What I'm Thankful for...Big Ten Football Edition

The day after stuffing my face with good food and spending quality time with family, I decided to compile a list of the things I'm most thankful for this Big Ten season.

I'm thankful for...

-Northwestern getting an eight win season: Pat Fitzgerald is a tremendous coach and sometimes doesn't get the respect or the media coverage he and the Wildcats deserve. But Fitzgerald has done a fantastic job, leading the Wildcats to 17 wins in the past two seasons, 10 of those wins coming in Big Ten play.

-Bill Lynch's tirades: He provided me entertainment throughout the season. Especially this one against Michigan.


-Illinois's Struggles: Maybe it's because I'm a Cubs fan and I'm sick of hearing White Sox fans talk about a World Series victory from four years ago. I feel the same way with Illinois. I'm tired of hearing about your Rose Bowl berth a couple years back.

-"In Kirk We Trust": Kirk Ferentz is just an absolutely amazing coach. He has been through player troubles and the media criticism a couple years ago to lead this team to back-to-back succesful seasons (9 wins last year and 10 so far this year). Despite not having any highly touted recruits out of High School, he makes the most of what he has. He led the Hawkeyes to a 9-0 start, their best start ever in school history.

-Purdue and Danny Hope: At the beginning of the season, I didn't think Purdue would get more than two wins. But with a new coach and a lot of new players, they surprised me a lot this year. Despite struggles and losing a lot of close games, they had a pretty damn good year. They knocked off Ohio State and the future looks bright for Danny Hope and the Boilers.

-Iowa's wild and crazy season: Two consecutive blocked Field Goals against Northern Iowa, a blocked punt by Adrian Clayborn in Happy Valley, Stanzi to McNutt against Michigan State, Tyler Sash's 90+yard interception that ricocheted off of five or 6 players, a redshirt freshman QB taking Ohio State down to the wire at the "Horseshoe." It's been an incredible ride and I am so thankful that I was able to experience it.

Tweets from Around the Big Ten

Howdy everyone. Now that I've mentally recovered from Iowa's loss to Northwestern, it's once again time for some more tweeting from around the Big Ten.

From Northwestern Coach Pat Fitzgerald: "CATS WIN!! Thanks to all the NU students and fans who made it to the game! GO CATS!!"

Purdue Coach Danny Hope: "Great job Joey Elliott, just named Big 10 Offensive Player of the Week! Finished 28-39 for 367 yards and 3 TD's in HUGE win over Michigan!!"

Indiana running back Bryan Payton (right): "It kills me how fans boo when they can't do anything close to what we do on the field every day...They should check themselves"

(Photo credit: heraldtimesonline.com)

Scott Chipman, Big Ten Assistant Commissioner of Communications: "Congrats to NU football on being named the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week after their win over IOWA"

Big Ten Tweets

Time for some more tweets. Sorry that I haven't been able to blog quite as much lately. Its been a busy time with stories for the Daily Iowan and schoolwork.
But I digress, lets check out some tweets...

Penn State assistant Tom Bradley: "Players took care of business on Saturday.Minnesota brings in a heck of an offense this week.Tough to prepare for.Wow Eric Decker can play!"

Indiana RB Bryan Payton: "I apologize for our performance tonight. We're gonna get things fixed"

Northwestern Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald: "CATS WIN!! The game ball goes to Northwestern's newly inaugurated President Morton Shapiro! GO CATS!"

Purdue head coach Danny Hope: "Purdue University is now the 87th ranked university in the WORLD, moving up 12 spots from last year. Boiler Up!"

Star Hawkeye O-lineman out for Cy-Hawk game this weekend. Plus other Big Ten nuggets

Iowa offensive lineman Bryan Bulaga (right, #79) will miss this weekends game at Iowa State due to a mysterious ailment or illness.

Twitter and several message boards were buzzing yesterday with rumors of the ailment. The rumors ranged from an ailment that would keep him out this week to a condition that could possibly be career-threatening.

But hold the phone, here's what we know so far. ESPN blogger Adam Rittenberg reports that he will miss the Iowa State game.

"Bryan Bulaga was hospitalized with an illness this past week and will not be available to play [Saturday]," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said in a statement. "Bryan is doing much better, has been released and will accompany the team this weekend. We expect Bryan to return to his normal activities soon."

The junior O-lineman earned second team All-Big Ten honors last season and was voted as a preseason second team all-american by Phil Steele's College Football. He is considered to be a legitimate NFL prospect and Sports Illustrated predicted Bulaga to be an All-American this season in their College Football Preview edition.

(Photo Credit: www.nationalchamps.net)


Other Big Ten nuggets...

-Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free press writes that Rich Rod and Jim Tressel will be rooting for each other this weekend
-Mike Carmin of the Indiapolis Star writes about the energy that new Boiler coach Danny Hope brings to Purdue.
-ESPN blogger Adam Rittenberg writes about the wild atmosphere the Hawkeyes will face in Ames, IA when they take on the Cyclones this weekend.
-Herb Gould of the Chicago Sun-Times writes about how Big Ten pride hangs on the shoulders of Ohio State this weekend.

10 Big Things about Week 1

It's time for a weekly segment that I like to call 10 Big Things. The name pretty much explains itself, I will post the 10 biggest things that occurred in the Big Ten each week, whether it be a great performance, a big injury, a coaching decision or the mistake that cost a team the game. Here's what we've got this week.

10.) Wisconsin at home: The Badgers nearly gave the game away to NIU late at Camp Randall. Leading 28-6 going into the 4th quarter, they gave up two touchdowns and a two-point conversion to cut the lead to only eight. The Badgers even allowed the Huskies to recover an onside kick but failed to convert on a late 4th down. This is not a good start for the Badgers when it comes to finishing a game.

9) Danny Hope (right): The new Boilermaker head honcho picked up his first win on Saturday against Toledo. The new coach, who's still rockin' a Joe Tiller-esque mustache, served as assistant coach for the Boilers last year. Ironically, Tiller also faced off against the Rockets in his first game as head coach back in 1997, but was on the losing end.

(Hope photo credit: http://images.athlonsports.com/d/16726-1/DannyHope.jpg)

8.) Carson Wiggs: The Purdue kicker set a school record with a 59-yard field goal. That's a damn long kick

7.) Michigan State Defense: Granted they were playing Montana State, but the Sparty D only allowed 160 total yards. Big Ten Preseason Defensive Player of the Year Greg Jones led MSU with 14 tackles and 1.5 sacks.

6.) Iowa Running Game: Without the injured Jewel Hampton and the NFL bound Shonn Greene, Iowa's running game was mediocre at best. The Hawkeye backs rushed for 123 yards, but 28 yards came from a reverse to wideout Paul Chaney Jr.

5.) QB's in the state of Michigan: It was a good day to be a QB for the Wolverines and the Spartans. Michigan State starting QB Kirk Cousins threw three touchdowns and went 10-17 for 183 yards. Backup Keith Nichol also looked good, going 9 for 18 and throwing two touchdowns. Wolverine starter Tate Forcier tossed two touchdowns and backup Denard Robinson ran for 74 yards, including a 43 yard touchdown run.

4.) Ralph Bolden: Boiler up! The sophomore dashed for 234 yards, the third best in school history for a back making his first career start, scoring two touchdowns and leading the Boilers to victory over Toledo.

3.) Daryll Clark (right): In my opinion, the best passing quarterback in the Big Ten. It's a travesty that this guy was voted the 3rd Team QB in the preseason Big Ten voting, but that's another story. The Nittany Lion captain completed 72.5% of his passes, throwing for a Big Ten leading 353 yards and three TD's.

(Clark Photo Credit: http://assets.espn.go.com/photo/2009/0408/ncf_g_clark_576.jpg)

2.) Brian Rolle: The Buckeye CB put the dagger into the heart of the Midshipmen on Saturday when he intercepted the two-point conversion attempt and took it to the house, giving OSU a four point lead and the win.

1.) Iowa Special Teams: It's damn near impossible to block a field goal two times in a row, but the Hawkeye special teams came through in a clutch situation. When all hope was seemingly lost (and I know that this Hawkeye fan was certainly worried), Broderick Binns and Jerimiha Hunter came up huge, getting their big mitts up there to save the day and keep UNI from pulling off a big upset.