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It's still early, but the tide could be turning a little for Big Ten recruiting. The league undoubtedly has moved down a few pegs on the recruiting ladder in recent years, a drop that can be tied to poor on-field performance, a lack of national ti...

The hottest team in the Big Ten right now isn't Michigan or Ohio State or Penn State or any of the traditional power schools in the conference. It's Northwestern and coach Pat Fitzgerald. Jacksonville (Ill.) High offensive tackle Blake Hance is th...

Blog | May 16, 2013

CHICAGO -- The Big Ten is steeped in history and tradition, but the conference needs something more to connect with the target audience of football recruits and regular students. It needs to be cooler, especially on game days. And whether it's per...

A top 20 recruiting class is not good enough for Northwestern any longer. Pat Fitzgerald is making a push for the top 15, and he added another impressive piece Tuesday. Four-star running back Justin Jackson (Carol Stream, Ill./Glenbard North) comm...

Blog | May 14, 2013

The mail comes to you a little early today as I'll have coverage of the Big Ten spring meetings this afternoon. Badger in Columbus from Columbus, Ohio, writes: Please explain giving the edge to Washington over Wisconsin. If it was a contest of whi...

There has been plenty of recent news on the recruiting trail around the Big Ten, and we're a bit overdue for a scorecard, so here's the latest rundown. Teams are sorted based on most verbal commitments for the 2014 class. MICHIGAN Total commits...

If you're not following Bennett and me on Twitter, you're really missing out. Seriously. Get on board. We tweet a lot of good information, and this past weekend, we eclipsed the 85,000-follower mark (not that I check religiously or anything). Whil...

1. Ohio State: The Buckeyes haven't lost a game since January 2012, and nothing that happened this spring changed the reality that they're the team to beat in 2013. The defensive front was a major question mark, but sophomore defensive ends Adolphus ...

2012 record: 10-3 2012 conference record: 5-3 (third in Legends division) Returning starters: Offense: 8; defense: 7; kicker/punter: 2 Top returners RB Venric Mark, QB Kain Colter, QB Trevor Siemian, C Brandon Vitabile, WR Christian Jones, TE...

Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald discusses expansion in the Big Ten and the future of his football program....

You've waited for it, and the Big Ten prime-time schedule for the 2013 season is finally here. Well, at least the first part of it. ESPN/ABC has made its six prime-time picks for the upcoming season. One game already had been announced: Notre Dame...

So if the Big Ten East is the "Big Boy Division," does that make the West the "Andre 3000 Division?" The East-West split has pluses and minuses, Lee Barfknecht writes. The NFL draft was a slow one both for Ohio State and the Big Ten in general....

The NFL draft starts tonight after endless months of hype. Here at the Big Ten blog, we thought, "Why should the NFL guys get to have all the fun of making mock drafts?" So we're going to out-mock the mockers by creating our own, totally fake Big ...

Ever since Northwestern launched a major athletics marketing initiative in 2010, complete with the slogan "Chicago's Big Ten Team" I've written often about the competition between Northwestern and its rival, Illinois, for the coveted Chicago market. ...

In honor of "College Football Playoff," I'm calling this intro line "Lunchtime Links Intro Line." Two Iowa defensive backs left the team. Kirk Ferentz says the proposed Big Ten realignment "makes perfect sense." Iowa approved a conflict-of-intere...

Happy college football playoff naming day. Lee Barfknecht writes that despite Monday's news, realignment might not be over, especially in the Big Ten. Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman weighs in on potential realignment quiet, proposed divisio...