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 »

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 »

The Big 10 didn’t exactly have a banner year in terms of the NCAA tournament, although it was better than what many had predicted. But with 30 picks in the NBA draft for the first round, the conference posted 3 players that were taken, with Eric Gordon being the number 7 pick for the Los Angeles Clippers, Kosta Koufos taken 23rd by the Utah Jazz, and D.J. White being taken 29th by the Detroit Pistons. Read the rest of this entry »

Alright, so nothing I am going to talk about really is anything mind-blowing or of that nature about the Ohio State Buckeyes football campaign of 2008. Yes, they are going to be very good and yes they are loaded. Yes, they have one of the nation’s most exciting prospects in Terrelle Pryor, and yes they still have Butkus shoo-in James Laurinaitis. And yes—they will more than likely perch themselves at number 1 when the season begins. The question is—will they be able to hold it? Read the rest of this entry »

Ok, that sounded pretty petty, didn’t it? But perhaps for Buckeye fans, it is the truth. While Coach Jim Tressel has brought home a national championship in his tenure, perfection is the only thing that matters in Columbus when it comes to football. And with two national championship games in the toilet while getting manhandled by two SEC teams, the Buckeyes now have the distinction of the number one ranking preseason and even more pressure than ever.

With the Big 10 not having quite the strength it normally does throughout the league, combined with the Ohio St. conference schedule, the Buckeyes have a wonderful shot at making it to BCS National Championship game again. However, there’s one teensy-weensy little game after labor day with a little team called USC. Yes, that’s right, probably #3 or #4 ranked Southern Cal, and Pete Carroll’s Trojans have the Buckeyes on their home field, where they are 39-3 over the past several seasons.

This is what will more than likely be the hinging game for the national championship for both teams. While USC obviously has a ton of an advantage with their depth, tradition, and home field, don’t count Ohio State out just yet–Tressel may have an Achilles Heel against SEC teams, but OSU matches up with USC rather well.  Some are saying that even if the Buckeyes finish with a close loss to USC that they still could make the national championship game, but the whole “backing in” to the national championship that the media criticized in Ohio State making it last year still stings, so of course they’d much rather be there as undefeated and still #1.

Will it happen? I really would like to say yes, but I think the home field for SoCal is just too much.  Sorry, guys….

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 »

We all knew that the Big 10 was strong in softball, but how’s this for a number: 13. That’s how many players were selected by the NFCA (National Fastpitch Coaches Association) to the All-Region teams that are broken down into nine regions across the country. This once again gives credibility to the strength that the conference has in terms of having quality players and teams not only top to bottom, but also on a national level. Read the rest of this entry »

For the second time in three years, the Penn State Men’s Volleyball team has made it to the promised land–the NCAA Championship. After defeating seventh-ranked Ohio State (YEY BIG TEN!) in four games out in California, the Nittany Lions now go on to face big and bad Pepperdine in the final. Penn State is now 29-1 on the year, while the Buckeyes close out at 20-8. Read the rest of this entry »

Purdue and Maryland have not met for over 11 years in women’s basketball, but throughout that course of time, both programs have remained strong and in the national spotlights. With the 2008 ACC/Big 10 challenge match ups released today, they will get a chance to see who’s program has come along the most as they square off in one of the marquee matchups of the annual head-to-head competition. Both teams figure to finish in the top three of their conference and preseason wise should be pretty high up there in the national rankings as well, so if you get a chance, don’t miss this game. Read the rest of this entry »