Off Tackle Empire
The quintessential Big Ten smoking room.
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Big Ten Football Championship Week: Picks and Season Wrap-Up
Indiana. Ohio State. The Big Ten Championship and the #1 overall CFP seed on the line. Each week, the incomparable RockyMtnBlue messages me at some point around 8pm CT on Thursday, hallucinating that he somehow owes me an apology for finishing all this work to bring y’all the weekly picks. Each week, I am nowhere […]
WWBWWBD – Week 15 – B1G CCG Edition
Here we are, the final game of the B1G season. The fans of 16 teams have had their hopes crushed, but hope remains for the fans of the final two, unbeaten teams. In this edition of WWBWWBD, the OTE “writers” will let you know their plans for the B1G Conference Championship Game. BRT: In Lincoln, […]
THE AGENDA WEEK 14: Big Ten Football vs The World
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.” Call me the SEC, because I took Week 13 off. THE AGENDA MVP: […]
Ohio State Overpowers Michigan
Michigan’s bid for five in a row against Ohio State came up short, as Ryan Day and the Buckeyes got the monkey off their back with a dominant victory in Ann Arbor. Ohio State came into Saturday’s season-ending showdown against Michigan undefeated, but also somewhat untested. Aside from an early season win over Texas and […]
The Weekly Mailbag Request Had A Premonition
Happy Monday! It usually takes something weird to get me to pay attention these days, and the good thing is that there has been a ton of weird. And weird would be the perfect way to describe everything that everyone’s 2nd-favorite Bloomington Jefferson graduate (after Nick Checco, of course) has done over the past week […]
Go (North) West, College Basketball
Lamenting the death of the truly-enjoyable MTE. I hadn’t planned on much basketball coverage here for a couple reasons: for one, the internet is a dying place, and, for two, that’s exacerbating the steady death of Off Tackle Empire dot blogspot dot biz. BUT! Looking over the (limited) options for basketball on this last snowy […]
Michigan State Fires Jonathan Smith. …Michigan State Hires Pat Fitzgerald?
Michigan State officially announced Jonathan Smith was to be relieved of his duties effective Sunday. Not long after, the rumor mill started churning Pat Fitzgerald as the candidate to replace Smith as the Spartans head coach. Because we’re a serious operation here at Off Tackle Empire, we come with instant reactions to the news! LincolnParkWildcat: […]
Sunday Morning Coming Down // Week 14
Ten Fourteen Eighteen B1G Things The Rundown It’s Iowa They do it again. It’s now the 7th time they’ve beaten Nebraska in Memorial Stadium, which puts Ferentz at second in Big Ten wins at Memorial Stadium, behind Bo Pelini and ahead of Scott Frost, Mike Riley, and Matt Rhule, who all have six. At least […]
Big Ten Saturday Football Open Thread
HAT! AXE! GAME! and so much more. Come join the conversation. The Morning Shows This is a deeply silly sport. Big Ten Football Schedule (1) Ohio State Buckeyes @ (15) Michigan Wolverines 11AM | FOX | Ohio State -9.5 | O/U 44.5 (5) Oregon Ducks @ Washington Huskies 2:30PM | CBS | Oregon -6.5 | O/U 51.5 wisconsin badgers @ Minnesota […]
Black Friday: Iowa-Nebraska, Indiana-Purdue Gamethread
Plus, basketball—if you so choose. Big Ten Football on Today Iowa Hawkeyes @ Nebraska Cornhuskers 11AM | CBS | Iowa -6.5 | O/U 38.5 (2) Indiana Hoosiers @ Purdue Boilermakers 6:30PM | NBC / Peacock | Indiana -28.5 | O/U 54.5 What else is on? Well, for one, I’ve told you everything you should and shouldn’t watch: But if […]
Big Ten Football Week 14 Picks, Predictions, Previews
RIVLARY! RIVALRY! RIVALRY! Now that MNWildkit is three, we’ve started to expand out our limited TV programming allowances into the educational classics—Mrs. MNW is champing at the bit for Wishbone, but for now, it’s all Magic School Bus, all the time. So shout-out to the Season 2 episode about butterflies, which is allowing me to […]
Don’t Watch This; Watch That, Week 14: Your College Football Watch Guide
Hello? Is anybody there? Happy Thanksgiving to you, yours, and those you care about. Even the Michigan fans. This will also serve as your open thread for Thanksgiving Day’s football. Maybe basketball if I don’t have time to put up a thread for that. Who’s to say? It wasn’t ideal to learn yesterday, after we […]
FEAST IV: FEASTY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FEAST
College basketball on today. Like…almost too much basketball? Wha’ happen? So…Michigan might be really, really, really good. Bonesaw Invitational Players’ Era Festival, Brought to You by PIF #7 Michigan Wolverines 101, #12 Gonzaga Bulldogs 61 Genuinely, just…terrifying. Yaxel Lendeborg and the Wolverines crumpled up Graham Ike and the Bulldogs and shoved them in a locker. […]
Big Ten Power Poll, Week 13: Famous Movie Archetypes
Welcome to the last power poll of the regular season! We’re going to compare our favorite Big Ten teams to characters in movies we know and love! Some of these are going to be a little too on the nose, and others I had a little fun with. No. 1: Ohio State Buckeyes First place […]
WWBWWBD – Week 14 – Thanksgiving Weekend
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all enjoy the long weekend, but it is, alas, the final weekend of the regular season. For some, their teams will move on to bigger, better games, e.g., the B1G CCG, CFP, and bowl games, while for others, their teams will head home, lick their wounds, and try to […]
FEAST III: THE ENFEASTENING
MORE FEAST MORE FEAST MORE FEAST MORE FEAST You ever have that moment where you look around and wonder if it’s only you left? Yeah, me neither. Here is what I wrote yesterday—drafted on Monday night—about the Players Era Festival: Maryland Terrapins 74, UNLV Rebels 67 There were approximately 50 people in the stands for […]
FEAST WEEK, DAY 2: 2 FEAST 2 FURIOUS
Another day in the life of the Big Ten in FEAST WEEK: Rutgers sucks, USC’s mediocre, everything else…eh. FEAST WEEK DAY 1: RECAPS Players Era Festival I’m increasingly angry about this tournament—not specifically because Michigan routed San Diego State and ran up the score, but specifically because the nature of “18 teams playing a fucking […]
Boiling Points – Week 14 – Thanksgiving Edition
Before I get into the preview of the Indiana at Purdue game, I want to take a moment to wish everyone throughout the Empire a very happy Thanksgiving. I hope each and everyone of you will spend some time with family, friends, and loved ones. While our school’s sports teams clash on the field, pitch, […]
FEAST WEEK: Big Ten Basketball Roundup
Nebraska wins a championship, Purdue stuffs Tech in a locker, and all the other news that’s fit to print. Good morning. Lots of Big Ten hoops to get to, since Rutgers—and boy do we have more on them in a second—is going to get flattened by Tennessee in about an hour. The Weekend That Was […]
Big Ten Bowl Projections
Where is your team going, and why can’t they sell tickets? A Roundup: Back when I was a fresh-faced, 20-something graduate student desperately seeking to avoid writing my dissertation, I would do full bowl projections each week. I remember sitting at my RAship in the Digital Scholarship Lab, pounding these out instead of doing an […]
Sunday Morning Coming Down // Week 13
Ten Fourteen Eighteen B1G Things The Rundown Northwestern finally wins at Wrigley! At first it looked like a very West type of game, then suddenly both teams decided to give the defense the rest of the afternoon off, and couldn’t stop each other. It was actually one of those “last team with the ball wins.” […]
B1G Saturday Gamethread
What can I interest you in: Wrigley? West Coast? A 1983 rematch? A return to the old Big Ten? Good morning. Apologies for my lateness, but I hope you’re enjoying College Gameday at a traditional Big Ten matchup. Rutgers Scarlet Knights @ (1) Ohio State Buckeyes 11AM | FOX | Ohio State -33.5 | O/U 56.5 Minnesota […]
Big Ten Football Week 13 Picks, Predictions, Previews
Oregon-USC! Nebraska-Penn State! Illinois-wisconsin! All of these games are certainly equal! My department is currently trying to make some hires for positions that are going to be vacant thanks to retirements—just like-for-like hires is all we’re asking, a tenure-track position for a retiring tenured faculty member. In the last two years our enrollments have gone […]
Where We Be, What We Be Drinking – Week 13
The season is winding down and turkeys everywhere are in witness protection! Welcome to the week 13 edition of our weekly recurring Where We Be, What We Be Drinking column, where we learn what the OTE “writers” will be doing this gameday. Please note that we are contractually obligated to not watch the games. RMB: […]
Appetizer Weekend: Big Ten Basketball
…because it’s almost FEAST WEEK, you see. Illinois lost to Alabama. Washington should’ve lost to Southern. Same for Maryland with the Mount. And Michigan State pounded Kentucky. That about sums up the week of Big Ten basketball, yes? Thursday, November 20 #1 Purdue Boilermakers 80, Memphis Tigers 71It was jarring to see Purdue give up […]
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