The Outland Trophy awards the nation’s top interior lineman, and the award has been garnered by a Big Ten player 3 of the last five years–Iowa’s Robert Gallery won in 2003, while Minnesota’s Greg Eslinger and Wisconsin’s Joe Thomas claimed the honored in 2005 and 2006. They might as well call it the Big Ten interior lineman award Read the rest of this entry »

It seems that every year the Big 10 has a big name in the finals or even a winner of the Bronco Nagurski Trophy, which awards the National Defensive player of the year award. James Laurinaitis, who won the award in 2006 and was a finalist in 2007, returns for another year of contention and should be a shoo-in for another finals. Other than the Ohio State standout, nine other Big 10 players were announced as being considered for the trophy. They are: Illinois’ Vontae Davis, Indiana’s Greg Middleton, Iowa’s Mitch King, Michigan’s Terrance Taylor, Northwestern’s John Gill, Ohio State’s Marcus Freeman and Malcolm Jenkins, Penn State’s Maurice Evans, and Wisconsin’s Matt Shaughnessy. Read the rest of this entry »

I still remember back in the day watching football and baseball on astroturf. It was the rule rather than the exception, but to see players diving and cringe as they hit the all-weather turf as if they were bouncing off of concrete and how this surface created such injuries as “turf toe”, it was apparent that this was not the end-all be-all for playing surfaces. Read the rest of this entry »

In an article by ESPN that was done a few days ago, columnist Mark Schlabach likes the Big 10 to have as many as eight teams in bowl games for the upcoming college football season, and even has Ohio State back in the national championship against Georgia. While the Big 10 typically boasts a strong number of teams every year in the postseason, I personally was surprised to see that many teams named, much less that the conference would be the leader of the pack–well, at least the co-leader (he thinks the SEC will have 8 teams as well). Read the rest of this entry »

While Kansas was off making most of the college football world drop their jaws in adoration last season, something special was also happening in Champaign, Illinois, as the Illinois Fighting Illini quietly were winning game after game behind the bull running of Rashard Mendenhall and a stingy defense. But they were squarely put on the map after they upended number 1 Ohio State–in the horseshoe no less–and propelled them to a BCS game versus big bad USC. Illinois quickly learned what it meant to play in a BCS game against a team that probably should have been playing in the national championship, getting trounced in the Rose Bowl in almost humiliating fashion. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the honors that is bestowed upon a player is when they are named to their college’s “best ever” team. In an effort to reward these historic players, Illinois will be having the ten best at every position in parallel with its “Renaissance” celebration with the new and improved Memorial Stadium in attendance at the home opener September 6th. While Illinois has historically had some wonderful linebackers, wide receivers, and running backs, perhaps the most storied position has been the quarterback, which largely got a huge boost during the 80s and 90s, when the Fighting Illini enjoyed some of its best offensive seasons ever. Read the rest of this entry »

If you watch the Big Ten Network for just random games, or just love to watch the Big Ten in general, the network certainly loves you! However, for those of you that are rock-chalk solid as just watching one team and one team only (and of course the other team that plays), the BTN is putting together 24 hours of highlight for each school in the Big Ten set to start airing next week. It’s a good way to celebrate all of the 2007-08 things that happened to your school’s team in a very condensed way! Read the rest of this entry »

Although Penn State seemed to have a decent offensive day in the second round of the tournament versus Purdue, it was no match for the day that Dan Black had, as he bombed 2 HR and 6 RBI to lead the Boilermakers to a seemingly easy win over the Nittany Lions 15-6. (It kind of helps when you score 9 runs in the first innings, doesn’t it?)

This was a surprise more than likely for Purdue fans, as Penn State normally has a solid pitching staff, proving it in a opening round 6-1 win over Indiana. However, the Boiler bats were rocking from the start, and it was a downward spiral for the Nittany Lions after that. Seven of the nine starters had more than one hit, and Black was never retired, going 4-4. Of course, the sun was also an ally for Purdue, as the Penn State outfielders lost two fly balls in the early going in the blinding light, which aided in Purdue’s huge opening.

The win propels Purdue through the “winner’s” bracket against Michigan. The loss for Penn State puts them in the elimination bracket and they will face the winner of Indiana-Illinois. Maybe Penn State can hope for a dreary day

Last season, Illinois’ football team went back into a territory that it hadn’t been to since the turn of the century: the BCS. Sure, they got smacked around by USC, but no one in their right mind thought that the match up was even to begin with: the Illini got a little bit too much of a boost, and USC was disrespected. The end result was one of the biggest routs in several years of the BCS. Still, Ron Zook’s team took away from it a great deal of humility and experience. And now, the Illini continue the trend into unfamiliar territory–being ranked in the preseason. Read the rest of this entry »

Katie Brown had a good weekend. That’s an understatement. The Iowa Hawkeyes’ sophomore was only sent down 1 time in six at bats against the Illinois Fighting Illini softball team this weekend, and the times that she did get on, she put on maximum damage by having 3 HR, 1 double, and six RBI with an absolutely amazing 2.500 slugging percentage to take home the co-Big Ten player of the week. Read the rest of this entry »