Big Ten Football & Basketball Blog

On January 7th, 2008, the #1 Ohio State Buckeyes will make their 3rd appearance in the BCS National Championship Game as they look to avenge a loss in last year’s BCS Championship Game. A season ago, the #1 Buckeyes were surprised and upset by the #2 Florida Gators 41-14, but the 2007-2008 Buckeyes seemed poised for another chance until being upset in Columbus by the Illinois Fighting Illini in November. After defeating Michigan a week later, the Buckeyes had some good luck as Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, LSU & West Virginia all fell below the Buckeyes in the polls, vaulting Ohio State to #1 in the final BCS Standings. Now, Buckeye fans can buy Ohio State Championship apparel & clothing in preparation of their BCS National Championship Game and read the College Sports Fans BCS Championship bowl game preview.

New Year’s Day 2008 featured two Big Ten vs. SEC showdowns in bowl games as the Michigan Wolverines and Wisconsin Badgers matched up with SEC opponentts in their bowl games. #18 Wisconsin kicked off at 11 am in the Outback Bowl against #16 Tennessee and fell to the Vols 21-17. Just two hours later, unranked Michigan, led by head coach Lloyd Carr in his final game, faced heavy-favorite Florida in the Capital One Bowl. Michigan led 21-14 at the half over the #12 Gators and kicked two late FG’s and picked off a Tim Tebow pass to seal a 41-35 victory. With the win, Carr ends his coaching career at Michigan 122-40 overall and Chad Henne, Mike Hart & Jake Long, the three seniors who returned to Michigan this season to play for a National Championship, were able to get their first bowl win in four tries.

The Fighting Illini came off a 2-9 season in 2006 causing few to believe that the 2007 Illini would win 9 games, defeat #1 Ohio State in Columbus and make a BCS Bowl game, let alone the Rose Bowl. But Illinois has defied the odds all season long and while the College Sports Fans preview of the Rose Bowl between USC and Illinois does not paint a better picture for the Illini, don’t ever count Ron Zook’s team out. While Fighting Illini apparel & clothing is a hot-seller due to the Rose Bowl berth, Zook will surely have his team ready for their great January 1st test.

After Purdue kicked off the 2007-2008 bowl season for the Big Ten with a 51-48 win in the Motor City Bowl, Michigan State and Penn State were the next two teams up for the Big Ten. Michigan State faced off with Boston College on Friday in the Champs Sports Bowl and gave the Eagles a fight. But in the end, Boston College extended their bowl winning streak to 8 games with a 34-31 win over the Spartans. Meanwhile, Satuday’s Alamo Bowl featured the Penn State Nittany Lions in Joe Paterno’s 500th game as head coach @ PSU. The Lions fell behind 14-0 early but came back for a 24-17 victory.

As it stands now, the Big Ten is currently 2-1 in bowl games with Indiana playing on Monday, Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois on January 1st and Ohio State playing in the BCS Championship Game on January 7th.

The Michigan State Spartans are in action currently as they look to improve the Big Ten’s 2007-2008 bowl record to 2-0. After Purdue kicked a game-winning FG as time expired to defeat Central Michigan in the Motor City Bowl by a final of 51-48, the Big Ten began with a strong win. The Spartans’ opponent in today’s Champs Sports Bowl is the #14-ranked Boston College Eagles, a team who is tied for the highest current bowl winning streak and the ACC runners-up.

Purdue apparel & Michigan State clothing & merchandise can be found online through Big Ten Fans and DFN Sports sites.

The 2007 Motor City Bowl to be played on December 26th @ Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, will feature a rematch of the 7-5 Purdue Boilermakers and the 8-5 Central Michigan Chippewas. CMU comes off their 2nd straight MAC Championship and an 8-1 record overall against their Mid-American Conference opponents, and won the 2006 Motor City Bowl. These two teams met up back in September where the Boilermakers jumped out to a quick lead en route to a 45-22 win. While Central Michigan has not faired well in non-conference games, the Chippewas have momentum while Purdue has cooled off considerably since their hot 5-0 start. You can catch the game on ESPN @ 7:30 on Wednesday night and a 2007 Motor City Bowl preview from College Sports Fans.

Find Purdue apparel online at BigTen-Fans.com.

The BCS National Championship is the college bowl game that draws the most attention each season as the winner is crowned the National Champions of the Coaches Poll, and with the 2007-2008 BCS Championship game just around the corner, OSULSU.com is here to cover the game. The Ohio State Buckeyes return to the BCS Championship bowl game for the second straight season as this year’s opponent will be the SEC Champion LSU Tigers. Last season it was these same Buckeyes facing off with the SEC Champion Florida Gators in a game that most Buckeye fans would like to forget. This season the Buckeyes look to avenge their 41-14 loss a season ago, and OSULSU.com has been launched to follow all of the BCS Championship game headlines for the Buckeyes and Tigers leading up to the big game. Find the latest news for OSU and LSU, fan and media day photos, season stats, interactive fan polls and more.

The University of Michigan’s head coaching job is reportedly no longer open. West Virginia head football coach Rich Rodriguez announced to his now former players on Sunday that he was leaving for Michigan. The official announcement and press conference will be on Monday morning. Rodriguez had a huge opportunity to leave WVU for Alabama a year ago and declined, but instead led his team to another Big East Championship and BCS Bowl berth before leaving for Michigan.

For the second year in a row the Ohio State Buckeyes are the #1 team in the BCS and will play in the BCS National Championship. Also for the second year in a row, the Buckeyes will play the SEC Champions who come in as a controversial #2 in the BCS thanks to a final BCS rankings jump over teams below the previous week. Last year it was Florida surpassing Michigan to take the #2 sport and eventually beat the #1 Buckeyes for the National Championship. This season the LSU Tigers are the team in the #2 spot thanks to a jump from #7 to #2 in BCS after their 21-14 win over Tennessee in the SEC Championship yesterday.

Fans can find a great selection of Ohio State apparel, LSU gear and more college merchandise online.

Ok, #2 West Virginia has lost. #9 Oklahoma is up 28-17 on #1 Missouri and about to add to their lead. #7 LSU beat #14 Tennessee 21-14, #8 USC beat UCLA, #6 Virginia Tech beat #11 Boston College.

So here is my Top 10:
1 - Ohio State - The nation’s best team? No. But the nation’s top-ranked team.
2 - USC - Playing great at the end of the season - may be the best team in the nation right now.
3 - Oklahoma - Dominating win over Missouri proves that had QB Sam Bradford not been knocked out in Texas Tech loss, OU would be playing in the BCS National Championship.
4 - Kansas - As one of two 1-loss teams it’s hard to keep Kansas out of the Top 2, but not only did Kansas not win their Conference, they didn’t even win their Division in the Big 12.
5 - Virginia Tech - Strong win over Boston College proves Virginia Tech should move up.
6 - LSU - Are they the 2nd-best team in the nation? Does 2 losses in Triple Overtime means LSU should be higher? This is a tough, tough call.
7 - Georgia - Sorry Georgia fans, but like Kansas, the Bulldogs didn’t win the SEC and came in 2nd in the SEC East.
8 - West Virginia - Big East Champs or not, WVU fumbled away their chance multiple times against a weak Pitt team.
9 - Florida - Tim Tebow gets the Heisman and Florida will be the highest-ranked SEC team NOT in a BCS Bowl game.
10 - Hawaii - Assuming they win in their late game tonight against Washington, Hawaii would be the nation’s only undefeated team. There is no respect or justice in Football Bowl Subdivision if you’re not in a BCS Conference.