Big Ten Football Release PDF
Oct. 17, 2011
Big Ten Mobile Tour: The Big Ten's Honoring Legends. Building Leaders. Mobile Tour will make a stop at each campus this football season. This weekend, it will be in Evanston for the Northwestern vs. Penn State game. Visit www.bigten.org/blog/mobile-tour and follow along on Twitter
@B1GMobileTour for more information.
Big Ten Leads All Conferences with Six Teams in BCS Standings: The Big Ten topped all conferences with six teams ranked among the top 25 in the initial Bowl Championship Series (BCS) standings. Wisconsin, the Big Ten's last remaining undefeated team, leads the conference at No. 6 in the initial BCS poll. Other Big Ten programs among the top 25 are No. 13 Nebraska, No. 16 Michigan State, No. 18 Michigan, No. 21 Penn State and No. 23 Illinois. The Big 12 and SEC rank second with five teams each among the top 25, followed by three teams each from the ACC and Pac-12.
Big Ten Tied for National Lead With Six Top 25 Teams: For the second straight week, six Big Ten teams were ranked among the top 25 in either the Associated Press (AP), USA Today coaches or Harris polls, making the Big Ten one of only two conferences with six schools appearing among the top 25. Undefeated Wisconsin continued to lead the conference at No. 4 in all three polls, receiving one first-place vote each in the coaches and Harris rankings. Other Big Ten teams among the top 25 are Nebraska (No. 13 AP/11 USA Today/11 Harris), Michigan State (15/13/15), Michigan (18/17/17), Illinois (23/21/20) and Penn State (rv/22/24).
Still Going Strong: Wisconsin emerged as the conference's final undefeated team following last weekend's games. The Badgers knocked off visiting Indiana on Saturday, while previously unbeaten Illinois and Michigan fell in trophy games to Ohio State and Michigan State, respectively. Wisconsin improved its record to 6-0 this season and has run its winning streak over Big Ten opponents to nine games dating back to last season. Wisconsin is also one of 10 teams in the nation to maintain a perfect record heading into the eighth week of the season.
Badgers' Unbeaten History: With wins in its first six games of the season, Wisconsin is off to its best start in seven years, having last gone 6-0 in 2004. The Badgers eye their first 7-0 start since the 2004 season, when they ran off nine consecutive wins to the start the year.
Three Perfect to Start Big Ten Season: While Wisconsin is the Big Ten's final remaining unbeaten overall, the Badgers are joined by Michigan State and Penn State with spotless records in conference games. Penn State has a 3-0 conference record for the first time since 2008, when it started Big Ten play with five wins and advanced to the Rose Bowl Game. Wisconsin is 2-0 for the sixth time in the last 10 years, having last won its first two games in 2009. Michigan State is 2-0 for the second straight season and for the third time in the last four campaigns.
Pair of Divisional Contests Slated for Saturday: Divisional play continues this week with two conference tilts featuring intradivision matchup. In the Legends Division, Minnesota hosts its first Big Ten game of the 2011 season when it welcomes Nebraska following each teams' bye week. In the Leaders Division, Purdue welcomes Illinois for the 87th meeting between the two programs. With the beginning of divisional play, the Big Ten has instituted a new tiebreaker to determine the Big Ten Football Championship Game participants, if necessary. After head-to-head matchups, the next tiebreaker is records within the division, which makes winning divisional games an important part of the Big Ten title chase.
Showdown of Divisional Leaders: On Saturday, teams at the top of the Legends and Leaders Divisions face off in a top-20 showdown in primetime. Michigan State, atop the Legends Division at 2-0, will face Leaders Division co-leader Wisconsin, which also boasts a 2-0 mark. The Badgers bring the conference's No. 1 scoring offense at 50.2 points per game into East Lansing, where it will face the Big Ten's second-best scoring defense at 10.8 points per game. It marks the second season in a row the teams are meeting as ranked opponents. Michigan State was the lone stumbling block in Wisconsin's one-loss regular season in 2010.
Big Ten Only Conference with Half of Teams with One Loss or Less: Including Wisconsin's perfect 6-0 record, the Big Ten is the only conference in the country with half of its teams with one loss or less. Only two conferences, the Pac-12 and SEC, have four teams that are either undefeated or have just one loss this season. Three Big Ten squads enjoy 6-1 marks with Illinois, Michigan and Penn State each having just one loss through seven games. Michigan State and Nebraska, which each had a bye earlier this season, are 5-1.
One for the Tie, Two for the Lead: Penn State head coach Joe Paterno, in his 46th season as Nittany Lion head coach, earned his 407th career win against Purdue on Saturday. He now needs one victory to tie former Grambling head coach Eddie Robinson for the NCAA Division I record for career wins. In 55 years at the school, Robinson totaled 408 career victories. Last season, Paterno became the second coach in Division I history to win 400 or more games, joining Robinson as the class' only two members. Paterno is the longest serving head coach in major college football history.
Big Ten Now With Four Bowl Eligible Squads: Two more Big Ten teams became bowl eligible with their victories on Saturday. Penn State and Wisconsin each earned their sixth win of the season, cementing their status as bowl-eligibles. The Nittany Lions have been to 43 postseason bowls in program history, the second-most of any team in the Big Ten. Penn State has gone bowling in each of the last six seasons with appearances in the Orange Bowl and Rose Bowl Game in that span. Wisconsin has been to 22 bowl games in program history and this year would mark the 10th straight season the Badgers would be bowl participants. The two teams joined Illinois and Michigan as the Big Ten teams who have achieved bowl eligibility in 2011.
Two More Knocking on the Door: While four conference teams have already earned bowl eligibility, two more Big Ten squads can reach the milestone with wins this weekend. Michigan State and Nebraska each boast 5-1 records this season, and wins this weekend would give the Big Ten six bowl eligible teams through eight weeks of play in 2011. The Spartans eye their 22nd bowl berth and look to end the season with a bowl berth for the fifth year in a row. The Huskers, with 47 bowl appearances in their history, have been to bowl games in each of the last four seasons.
Top Three Performers: Through seven weeks of the season, numerous Big Ten student-athletes and teams rank at or near the top of several NCAA statistical categories. Individually, Wisconsin's Russell Wilson is tops in the country in pass efficiency (210.93), while teammate Montee Ball is the national leader in scoring per game (17.0). Behind the Badger duo, the Wisconsin offense ranks first in the country in scoring (50.17). Defensively, Michigan State ranks first in pass defense (119.17), second in total defense (186.17) and third in rushing defense (67.0), while Wisconsin is third nationally in scoring defense (9.67). Other national individual leaders include Illinois' Whitney Mercilus in sacks per game (1.43) and Wisconsin's Jared Abbrederis in punt return average (22.75). Nebraska's Brett Maher ranks second in the NCAA in yards per punt (47.3), while teammate Ameer Abdullah is third in kick return average (31.90). Penn State's Chaz Powell joins Abdullah in the top three in the category, ranking second with a 32.8 yards per return average.
Rivalry Games: In a conference with 16 traditional trophy games, one intraconference keepsake will be on the line Saturday when Purdue hosts Illinois. Up for grabs is the Purdue Cannon, which was first contested in 1943. Purdue holds a 30-27-2 edge in the series record for the cannon, including wins in five of the last six meetings. Illinois reclaimed the cannon in last year's meeting between the squads. Last weekend, Michigan State claimed its fourth-straight win in the battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy against Michigan, while Ohio State was victorious in the Illibuck trophy game against Illinois.
Game Tracker: Times and TV designations have been set for four conference games on Oct. 29. Times and TV designations for Michigan State at Nebraska and Illinois at Penn State will be determined following this weekend's games. One of the games will be televised at Noon ET on ESPN or ESPN2 and the other will appear at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC (regional) or ESPN2 (outer market)
Purdue at Michigan, Noon ET, ESPN or ESPN2
Northwestern at Indiana, Noon ET, BTN
Iowa at Minnesota, 3:30 p.m. ET, BTN
Wisconsin at Ohio State, 8 p.m. ET, ABC, ESPN or ESPN2
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