The Big Ten season starts next week, before the New Year again. I still can’t get used to league games before the new year, but I guess it’s a permanent thing. Once again, there are 18 conference games, but now there are 12 teams in the Big Ten, so the scheduling is a little different, again. I kind of wished that the Big Ten had applied the Leaders/Legends divisions to other sports besides football, especially basketball, but they didn’t, so it’s just a big 12-team league. The new kid on the block (Nebraska) isn’t very good at basketball, so the addition of a 12th team doesn’t change the overall power structure much.
Standings
Once again, the Big Ten looks tough. As of this week, 6 of the 12 teams in the Big Ten are ranked: (#2) Ohio State, (#13) Wisconsin, (#17) Indiana, (#19) Michigan State, (#20) Michigan, and (#25) Illinois. However, Illinois is likely to drop out of the Top 25 when next week’s poll is released, since they lost to (#9) Missouri this week.
The big surprise here is Indiana. They’ve been down for a couple seasons, thanks to Kelvin Sampson, but they appear to be back in a big way, in a big hurry.
Here are the current Big Ten standings:
| Team | Big Ten | Overall | ||||
Wins | Losses | Percent | Wins | Losses | Percent | |
| Indiana | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 12 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Minnesota | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 12 | 1 | 0.923 |
| Ohio State | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 12 | 1 | 0.923 |
| Illinois | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 11 | 2 | 0.846 |
| Michigan State | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 11 | 2 | 0.846 |
| Wisconsin | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 11 | 2 | 0.846 |
| Michigan | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 10 | 2 | 0.833 |
| Northwestern | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 10 | 2 | 0.833 |
| Purdue | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 10 | 3 | 0.769 |
| Nebraska | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 8 | 3 | 0.727 |
| Iowa | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 8 | 5 | 0.615 |
| Penn State | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 8 | 5 | 0.615 |
By the way, a couple Big Ten teams still have non-conference games left to play:
- 01/21/2012 – Michigan at Arkansas
- 02/22/2012 – North Carolina Central at Indiana
The Upcoming Week
Here are the games scheduled for the upcoming week (Week #1):
Tuesday (12/27/2011)
Minnesota at Illinois
Wisconsin at Nebraska
Wednesday (12/28/2011)
Northwestern at Ohio State
Indiana at Michigan State
Purdue at Iowa
Thursday (12/29/2011)
Penn State at Michigan
Saturday (12/31/2011)
Iowa at Wisconsin
Michigan State at Nebraska
Illinois at Purdue
Ohio State at Indiana
Sunday (01/01/2012)
Minnesota at Michigan
Penn State at Northwestern
There are several big games this week. It’s time to start separating the contenders from the pretenders:
- Indiana at Michigan State on Wednesday.
- Illinois at Purdue on Saturday.
- Ohio State at Indiana on Saturday. Indiana has a brutal schedule to start Big Ten play.
Full Schedule
Here’s the entire Big Ten schedule, with the teams in alphabetical order. I’ll include this table every week, with the wins and losses filled in:
| Team | Record | Wins | Losses | Remaining Games |
| Illinois | Total: 0-0 | Minnesota (H)Purdue (A)Northwestern (A) Nebraska (H) Ohio State (H) Penn State (A) Wisconsin (H) Minnesota (A) Michigan State (H) Northwestern (H) Indiana (A) Michigan (A) Purdue (H) Nebraska (A) Ohio State (A) Iowa (H) Michigan (H) Wisconsin (A) | ||
Home: 0-0 | ||||
Away: 0-0 | ||||
| Indiana | Total: 0-0 | Michigan State (A)Ohio State (H)Michigan (H) Penn State (A) Minnesota (H) Ohio State (A) Nebraska (A) Penn State (H) Wisconsin (A) Iowa (H) Michigan (A) Purdue (A) Illinois (H) Northwestern (H) Iowa (A) Minnesota (A) Michigan State (H) Purdue (H) | ||
Home:0-0 | ||||
Away: 0-0 | ||||
| Iowa | Total: 0-0 | Purdue (H)Wisconsin (A)Minnesota (A) Ohio State (H) Michigan State (A) Michigan (H) Purdue (A) Nebraska (H) Indiana (A) Minnesota (H) Penn State (H) Northwestern (A) Penn State (A) Indiana (H) Wisconsin (H) Illinois (A) Nebraska (A) Northwestern (H) | ||
Home: 0-0 | ||||
Away: 0-0 | ||||
| Michigan | Total: 0-0 | Penn State (H)Minnesota (H)Indiana (A) Wisconsin (H) Northwestern (H) Iowa (A) Michigan State (H) Purdue (A) Ohio State (A) Indiana (H) Michigan State (A) Nebraska (A) Illinois (H) Ohio State (H) Northwestern (A) Purdue (H) Illinois (A) Penn State (A) | ||
Home: 0-0 | ||||
Away: 0-0 | ||||
| Michigan State | Total: 0-0 | Indiana (H)Nebraska (A)Wisconsin (A) Iowa (H) Northwestern (A) Michigan (A) Purdue (H) Minnesota (H) Illinois (A) Michigan (H) Penn State (H) Ohio State (A) Wisconsin (H) Purdue (A) Minnesota (A) Nebraska (H) Indiana (A) Ohio State (H) | ||
Home: 0-0 | ||||
Away: 0-0 | ||||
| Minnesota | Total: 0-0 | Illinois (A)Michigan (A)Iowa (H) Purdue (H) Indiana (A) Penn State (A) Northwestern (H) Michigan State (A) Illinois (H) Iowa (A) Nebraska (A) Wisconsin (H) Ohio State (H) Northwestern (A) Michigan State (H) Indiana (H) Wisconsin (A) Nebraska (H) | ||
Home: 0-0 | ||||
Away: 0-0 | ||||
| Nebraska | Total: 0-0 | Wisconsin (H)Michigan State (H)Ohio State (A) Illinois (A) Penn State (H) Wisconsin (A) Indiana (H) Ohio State (H) Iowa (A) Northwestern (A) Minnesota (H) Michigan (H) Penn State (A) Illinois (H) Purdue (A) Michigan State (A) Iowa (H) Minnesota (A) | ||
Home: 0-0 | ||||
Away: 0-0 | ||||
| Northwestern | Total: 0-0 | Ohio State (A)Penn State (H)Illinois (H) Michigan (A) Michigan State (H) Wisconsin (A) Minnesota (A) Purdue (H) Nebraska (H) Illinois (A) Iowa (H) Purdue (A) Indiana (A) Minnesota (H) Michigan (H) Penn State (A) Ohio State (H) Iowa (A) | ||
Home: 0-0 | ||||
Away: 0-0 | ||||
| Ohio State | Total: 0-0 | Northwestern (H)Indiana (A)Nebraska (H) Iowa (A) Illinois (A) Indiana (H) Nebraska (A) Penn State (H) Michigan (H) Wisconsin (A) Purdue (H) Michigan State (H) Minnesota (A) Michigan (A) Illinois (H) Wisconsin (H) Northwestern (A) Michigan State (A) | ||
Home: 0-0 | ||||
Away: 0-0 | ||||
| Penn State | Total: 0-0 | Michigan (A)Northwestern (A)Purdue (H) Indiana (H) Nebraska (A) Minnesota (H) Illinois (H) Indiana (A) Ohio State (A) Wisconsin (H) Iowa (A) Michigan State (A) Nebraska (H) Iowa (H) Wisconsin (A) Northwestern (H) Purdue (A) Michigan (H) | ||
Home: 0-0 | ||||
Away: 0-0 | ||||
| Purdue | Total: 0-0 | Iowa (A)Illinois (H)Penn State (A) Minnesota (A) Wisconsin (H) Iowa (H) Michigan State (A) Michigan (H) Northwestern (A) Indiana (H) Ohio State (A) Northwestern (H) Illinois (A) Michigan State (H) Nebraska (H) Michigan (A) Penn State (H) Indiana (A) | ||
Home: 0-0 | ||||
Away: 0-0 | ||||
| Wisconsin | Total: 0-0 | Nebraska (A)Iowa (H)Michigan State (H) Michigan (A) Purdue (A) Nebraska (H) Northwestern (H) Illinois (A) Indiana (H) Penn State (A) Ohio State (H) Minnesota (A) Michigan State (A) Penn State (H) Iowa (A) Ohio State (A) Minnesota (H) Illinois (H) | ||
Home: 0-0 | ||||
Away: 0-0 |
With this season’s schedule, each team will play 7 teams twice, and only 4 teams once. It’s interesting to see which teams each team gets to play only once:
| Team | Doesn’t Play |
| Illinois | Indiana (H)Iowa (A)Michigan State (A) Penn State (H) |
| Indiana | Illinois (A)Nebraska (H)Northwestern (A) Wisconsin (H) |
| Iowa | Illinois (H)Michigan (A)Michigan State (H) Ohio State (A) |
| Michigan | Iowa (H)Minnesota (A)Nebraska (H) Wisconsin (A) |
| Michigan State | Illinois (H)Iowa (A)Northwestern (H) Penn State (A) |
| Minnesota | Michigan (H)Ohio State (A)Penn State (H) Purdue (A) |
| Nebraska | Indiana (A)Michigan (A)Northwestern (H) Purdue (H) |
| Northwestern | Indiana (H)Michigan State (A)Nebraska (A) Wisconsin (H) |
| Ohio State | Iowa (H)Minnesota (H)Penn State (A) Purdue (A) |
| Penn State | Illinois (A)Michigan State (H)Minnesota (A) Ohio State (H) |
| Purdue | Minnesota (H)Nebraska (A)Ohio State (H) Wisconsin (A) |
| Wisconsin | Indiana (A)Michigan (H)Northwestern (A) Purdue (H) |
This season, the big winner is Iowa, who misses 4 games against contenders. The big losers are Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State, who all miss playing 3 lower-division opponents.
- Nothing But ‘Net – Week #03 – 10/27/2025 – The End Of The Exhibition Season - October 27, 2025
- Nothing But ‘Net – Week #02 – 10/20/2025 – Dusty Gets His Wish - October 20, 2025
- Nothing But ‘Net – Week #01 – 10/13/2025 – Season Preview - October 13, 2025
- 2025 University of Michigan Football Season Predictions - August 23, 2025
- 04/19/2025– Michigan vs. MSU – The National Championship Comparison - April 19, 2025
- Nothing But ‘Net – Week #26 – 04/07/2025 – Season Wrap-Up, Final Grades, And Looking Ahead - April 7, 2025
- Nothing But ‘Net – Week #25 – 03/31/2025 – And Then The Roof Fell In - March 31, 2025
- Nothing But ‘Net – Week #24 – 03/24/2025 – Sweet! - March 24, 2025
- Nothing But ‘Net – Week #23 – 03/17/2025 – Big Ten Tournament Champions! - March 17, 2025
- Nothing But ‘Net – Week #22 – 03/10/2025 – A Miserable End To The Regular Season - March 10, 2025