The quintessential Big Ten smoking room.
Help me pick my lunch. Or learn what’s wrong with Minnesota. Or something. MNW’s Lightly-Plagiarized Trivia Anyway. I am having lunch with WSR and a band of associated Minnesota miscreants today. (The other three are all Iowa fans, actually. We in Minnesota really need to end our acceptance of refugee resettlement. I’m tired of all […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
We spent most of Sunday preparing a shopping list for the week, given all my work travel—I schedule out the week’s meals, buy the stuff, and then we do similar things that start here: We also package up the rest of the pork bowls, which is meant to serve as lunch for the next few […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
This is a column to check in on the rest of the football world, but since it’s 2025 in America I will beat you over the head with The Agenda, which in case you’ve forgotten is “Big Ten Superiority Unless It’s Funny.” THE AGENDA MVP: Carson Beck, QB, Miami Hurricanes For the first time this […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
Michigan came into Saturday’s game against Washington with its season at a bit of a crossroads. After losing – and losing badly – to USC the previous week, the knives have been out in Ann Arbor. Fans and media alike have not only been critical of Michigan’s performance in Los Angeles, but of the state […]
about 2 months ago | 1 read
This week I will review Purdue’s 19 – 0 loss at Northwestern and preview the upcoming Rutgers at Purdue game. About last week … This game was a huge disappointment. After the fight shown in Minneapolis, I thought Purdue might play a competitive game against Northwestern. Boy, was I wrong. Northwestern was definitely better prepared […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
You have questions about the Big Ten, life, the universe, and everything. We have snark. Good morning from a doctor’s office. Kid #2 has what I’m betting is an ear infection and will not sleep, so last night I drive her to St Michael and back because it was 11:15pm and damnit, she needed to […]
about 2 months ago | 1 read
Ten Fourteen Eighteen B1G Things The Rundown He done did it again: Minnesota 24, Nebraska 6 P.J. Fleck seems to know a thing or two about beating Nebraska. Or seven. BigRed_Twice: Nebraska is simply not that good. They aren’t bad, really, but they definitely aren’t good. Raiola makes moments of magic, but there are enough […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
Forget USC-Notre, it’s Purdue-Northwestern and everybody else. Did you believe in Nebraska? That’s your own fault. (And also mine.) Washington Huskies @ Michigan Wolverines 11AM | FOX | Michigan -5.5 | O/U 51.5 Purdue Boilermakers @ Northwestern Wildcats 2PM | BTN | Northwestern -3.5 | O/U 48.5 (1) Ohio State Buckeyes @ Wisconsin Badgers 2:30PM | CBS | Ohio State -27.5 […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR **deep breath** CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR CHAIR […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
I had a whole thing prepped on 2006, but then I teased the idea of Gold(en) nicknames in our Obligatory Predictions Competition, so it’s time to just pay that off instead. Maybe next week I’ll have my life together. As a reminder, the question on the floor: I would like you to name, for me […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
Whew. Have we all caught our breath from last week? It’s time for the Juggernaut Game of the Year: Purdue at Northwestern. Let’s pick some Big Ten games. As I write this, Tulsa is gamely fighting back against East Carolina on the road. (They are going to lose.) I would like you to name, for […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
No one actually asked in the Mailbag, but I feel we should address it: Who should Penn State hire? – BRT BRT: I truly do not know, since I don’t research and understand college football like one commenter here. I really hope it’s not Matt Rhule. And, much as I like Rhule, I don’t think […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
This week’s Power Poll topic came about in honor of what has effectively become James Franklin Week here at OTE. In our Slack, I mentioned that if I were James Franklin, I’d take my $50 million and flit off to a castle in Italy, never to be seen or heard from again. This lack of […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
This is a column to check in on the rest of the football world, but since it’s 2025 in America I will beat you over the head with The Agenda, which in case you’ve forgotten is “Big Ten Superiority Unless It’s Funny.” THE AGENDA MVP: Northwestern Wildcats I struggled with this because there were several […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
This week I will review Purdue’s 27 – 20 loss at Minnesota and preview the upcoming Purdue at Northwestern game. About last week … Overall, this was a frustrating loss for Purdue. The three previous games were against much better teams and resulted in three losses. I would say that Minnesota is better than Purdue, […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
Michigan came into Saturday’s game against USC, if not riding high, at least feeling good about itself. After admittedly “taking the air out of the ball” on offense in a week two loss to Oklahoma, the Wolverines opened things up offensively, loosening the reins on freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood and getting more creative in their […]
about 2 months ago | 1 read
Happy Monday! I’m hammering this out as fast as humanly possible so I can wrap up the rest of my packing before we leave for a fall trip to **checks notes** Tennessee. Ok, first things first: The James Franklin thing is clearly the fault of all you people. I told you I didn’t want to […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
well, there’s your fallout losing to Northwestern: a bridge too far Congratulations to Penn State on finding enough money to feed and house and homeless of basically everyone in western Pennsylvania in order to fire a football coach. I bet whatever piece of shit y’all elected to the Senate is in full support of this […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
Ten Fourteen Eighteen B1G Things The Rundown Washington runs away in the second half, 38-19 Rutgers was up 13-10 at the half, and playing the kind of game Greg Schiano likes to play. Then, the second half looked like the kind of game he’s been forced to play this season, as the defense fell apart […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads