The quintessential Big Ten smoking room.
When you think “talk about The Big Game,” you think “Be miserable with a bunch of Big Ten fans.” A Superb Owl occurs tonight. Here, if you so choose, is an open thread for said game. Super Bowl LX Seattle Seahawks (14-3) vs. New England Patriots (14-3) 5:30pm | NBC/Peacock | SEA -4.5 | O/U […]
1 day ago | 1 read
A simple buffalo chicken dip or three-ingredient meatballs? An extravagant replica of Levi’s Stadium made out of marzipan? YOU TELL US. I’ve reached that point in my mid-thirties (gross) where life is, effectively, over. MNWildkit is three, SmileyKit is almost ten months, and my waking moments that aren’t spent dying at or commuting to Regional […]
3 days ago | 0 reads
I know this is a site devoted to college sports, but forgive me as I pay tribute to a childhood hero who, nearly 60 years after his greatest act, is still top of mind to a generation (or more) of Detroit sports fans. The death of a childhood sports hero is never easy. It often […]
4 days ago | 0 reads
It’s been somewhat of an unusual season for Michigan. Dusty May’s Wolverines came out of the gate hot, overwhelming opponents in unprecedented fashion. How unprecedented? In a five-game stretch spanning late November to early December, Michigan defeated San Diego State by 40, Auburn by 30, Gonzaga by 40, Rutgers by 41 and Villanova by 28. […]
5 days ago | 0 reads
David Braun has rebuilt(?) Northwestern to a level of respectability. So…now what? Like all good flagrantly shameless comparative articles, let’s start with the “Blind Resume” game, three years into two college football coaches’ tenures: Unless you are a Northwestern coach who has memorized the records of Pat Fitzgerald and David Braun, you are a fucking […]
8 days ago | 0 reads
The number of people who would have seriously taken a preseason bet on Nebraska being 20-0 at the end of January is vanishingly small. It probably consists only of the guys on the team, and then maybe not even all of them. The Huskers, you may recall, were picked 14th out of 18 teams in […]
14 days ago | 0 reads
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Well, we’re almost out of January 2026. As a resident of the Twin Cities, I, for one, say good fucking riddance. As we look back on the 2025-26 season that was in Big Ten football, here’s my—shamelessly lifted from the inimitable and semi-retired Dead Read—Big […]
15 days ago | 2 reads
Ten Fourteen Eighteen B1G Things The Rundown Washington rides the ponies! And then Demond threatens to transfer, remembers —or was reminded— that he signed a contract, and decides to come back. Oregon gets the Penn State treatment Beat a G5 team? Check. Beat a Big 12 team? Check. Lose in the semis? Check. The difference […]
19 days ago | 2 reads
With Monday’s College Football Playoff championship game in the rearview mirror and Indiana having completed the most unlikely of turnarounds, the eyes of the college football world turn to next season. Hope springs eternal, it’s been said, and that’s certainly true for college football fans, who begin each new year with a blank slate and […]
20 days ago | 2 reads
This is not a victory lap. I was not rooting for Indiana, but to root against them is futile. No, this is instead a response to the assorted “CAN YOU BELIEVE WHAT HAS JUST HAPPENED?” reactions to Indiana winning the national title in football. My answer to that question is: Yes I can. Why? Three […]
21 days ago | 1 read
The Hoosiers have gone 16-0 and stormed the college football castle. Build the statue of Curt Cignetti and throw in one of Fernando Mendoza on 4th and 5, because the Indiana Hoosiers are your college football national champions. (1) Indiana Hoosiers 27, (10) Miami Hurricanes 21 Indiana scored on a fullback dive, blocked a punt […]
21 days ago | 1 read
Hoosiers! Hurricanes! Who wins the College Football National Championship? The Vitals (1) Indiana Hoosiers vs. (10) Miami-Fluoride HurricanesMonday, Jan. 19 | Hard Rock Stadium (Miami Gardens, FL)Indiana -8.5 | O/U 47.5 The TV Situation: The Picks BRT: Indiana 42, Miami 17 Let’s do the thing, Hoosiers! This is a big score, but so far, Indiana […]
22 days ago | 0 reads
Week One of B1G dual season is in the books and were on to Week Two! Week One Recap Michigan demolished little brother 43-3. It was ugly. Northwestern dispatched the Terps 27-12. The match of note was a nice 4-2 upset win for the Wildcats #23 ranked 133# Sean Spidle over #12 Braxton Brown. Iowa […]
25 days ago | 3 reads
The #13 Illinois Fighting Illini travel to unranked Northwestern for the next chapter in a pretty major non-rivalry. The Illini are 144-46 against the ‘Cats all time and are all but certain to end this season ahead of Northwestern in the league standings. A peculiar pattern has emerged specific to the Illini game at Northwestern […]
28 days ago | 2 reads
Is this the new normal? The new Bloomington? The new Big Ten? Good afternoon, and happy Monday. Three-quarters of the MNW household are struggling with some form or residuals of the flu, and the other one is me. That, of course, has led to no resentment of the fact that I am healthy other than […]
28 days ago | 2 reads
B1G Wrestling Season!! This weekend is the opening weekend of the B1G rasslin season and we’re back to preview things and give you the hot takes you never knew you wanted and probably actually don’t want. January 9th 6:00 PM CST Ann Arbor, MI The B1G dual season kicks off with some intra-state hate in […]
about 1 month ago | 2 reads
Who ya got? (AND WHY?) WSR: Go Ducks. Please. Don’t make me cheer for Miami like I’m 10 again. Thumpasaurus: Do I need a reason to claim Indiana is winning? It doesn’t particularly matter who they’re against. This is the best college football team I’ve ever seen. I don’t see anything special enough about Oregon […]
about 1 month ago | 0 reads
Remember when Rutgers basketball was relevant? When Geo Baker and Ron Harper Jr. were leading the Scarlet Knights to consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time since 1976? When Steve Pikiell looked like a genius who’d finally cracked the code at a program where basketball coaches go to have their careers questioned? That was […]
about 1 month ago | 1 read
Hey ho, it’s me, BRT, writer of volleyball, football, and now, apparently, a tiny bit of basketball. This is a little less onerous than it usually would be as a Nebrasketball fan though, because this year… they are actually good? I’ve been following (I use the term somewhat loosely) Big Ten basketball for about 13 […]
about 1 month ago | 0 reads
I WILL DEFEAT YOU, CAMPUS IT An installed toilet! A baby who’s still sick! A delicious mushroom soup! Toilet: I Am A Genius He-Man When last we spoke, I was uninstalling, cleaning up after, purchasing, and installing a new toilet, because…well, I have been advised by counsel—WHO IS DEFINITELY NOT LOOKING OVER MY SHOULDER, I […]
about 1 month ago | 0 reads
By way of a story, of course. Happy 2026 to you and yours. Stress eating an entire bag of harvest cheddar Sun chips and drinking a Cherry Coke-style Poppi in the parking lot of my local Aldi, in case you would like a window into where I’m at. This article ends with a preview of […]
about 1 month ago | 1 read
Soak it in—when the clock strikes midnight, it’s just College Football Playoff talkers from here on out. Armed Forces Bowl Rice Owls (5-7) vs. Texas State Bobcats (6-6)12pm | ESPN | TXSt -18.5 | O/U 55.5 | at Amon G. Carter Stadium (Fort Worth, TX) The first of two 5-7 teams to play today, as […]
about 1 month 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.” You may have noticed that I haven’t really used the “Unless It’s Funny” […]
about 1 month ago | 4 reads
Indiana Hoosiers 38, Alabama Crimson Tide 3 RUReady4Brazil: Can you believe how far we’ve come from Indinia? BuffKomodo: My son was born in December, 2020. Indiana football would go on to lose in the Outback Bowl to an Ole Miss team with a losing record during a strange time in our culture. From there, Indiana […]
about 1 month ago | 0 reads
First, a brief recap: ReliaQuest Bowl: Iowa 34, Vanderbilt 27 Las Vegas Bowl: Utah 44, Nebraska 22 Citrus Bowl: Texas 41, Michigan 27 Brian Gillis: Michigan played hard in a back-and-forth affair against Texas, but a couple of late Bryce Underwood interceptions paved the way for a disappointing 14-point loss to the Longhorns. A fitting end, you […]
about 1 month ago | 3 reads