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Good news: We are just 100 days away from the start of college football. To mark the occasion, we're pulling out a checklist today of things that Big Ten teams need to accomplish between now and the start of the season. It's not quite "The Final C...

Serving up the links at lunch because, well, it's my job. Kirk Ferentz opens up in this Q&A with Bryce Miller. True freshman Dymonte Thomas has a chance to contribute right away in the Michigan secondary. The Wolverines' hopes of landing a ...

Now that spring practice is over, we're examining the most indispensable players on each Big Ten team. By indispensable, we don't necessarily mean best. We mean the players who would be hardest to replace between now and the start of the season if...

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 ...

Last spring, new coaches dominated the spotlight around the Big Ten. This spring, quarterback competitions took center stage. The contrast between teams with stability at the position -- Nebraska, Ohio State, Northwestern, and even Michigan -- and...

2012 record: 6-7 2012 conference record: 2-6 (tied for fifth in Legends Division) Returning starters: Offense: 10; defense: 6; kicker/punter: 1 Top returners QB Philip Nelson, RB Donnell Kirkwood, DT Ra'Shede Hageman, S Brock Vereen, DB Derri...

It's time to dive back into our series examining whether Big Ten teams will be contenders or pretenders in the 2013 season. The series does not include Ohio State, Michigan or Nebraska -- three teams that, in our view, have earned the "contender" lab...

Spring practice in the Big Ten is officially over. The final two spring games of the year took place on Saturday, and we're here to recap both. Let's start with the Minnesota Golden Gophers, where the Maroon team beat the Gold 24-17 before an esti...

The last two Big Ten spring games of the year will take place on Saturday, as Floyd of Rosedale rivals Minnesota and Iowa finish off their spring practices. We're here to preview both of them, starting with the Gophers: When: Saturday, 2 p.m. ET ...

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 ...

By the end of last season, Minnesota's offense was being held together by little more than spit and string. Offensive line injuries and a general lack of depth had the coaching staff scrambling for anything that would work. Offensive coordinator M...

Philip Nelson started the final seven games at quarterback for Minnesota last season as a true freshman, including a solid performance in the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas. But Gophers head coach Jerry Kill didn't declare Nelson the 2013 starter, in...

The reality is that we don't get to pick where we want to be each weekend during the Big Ten football season. Travel budgets and editors get in the way sometimes. Well, reality bites. Which is why we're having some fun and picking which 2013 Big T...

Brian will be live-blogging from Nebraska's spring practice today, starting at 1 p.m. ET and finishing around 5 p.m. ET. Huskers quarterback Taylor Martinez will be taking your questions at 2 p.m. ET, and Brian will be chatting about Big Red and the ...

Minnesota coach Jerry Kill guided the team to a bowl game during his second season in Minneapolis despite some depth and injury problems in 2012. What's in store for Year 3 of the Kill era? I recently caught up with him to get his outlook for the Gop...

We're winding our way through the 2013 Big Ten season, armed with an unlimited travel budget, no nagging editors (or wives) and the freedom to choose where we go to watch football each weekend. It barely resembles how things actually play out in our ...