The quintessential Big Ten smoking room.
Frankly, is the RedHawks’ resume all that good? As the college basketball regular season hurtles toward the finish line and teams jockey for position in the NCAA Tournament—and, of course, the almighty The Crown, an Equally-Prestigious Competition which must be spelled as The Crown every single time with no exceptions—we approach the silly season that […]
about 15 hours ago | 0 reads
Bracketology. But first—a horrible mixed drink. Good evening. Big Ten bracketology soon—in the meantime, what I’ve posed to the writers: What is the worst mixer you’ve ever made? I don’t mean, like, “I have a problem” things like cough syrup and tequila; thinking more things like my own example, Diet Coke and gin. MNW: The […]
4 days ago | 0 reads
An alliterative attempt to assuage anxieties at approaching athletic arbitrations. It is, I am told, almost March. That season is, to many degenerates—including many of you here!—zero hour. Hither comes bracket season. Yon goeth the bottom feeders. THE CROWN APPROACHETH. …or the NCAA Tournament. Whatever. We’ve got bracketology updates—not because, as a Northwestern fan, I’m […]
7 days ago | 0 reads
We’ll always have 49-20. Per reports yesterday, Rondale Moore has died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his hometown of New Albany, Indiana. The Purdue alumnus was 25 and attempting a comeback following a season for the Minnesota Vikings that ended with a preseason injury. Crisis Hotline If you or someone you know is struggling, […]
9 days ago | 1 read
Add money, coach, and stir. (Add money, coach and stir?) Where’s that panda… Who in the Big Ten could be the “next Indiana”? This morning, as I read Matt Brown’s steady and vital reporting on money in college football, I got to thinking about Hoosiers’ meteoric rise in football, simultaneously explainable and completely inexplicable. Today’s […]
11 days ago | 0 reads
and I, for one, blame Rutgers. The first half ended with an abortive run-out by the Ducks concluded with a missed layup, and the Gophers turning that into a half-court possession in the final ten seconds in which some Gopher—and I promise you, I am not going to learn which one it was—put a baseline […]
13 days ago | 1 read
One writer’s answer MAY SURPRISE YOU. One of the most disheartening parts of this year’s Super Bowl—which, we should note, featured a winning quarterback from the Big Ten* and a Super Bowl MVP running back from the actual Big Ten—was this ad: Now, I have two notes and a question based on this ad: What’s […]
18 days ago | 0 reads
A REFLECTION ON BIG TEN BASKETBALL Last night I was awake, drinking some wine and watching Penn State play the University of Washington in a Big Ten basketball game. In the 1890s, these were the kinds of sporting contests reserved for weeklong voyages that likely involved the largesse of George Pullman and James J. Hill, […]
19 days ago | 0 reads
Goodbye, Hustle Belt. Thanks for representing authentic college football blogging and the best of the Midwest. It’s been a rough 24 hours for college football in the Rust Belt. Our friends at Hustle Belt announced yesterday that SBNation will be shuttering their blog after 15 years of writing about MACtion and building a small but […]
20 days ago | 0 reads
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 […]
23 days ago | 3 reads
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 […]
24 days ago | 1 read
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 […]
25 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. […]
26 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 […]
29 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 […]
about 1 month 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 […]
about 1 month 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 […]
about 1 month 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 […]
about 1 month 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 […]
about 1 month ago | 2 reads
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 […]
about 1 month ago | 2 reads
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 […]
about 1 month 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 […]
about 2 months ago | 4 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 […]
about 2 months 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 […]
about 2 months 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 2 months ago | 2 reads