEETS THAT MATTER

https://twitter.com/audsnyder4/status/361966321069596674

My take: No shock here. Did you think it would be Indiana State at Indiana?

My take: They probably shouldn?t.

My take: To think the vote of schools like, say, Buffalo counts as much as USC?s vote is laughable. Some type of division needs to be made within the I-A ranks.

My take: Time will tell, but I like the way he?s starting.

About Tom Dienhart BTN.com senior writer Tom Dienhart is a veteran sports journalist who covers Big Ten football and men's basketball for BTN.com and BTN TV. Find him on Twitter and Facebook, read all of his work at btn.com/tomdienhart, and subscribe to his posts via RSS. Also, send questions to his weekly mailbag using the form below and read all of his previous answers in his reader mailbag section.

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