A sports blog by and for Midwest Sports Fans
Madison, Wisconsin will be the scene for what could be a preview of the inaugural Big Ten Championship Game.
The favorites in the Leaders Division, the Wisconsin Badgers (ranked #7 in both the AP and USA Today polls), will host the Nebraska Cornhuskers (ranked #8 in both the AP and USA Today polls) in the conference opener for both teams, this Saturday night at 8:00 pm ET.
College football season is getting closer and one sure sign is that everyone is giving their predictions on how the season will play out.
In the Big Ten, it is very difficult to try and predict how the season will go before a single game is ever played. Teams that are supposed to win the conference often times do not, and players who are supposed to win individual awards find themselves not even nominated. Trying to predict how the 2011 season will end in the Big Ten is about as probable as hitting a royal flush.
Though the odds are not stacked in my favor, I am going to try and predict how I think the Big Ten will play out this season. [Read more...]
Texas A&M has gotten the snowball rolling down the mountain again and has created an avalanche of conference realignment discussions back in the headlines of college football.
The SEC is saying all the right things now about expanding their conference next season due to the legal matters that could occur with the Big 12 if Texas A&M bolts. The SEC will expand next season to a minimum of two teams but rumors are swirling that they could add more.
If college football’s strongest conference decides that they are going to expand to more than twelve teams, it will create the need for other power conferences to expand as well. The increase of revenue that will be generated by teams moving to larger conferences will benefit each school but will be bad for college football overall. [Read more...]
With the college football season rapidly approaching, now is the time of year when everyone makes their attempt to try to predict the outcome of the season.
Trying to forecast how each team will finish in the Big Ten is almost impossible because each season there is a surprise team that does better than anyone could predict. In 2009, it was the Iowa Hawkeyes that shocked everyone by winning 11 games, and last season it was the Michigan State Spartans who were the surprise team and won 11 games.
College Gridiron 365 made their attempt to predict what will happen in 2011 by releasing bowl projections and outcomes based on a simulated 2011 season for every team in college football. Based on a 2011 simulation here, are the projections, bowl game scores, and where each team in the Big Ten will end up ranked. [Read more...]
Some teams in the Big Ten play weak opponents in their non-conference games to give them the best chance to become bowl eligible; and while this approach may get you to the six win mark, it won’t prepare you for the tough conference games in the Big Ten.
A few teams in the Big Ten have made a point to schedule tough non-conference games so they can be prepared for the grind of conference play. These bold teams will not have to wait very long to play their first tough game and find out what they’re made of.
Here are the toughest, most compelling non-conference games involving Big Ten teams this season: [Read more...]
For the first time in the Big Ten’s history, the month of November features many games late in the season where losing could cost you a trip to the Big Ten Championship Game or a BCS Bowl Game.
In the Big Ten, playing on the road is always tough, but it can be especially brutal in the month of November when you are a heavy favorite trying to compete for a conference championship. Many teams have gone into a road game in the month of November and left upset with all hopes of competing in a BCS Bowl Game gone. With so much more on the line this season, the Big Ten is bound to see some teams lose their shot at a conference championship late in the season.
Here are some under the radar games that have the potential for upsets in the month of November. [Read more...]
When football starts in September, the sidelines will feature four new head coaches making their Big Ten debuts. Two of the biggest powers in the Big Ten will feature new coaches this season while the other two schools will look for their new coaches to revive their football programs.
For the first time since 1929 both Ohio State and Michigan will have new coaches in the same year. Indiana will be starting the 2011 season with their 28th coach in the school history, and Minnesota will begin the season with their 31stcoach in school history.
Here is how the four new coaches in the Big Ten got their new coaching jobs.
Already we have looked at the top wide receivers and running backs in the Big Ten for the 2011 season. Now it is time to look at the top quarterbacks in the Big Ten for the 2011 season.
The top signal-callers in the Big Ten for the 2011 season feature some very athletic quarterbacks and one traditional pro-style quarterback. These standout quarterbacks all helped guide their teams to a bowl game appearance last season, and if they all improve from a season ago then the Big Ten conference might have the best set of quarterbacks in college football.
Here is a look at the top quarterbacks in the Big Ten for 2011. [Read more...]
Last week the top wide receivers in the Big Ten were profiled. This week the focus will be on the top running backs in the Big Ten for the 2011 season.
The running back position is what has defined the Big Ten conference and separates it from every other conference in college football. The Big Ten is known for having physical running backs that lower their shoulder pads to run over opposing defenders.
The Big Ten in the last decade had three running backs win the Doak Walker Award. Larry Johnson was the first to win the award in 2002, Chris Perry followed in 2003, and Shonn Greene won in 2008. Out of all the conferences in college football, the Big Ten had the most Doak Walker Award winners in the last decade.
The 2011 season in the Big Ten will once again feature dominant running backs who have the potential to be crowned college football’s best running back.
Here is a look at the top running backs in the Big Ten who could potentially win the Doak Walker Award. [Read more...]
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With the NFL still locked out, the NBA just entering what could be a prolonged dark period, and baseball still two months away from the stretch run, there is room in the sports landscape to peek at the upcoming college football season.
And no conference will be more compelling in 2011 than the Big Ten. Here are just a few of the most prominent reasons why:
With the start of the 2011 college football season a little over two months away, it’s never too early to look at the best wide receivers in the Big Ten.
The Big Ten has always been known as a run-first type of conference, but in 2011 they’ll have some of the best wide receivers in college football, as many of the top pass catchers in the Big Ten last season are returning.
Here is a look at some of the best: [Read more...]
College football isn’t normally a sport associated with ‘free agent’ signings. Rather, it is usually recruits out of high school or the junior college ranks who comprise teams’ classes of incoming players from year to year.
As highly touted as any signee might be out of the prep or even JC ranks, one doesn’t know how good that player will be until he steps out between the lines in front of 80,000 fans on Saturday. This time last year Cameron Newton was not even a household name (unless you are one of those obsessed souls in the South that breathes SEC football 24/7/365).
With that said, the Wisconsin Badgers just scored an amazing coup by getting Russell Wilson final year of eligibility under what is known as the “graduate student exception.”
Immediately, Wilson to Madison becomes one of college ball’s biggest storylines for 2011.
With future sanctions looming over the Ohio State football program, the Buckeyes are beginning to feel a backlash when it comes to recruiting.
Already top Buckeye recruits who would have normally gone to Ohio State are now deciding to play football elsewhere. This is only the tip of the iceberg for Ohio State when it comes to top recruits shunning the Buckeyes. Ohio State’s turmoil has now opened the door for every Big Ten team to get recruits who would have normally gone to Ohio State.
Here is an early look at Ohio State’s top recruits who have decided to play somewhere else.
If you are a football coach from the state of Ohio, then it seems like you automatically become a candidate to replace Luke Fickell as head football coach at Ohio State University in 2012.
Many big name coaches from Ohio have been tossed around as possible candidates to replace Fickell as head football coach. This once proud program is about to receive the harshest penalty from the NCAA since SMU got the death penalty in 1986. This may have been one of the top jobs in college football in years past, but now it is a job that will have many premier coaches from the state of Ohio turning down.
Here is why these top coaches from Ohio will not replace Luke Fickell in 2012. [Read more...]
Las Vegas has released their football odds on who they think will win the Big Ten Championship in the 2011 season.
Vegas has Nebraska as the favorite to win the Big Ten Championship in their inaugural Big Ten season. The odds on the next 7-8 of teams are very close, with almost every team (save for a few obvious exceptions) having a legitimate chance to win a conference title. It is clear that Vegas odd makers think there is parity in the Big Ten, at least for the 2011 season.
Here is a look at the odds of each Big Ten team and their chance to win the conference title. [Read more...]
