Oct. 18, 2009
[ONE // purdue upset highlights week on the gridiron]
The Purdue Boilermakers highlighted Week 7 of Big Ten football with a 26-18 upset over No. 7 Ohio State. Purdue pulled off its first win over a ranked team since 2003 and first victory over the Buckeyes since 2004. Iowa remained undefeated on the season and earned sole possession of first place in the league with a 20-10 win at Wisconsin. Michigan State topped Northwestern, 24-14, Indiana ousted Illinois, 27-14, and Penn State blanked Minnesota by a score of 20-0. In non-conference action, Michigan dominated Delaware State 63-6.
[TWO // football players of the week announced]
The Big Ten office and Big Ten Network announced Sunday night four football players earned Player of the Week honors for their efforts in Saturday’s games. Indiana’s Ben Chappell earned co-Offensive honors as he established career bests with 333 passing yards and three touchdowns without an interception to lead Indiana to a victory over Illinois. The junior quarterback completed 23-of-38 passes (60.5 pct.), marking a career high in attempts, to produce his second career 300-yard game. Sharing the award with Chappell is Michigan State senior wideout Blair White, who set career highs with 12 receptions and 186 receiving yards and matched a personal best with two touchdowns to help Michigan State rally from a halftime deficit to a victory over Northwestern. Purdue’s Ryan Kerrigan earned Defensive accolades and teammate Carson Wiggs – the Special Teams honoree – became the ninth player in school history to kick four field goals in one game, converting on four of five attempts and two extra points to account for 14 points during an eight-point triumph over nationally ranked Ohio State.
[THREE // boiler tabbed national defensive player of the week]
Congratulations to Purdue junior defensive end Ryan Kerrigan, who was named the Walter Camp Football Foundation Defensive Player of the Week. Kerrigan recorded nine tackles, including four for losses, and three quarterback sacks, as the Boilermakers upset seventh-ranked Ohio State, 26-18. Kerrigan forced two fumbles and also recovered a fumble as Purdue earned its first win over a ranked opponent since the 2003 season. This is the sixth year that the Walter Camp Football Foundation as honored an offensive and defensive player as its national Bowl Subdivision player of the week during the regular season.
[FOUR // big ten teams found in first bcs rankings]
The Big Ten has four football teams represented in the first Bowl Championship Series rankings of the 2009 season. Undefeated Iowa (.7869) paces all conference teams at No. 6, followed by No. 13 Penn State (.4982), No. 19 Ohio State (.2216) and No. 21 Wisconsin (.1180). A complete breakdown of the first BCS rankings can be found here.
[FIVE // conference announces new bowl schedule]
The Big Ten unveiled its new postseason lineup for the 2010-13 college football seasons this week, with six Big Ten bowl games set to be featured annually on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, including five contests on Jan. 1. The conference office announced four-year bowl extensions with the Capital One, Outback and Insight and new four-year bowl agreements with the Konica Minolta Gator, Texas and Dallas Football Classic. The Big Ten is already in the midst of an eight-year extension with the Rose Bowl through the 2013 season. This new Big Ten bowl lineup will run concurrently with the latest Bowl Championship Series contract. The Big Ten’s 2010-13 bowl lineup will begin in late December with the Texas Bowl, followed by six more postseason contests played over an estimated 26-hour period on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The Insight Bowl will be played at night on Dec. 31, followed by five more conference bowl games over a roughly nine-hour period on Jan. 1, including the Dallas Football Classic, Capital One Bowl, Outback Bowl, Gator Bowl and Rose Bowl Game presented by Citi.
[SIX // big ten network releases winter sports schedule]
This past week the Big Ten Network released its 2009-10 winter Olympic sports schedule and has once again shown its commitment to having a full plate of wrestling and gymnastics events on the network. The BTN also has plans to expand its streamed coverage on bigtennetwork.com. The Big Ten Network will again show championships from women's swimming and diving (Feb. 26), men's indoor track & field (March 10), and women's indoor track & field (March 9) as well as the second annual Big Ten Match Play Championship in men's golf (March 14) as part of its well-rounded schedule.
[SEVEN // cross country represents at pre-nationals]
Several Big Ten men’s and women’s cross country teams took to the La Vern Gibson Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind., on Saturday for the annual NCAA Pre-National Invitational. In the white race, the Illinois (206) and Minnesota (209) women finished fifth and sixth, respectively, while Ohio State (366) was 11th. Illinois’ Angela Bizzarri captured the white race title with a time of 20:27.8. Two more women’s teams finished in the top 10 in the blue race, led by Iowa (283) in eighth and Michigan State (302) in 10th. The Spartans’ Emily MacLeod led all conference runners with an 11th-place finish and a 6,000-meter time of 20:47.2. On the men’s side, Minnesota (341) placed 11th, Illinois (507) was 17th and Ohio State (548) finished 22nd in the white race. Minnesota’s Hassan Mead scored a fifth-place finish with an 8,000-meter time of 23:49.2. In the men’s blue race, Iowa (422) was 16th and Michigan State (513) was 21st.
[EIGHT // talkin’ tennis]
In preparation of the upcoming 2009 Big Ten Singles Championship, several conference standouts were competing this past week at the 2009 ITA Midwest Regional Championship. Monday marks the final matches in the tournament and the Big Ten is well represented. In the singles semifinal matches, Michigan’s Jason Jung will face Wisconsin’s Moritz Baumann, while Illinois’ Dennis Nevolo will take on Notre Dame’s Casey Watt. In doubles competition, Wisconsin’s Baumann and Marek Michalicka will battle Illinois’ Nevolo and Marek Czerwinski in the lone semifinal with the winner competing against Michigan’s Jung and George Navas for the championship. The ITA Midwest Regional Championship has been hosted this past week by Michigan and live scoring for Monday’s matches can be found by clicking here.
[NINE // let the madness begin]
Well, it has officially started. The college basketball season got underway this past weekend as several conference schools, including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, took part in “Midnight Madness” events throughout Big Ten Country. For the Spartans, a capacity crowd of 14,759 was on hand marking the first time the annual season-opening event was deemed a sellout. Indiana’s “Hoosier Hysteria” was also well attended with 13,321 spectators taking in the start to Tom Crean’s second season. Illinois entertained in front of 7,632 people and Michigan hosted nearly 3,500 at its event. “Tubby’s Tipoff” was also a big hit and several other league teams have opened practice as well.
[TEN // time for the tourney?]
All-session tickets for the 2010 Big Ten Men's and Women’s Basketball Tournaments will go on sale to the general public on Monday, Oct. 19 at 10 a.m. EST. Tickets can be purchased at all 11 Big Ten university ticket offices, Conseco Fieldhouse box office, Ticketmaster outlets, www.ticketmaster.com or by calling Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis is the site of the women's tournament from March 4-7 and the men's tournament from March 11-14, with both events including 10 games over four days. The Big Ten Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments will call Indianapolis and Conseco Fieldhouse home through 2012. The 2010 tournaments mark the sixth time Indianapolis has hosted the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse and the Circle City’s 15th Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament.
[ELEVEN // a birthday for a boiler]
Finally this week, a happy belated birthday to former Purdue Boilermaker and basketball legend John Wooden. The Basketball Hall of Famer, who played at Purdue and later won 10 national championships at UCLA, turned 99 years young on Wednesday. During his playing career in West Lafayette, Wooden was a three-time consensus All-American from 1930-32.
