March used to be a banner month for the Big Ten. In the first two decades of this century, no league was better at maximizing its opportunities in the men’s NCAA Tournament. From 2000 to 2019, the Big Ten reached 16 Final Fours, most of any conference, and 48 Sweet 16s, two shy of the […]
On the first full weekend of this college football season, with fans in the Camp Randall stands for the first time since 2019, Penn State and Wisconsin played the kind of game their conference does best — a 16-10 defensive struggle. Neither team scored in the first half, and only three drives crossed midfield in […]
Chalk up the 2019 college football season as one in which the sport reestablished the value of conference championships. Each of the top eight teams in the penultimate College Football Playoff rankings is vying for a conference title this weekend. The committee, which has often been prone to going in a new direction after the […]
Like a makeover contestant who returns the tailored garments for a jeans-and-graphic-tee ensemble once the camera crew leaves, Paul Chryst is firmly set in his ways. Two weeks ago, the fifth-year Wisconsin coach notched one of the biggest wins of his career when his team trampled the Michigan Wolverines. In that game, the notoriously conservative […]
The football game played Saturday in Madison could have taken place 20 years ago. Wisconsin performed a complete takedown of Michigan, outclassing the Wolverines on both lines. The Badgers were unstoppable in the running game, piling up 359 yards on 57 carries. They pressured Michigan on 39.6 percent of dropbacks, negating the Wolverines’ speed at […]