The quintessential Big Ten smoking room.
It’s Fernando Mendoza and…who? Good morning. We’ll be back to talk about horseshoes and NIL as soon as I can get out from under this mountain of grading and this new book of mine. Exciting times in the MNW household. Tonight, I’m told, begins the NFL Draft. People really care about this. So let’s tell […]
A word on the future of Off Tackle Empire, a couple hundred words on the Big Ten and how Iowa are dirty cheaters, and then 1,000 more on a delicious sandwich. We have run over 10,000 posts here at Off Tackle Empire dot blogspot dot biz, soon to be acquired and saddled with tons and […]
Michigan spent most of this season playing its game – and playing it well. Blessed with an abundance of talent, size, playmaking ability and depth, the Wolverines like to open it up on offense. And when Michigan gets rolling, it can be hard to handle. Michigan not only won a program-best 37 games this season, […]
How do you distribute NIL and shared revenue funds in a modern NCAA Football roster? Note: this is the first in a four-part series from longtime OTE reader and commenter ProveIt on roster management, revenue sharing, and NIL distribution in our new era of college football. One of these will run every couple days for […]
The Big Ten now holds the national championships in men’s and women’s basketball, as well as football and probably all of hockey, too. In a whistle-marred game, Michigan shot 21/55 from the field and 2/15 from deep, but did just enough as UConn hit just 9 of their 33 threes, part of a putrid 31% […]
It was clear early in the season that this Michigan team was different. The Wolverines have had plenty of good teams in recent years. Over the past fifteen seasons, they’ve reached the Sweet Sixteen nine times, advanced to two Final Fours (2013 and 2018) and captured multiple Big Ten titles. But this team, with its […]
Plus: A Crown of Thorns, with no hope of resurrection for the Big Ten in Las Vegas The Crown: Updates Don’t lie to me, these are what you’re here for. The Games That Were (April 1-2) Oklahoma Sooners 90, Colorado Buffaloes 86 (OT) Baylor Bears 67, Minnesota Golden Gophers 48 At halftime I sent the […]
When Dusty May was introduced as Michigan’s new head coach two years ago, he was asked what the Wolverines would look like under his watch. “Our goal is to be enjoyable to watch,” May said. “We want to win championships, but we also want to put fans in the seats and be easy on the […]
We certainly have a worst answer. I’m trying to find ways to describe how much this answer from Matt Brown—an actual sports journalist whose opinions I really do respect—depresses me: Ready for this? Think about it. List yours, mentally. (You’re going to tell us in the comments.) Now, two things: Here are Matt’s answers: I […]
Why? Don’t worry about it! I will give Niko Medved $100 of my own money if, upon losing to the Baylor Bears tonight, he does this: Anyway, it is time for the College Basketball Crown, the FOX Sports empire’s answer to the NIT. Details Where are they playing? Quarterfinals will be played in the MGM […]
How do YOU survive the post-sports abyss? It was a lazy Sunday night. The wife and kids were in bed; the dishes were done; the living room was clean. I sure as hell wasn’t ready to get my grading done—though I did catch up on a three-day-old backlog of student emails (someday I’ll master the […]
Playing Alabama is a dangerous proposition. An up-tempo team that’s never met a three-point shot it didn’t like, when the Tide gets rolling, things can get out of hand pretty quickly. Michigan may have come into Friday’s Sweet Sixteen match-up as the Midwest region’s top seed and favorite, but the Wolverines knew they were in […]
Remember when? The year was 2016, and Iowa was set to face Illinois. It was a crisp, blustery November day. To open the first half, Iowa kicked off to the Lovie Smith-led Illini… …and then, to open the second half, Iowa did the same thing. Illinois never kicked–but punted 10 times–in that 28-0 shutout loss […]
Plenty of odiousness to go around tonight. I just ate the sticker off an apple, if you’d like an indication of how my day is going. Just took a big ol’ bite, thought “Huh, wonder why this is so tough?”, and managed to—I think—sever the fucker and swallow about half of it before spitting the […]
Praying for mass extinction as Purdue, Iowa, Nebraska, and Illinois all hit the hardwood tonight. Title subheader says it all, no? Anyway, happy Opening Day to you all. I’m already annoyed thinking about the Minnesota Twins, so it’s best to move on to something that makes me less angry, like college basketba— —oh Christ. It’s […]
A helpful guide to the Big Ten and beyond in the Sweet Sixteen. Discussions elsewhere have reminded me that there is still, in fact, other college basketball going on — I had personally set a reminder for The College Basketball Crown on Wednesday, April 1, and gone into hibernation. Alas. Given those results, we’ve got […]
All five Big Ten teams survived Saturday—Sunday could have more chalk, and if it holds, only one B1G team will survive today. We had our best friends over yesterday, up from wisconsin, with their two boys in tow. Basically spent the whole day running around after the kids, though with drinks in hand—Cutwater margaritas and […]
Seven B1G teams remain. Four play today. How many will be left standing? I get to go to TopGolf with some friends in town and our four children under 5. Why was this a good idea? I don’t know, as we’re going at 9am so it’s (1) cheaper and (2) I can’t drink—at least I’m […]
I’m bad with money and missed the first day of the NCAA Tournament because I’m driving around the rural Midwest, but at least I’m not a wisconsin fan Look, I’ve made a lot of mistakes in life. Was it a particularly good idea to plan a driving trip to Detroit on March because (1) I […]
It’s the most wonderful day of the year! …and I’m in Detroit without access to a TV. So here we go! NCAA Tournament Schedule [9] TCU Horned Frogs vs. [8] Ohio State Buckeyes11:15am | CBS | OSU -2.5 | O/U 146.5 Second round would be an accomplishment for the Buckeyes, who will run up against […]
Was Miami a fraud all along? MAYBE WE FIND OUT! Why the cover photo? I don’t know. I woke up this morning to an angry text from my wife demanding to know why I—a person who just drove out to Detroit—paid $50 three separate times for gas in the last three days. Uh…because gas? Iran? […]
Pick stupid games, win stupid prizes. Please consider joining the 2026 Off Tackle Political System Bracket Challenge. Consider it the United Nations, but I’m not sure who’s got veto power and we have no intention of invading Korea or Iraq or anywhere else. Robin’s egg blue helmets? Group: Off Tackle Political System Bracket Challenge: https://fantasy.espn.com/games/tournament-challenge-bracket-2026/group?id=d517a18c-2551-432e-8734-4fc4d3140761&joinKey=33406b3b-7262-3cc6-8b38-2f92849cd5ab&joini...
The Big Ten’s teams appear pretty settled. But will there be a surprise? Hello from Michigan City, Indiana. Never mind why. In fleeing the snowstorm currently coating Minnesota and wisconsin in a heavy blanket of icy, blowing snow, I nearly neglected to get you a Championship Sunday open thread. A thousand pardons. I’m sure you […]
After Friday’s four-point victory over Ohio State, Michigan head coach Dusty May was asked if he liked close games. “If we win, yes, I love it,” he quipped. He must have loved Saturday’s game against Wisconsin. In a contest that started out slowly but heated up late, Michigan prevailed in a thriller thanks to a […]
Day 4 of the Big Ten Tournament weighed in pretty heavily on this one. Big Ten Tournament, Day 4 Recaps [1] Michigan Wolverines 71, [8] Ohio State Buckeyes 67 God bless Brian Gillis for caring about this game, because I couldn’t bring myself to: [5] wisconsin badgers 91, [4] Illinois Fighting Illini 88 (OT) lmao. […]