Big Ten Football & Basketball Blog

The November 11th BCS Standings have been released and now feature 4 Big Ten football programs in the Top 25 rankings. After their 28-21 loss to Illinois on Saturday, the Ohio State Buckeyes continue to lead the Big Ten and will play Michigan for the Big Ten football championship next weekend, but the Buckeyes have dropped from #1 to #7 in the BCS standings. Illinois is the second-ranked Big Ten school coming in at #19 overall thanks to a strong computer score. Michigan comes in at #21 following a disappointing loss @ Wisconsin and the Badgers round out the Big Ten programs in the Top 25 of the BCS coming in at #25.

Penn State was the lone other Big Ten football team receiving Top 25 votes in the AP and USA Today rankings and was ranked as high as #22 by the coaches in the USA Today poll.

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In what was quite a surprise across the nation, the #1 Ohio State Buckeyes and the #12 Michigan Wolverines both fell in Big Ten games the week before facing each other in college football’s greatest rivalry. Michigan played @ Wisconsin without RB Mike Hart and lost QB Chad Henne in the 1st Quarter, but it was the defense’s inability to stop Wisconsin’s running game that did Michigan in. Meanwhile, the Buckeyes allowling just 9.7 ppg on the season, saw the Illinois offense score 28 points en route to a 28-21 upset of the #1 Buckeyes.

The losses mark the first time since 1959 that both teams lost the week prior to the Michigan/Ohio State rivalry game.

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Big Ten Fans has released their Big Ten weekend preview for November 10th games, and their picks really come as no surprise. Although talk on the weekly Pick the Underdog contest mentions Illinois upsetting #1 Ohio State while a discussion in the football forum is centered on #12 Michigan @ Wisconsin, the consensus picks are the for the favorites in all of this weekend’s games. In one in-state “rivalry” game, Penn State visits Temple where you can expect there will be more Penn State fans than Temple fans despite Temple’s mild success in the first season in the MAC.

The BCS rankings are out for Week #10 and three Big Ten teams continue to get mention in the Top 25. #1 Ohio State is no surprise as they are now 10-0 on the season and #12 Michigan has continued to climb with 8 straight wins to improve to 8-2 on the season. Penn State, fresh off a home win over Purdue, is the other Big Ten team to crack the BCS Top 25 as they come in at #23 with a 7-3 season record. Illinois, Wisconsin and Purdue are the only other Big Ten football teams that also received votes in either the AP or USA Today polls.

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College Sports Fans has released their Best Active College Football Coaches list ranking the top college football coaches, and three Big Ten football coaches have received recognition. Jim Tressel, Joe Paterno and Bret Bielema are the three coaches currently coaching Big Ten football teams that made the list. Bielema, in his 2nd year at Wisconsin, made the honorable mention section of the article. Joe Paterno, head coach at Penn State since 1966, placed 7th overall, leading many Nittany Lion fans to be extremely angry. Tops on the list in terms of Big Ten football coaches was Ohio State’s Jim Tressel who was ranked 4th overall.

Nick Saban, head coach at Michigan State from 1995-1999, also made the list coming in at #8.

2007 has been the year of the upset, and nobody has benefited more from these upsets than Ohio State. While Buckeye fans still laugh about the amazing Appalachian State upset of their arch-rival Michigan, the upsets pulled by Stanford over USC, Kentucky over LSU and others have been the upsets that should really be important to OSU fans.

The Big Ten has been no stranger to these upsets either. From big-name upsets like Appalachian State over Michigan to smaller upsets like Iowa over #18 Illinois, Illinois over Penn State and Wisconsin and more, Big Ten teams are currently beating each other up. As a result, he two teams left undefeated in Big Ten play are once again rivals Ohio State and Michigan. While Ohio State went 4-0 in non-conference play and are now #1 in every major poll, the Wolverines lost their first two games of the season to drop out of the Top 25 and just cracked the Top 25 again this week.

The Week #7 national rankings show both Michigan and Penn State as the only other Big Ten teams that are nationally ranked in the AP or USA Today polls with Michigan #24 in the AP Poll and Penn State #25 in the USA Today poll. Interestingly enough, Michigan comes in just one vote behind Penn State in the USA Today rankings at #26. Illinois and Wisconsin also received Top 25 votes this week, but both fell out of the Top 25 thanks to losses this past weekend.

Big Ten Fans has released their Big Ten football midseason review. Recapping the first half of the 2007 season for all eleven Big Ten teams, the Big Ten midseason review takes a look at each team and looks ahead to each team’s remaining schedule.

Another week is behind us and the Big Ten picture is even less clear - or is it? #5 Wisconsin, expected to be the class of the Big Ten and the preseason favorite of many, fell @ Illinois giving the Illini their first 3-0 start in Big Ten play since 1990. Michigan struggled to put Eastern Michigan away and Northwestern stunned Michigan State as trouble continues in the state of Michigan. Penn State bounced back from consecutive losses to defeat Iowa and Ohio State handled Purdue to solidify their place atop the Big Ten.

Illinois 31 - #5 Wisconsin 26
The Illini jumped out to a quick 17-6 halftime lead and held on for the win thanks to 289 yards rushing. Wisconsin outgained Illinois in total yards 519-410 and dominated in time of possession, but the Illini’s running game sealed the deal in Champaign.

Michigan 33 - Eastern Michigan 22
Michigan struggled to put away their in-state MAC foe as EMU pulled to within 2 points in the 3rd Quarter, but Michigan rode Mike Hart to 215 yards and the victory. In the game Hart broks Michigan’s all-time rushing record passing Anthony Thomas’ career mark of 4,472 rushing yards.

Penn State 27 - Iowa 7
After a scoreless 1st Quarter, Penn State outsocred Iowa 13-0 in the 2nd Quarter and never looked back in picking up the Nittany Lions’ first Big Ten win of the season. Penn State outgained Iowa 486-193 with a balanced attack and held onto the ball for over 36 minutes as Iowa falls to 0-3 in the Big Ten on the season.

Indiana 40 - Minnesota 20
The Hoosiers rode a balanced attack with 231 rushing yards and 244 passing yards as Indiana outscored the Gophers 26-6 after the 1st Quarter. With the win the Hoosiers are 5-1 on the season and 2-1 in the Big Ten as Minnesota falls to 1-5 and 0-3 in the Big Ten.

Northwestern 48 - Michigan State 41 - OT
In a offensive battle in East Landsing, Michigan, the Northwestern Wildcats were led by QB C.J. Bacher’s 521 passing
yards and 5 TDs. Michigan State dominated the ground game 294-90, but was unable to stop the Wildcats’ passing game as Bacher’s 5th TD of the game was the game-winner in overtime.

#4 Ohio State 23 - #23 Purdue 7
Ohio State scored 14 points in the 1st Quarter and kept Curtis Painter and the Purdue offense off-balance all night as the #4 Buckeyes rolled to a 23-7 win. The Buckeye defense dropped several near-interceptions on defense and QB Todd Boeckman threw 3 INTs to keep Purdue close, but the Boilermakers looked lost on offense as Ohio State dominated.

Week #4 has come and gone and the weekly AP and USA Today polls have been updated with the latest rankings from the Associated Press and the Coaches. The Big Ten was well-represented yet again with 3 teams making the AP Top 25 and 4 teams making the USA Today Top 25.

Ohio State leads the way for the Big Ten coming in #8 in both polls while Wisconsin ranks one spot below at #9. Penn State, coming off their loss to Michigan, falls to #21 in the AP rankings and #19 in the USA Today poll. Michigan State is the lone other Top 25 member from the Big Ten ranking #23 in the USA Today poll and coming in 28th in voting in the AP rankings. Michigan received votes in both polls after evening their season record to 2-2 and Iowa received 3 votes from the coaches to show up in the USA Today rankings.

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For years Big Ten schools have bragged about their bands and halftime shows, but rarely was there anything “official” that stated who indeed was the best. Recently, collegesports-fans.com released their top college bands list which ranks the top 10 college marching bands and lists five honorable mention bands. On that list are three Big Ten marching bands; Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin. The publication lists Wisconsin as an honorable mention with Michigan #10 and Ohio State #2. Missing from the list are the Penn State and Purdue, both schools with strong marching band reputations.