Coaches will go to extreme measures to pump up their players. We saw a perfect example of it prior to Saturday afternoon’s Penn State-Purdue football game. There, on the sideline of Ross-Ade Stadium, Penn State strength and conditioning coach Craig Fitzgerald took off his shirt and did a belly flop, of sorts, to get his players excited. It seemed to work, as Penn State cruised 34-9. Watch Fitzgerald in action now.

Every Saturday during the Big Ten football season, BTN.com senior writer Tom Dienhart offers his Snap Reactions to each conference game. Get Dienhart’s immediate thoughts from Indiana, Ohio State and Penn State’s wins in this post. Want a teaser? Following its loss at Indiana, Dienhart wonders where Iowa goes from here?

Matt McGloin passed for 321 yards and two touchdowns to help Penn State defeat Purdue 34-9 on Saturday. Brandon Moseby-Felder had six catches for 129 yards, Zach Zwinak ran for 134 yards and Michael Zordich ran for two touchdowns for the Nittany Lions (6-3, 4-1 Big Ten), who bounced back from a loss to Ohio State.

Penn State put up 14 points in the third, and the Nittany Lions now lead 34-3. Penn State threw for 93 yards and ran for 61 yards in the quarter. The Nittany Lions opened up the lead, 27-3, after marching down the field for a seven-play, 80-yard drive that ended when Matt McGloin found Jesse James open for a 12-yard touchdown pass.

Penn State put on a defensive clinic in the second, as Purdue finished with negative rushing yardage (-13 yards), and the Nittany Lions now lead 20-3. Penn State opened up the lead, 13-3, after marching down the field for an eight-play, 65-yard drive that ended when Sam Ficken made a 24-yard field goal. The Nittany Lions used Matt McGloin’s 35-yard pass to Jesse James to fuel the drive.

Penn State’s secondary stifled the passing game, allowing just 31 yards through the air to Purdue in the first quarter and the Nittany Lions lead 10-3 at the end of the first quarter. The Boilermakers took the game’s first lead after Sam McCartney made a 20-yard field goal on the last play of a seven-play, 49-yard drive.

November is upon us. It used to be the month when championships were decided. How very 2010. Now, it’s the month when spots in the Championship Game are decided. All in the name of progress…

Coaches always say: You play the games to remember in November. Well, my calendar says “November.” While this Saturday may lack some pizzazz on the surface, there still are several contests that will go a long way toward shaping the Legends and Leaders division races.

Every week, BTN.com’s Brent Yarina (@BTNBrentYarina) and Tom Dienhart (@BTNTomDienhart) offer their predictions for each Big Ten football game. We also provide a poll for all of the games so fans can vote for their winners.

The Big Ten slate isn’t loaded with many great games this Saturday, but questions still loom for each team. Chief among them are if Indiana can keep its momentum rolling? Is Denard still Denard? Will the Nebraska defense continue its solid run? Check out those and the other nine pressing questions for Big Ten teams this week.

Amid unrest about the direction of the football program, which sits at 0-4 in the Big Ten, Purdue A.D. Morgan Burke issued a statement Monday.

There is a dearth of marquee matchups, but it is Little Brown Jug week. That may not mean much to you, but it does to Minnesota and Michigan. It’s an iconic college football trophy that the schools first played for in 1903. But it has been a lopsided rivalry, with the Golden Gophers winning just twice (1986 and 2005) in the last 30 seasons.