The quintessential Big Ten smoking room.
This is a column to check in on the rest of the football world, but since it’s 2025 in America I will beat you over the head with The Agenda, which in case you’ve forgotten is “Big Ten Superiority Unless It’s Funny.” Call me the SEC, because I took Week 13 off. THE AGENDA MVP: […]
3 months ago | 4 reads
Michigan’s bid for five in a row against Ohio State came up short, as Ryan Day and the Buckeyes got the monkey off their back with a dominant victory in Ann Arbor. Ohio State came into Saturday’s season-ending showdown against Michigan undefeated, but also somewhat untested. Aside from an early season win over Texas and […]
3 months ago | 5 reads
Happy Monday! It usually takes something weird to get me to pay attention these days, and the good thing is that there has been a ton of weird. And weird would be the perfect way to describe everything that everyone’s 2nd-favorite Bloomington Jefferson graduate (after Nick Checco, of course) has done over the past week […]
3 months ago | 4 reads
Lamenting the death of the truly-enjoyable MTE. I hadn’t planned on much basketball coverage here for a couple reasons: for one, the internet is a dying place, and, for two, that’s exacerbating the steady death of Off Tackle Empire dot blogspot dot biz. BUT! Looking over the (limited) options for basketball on this last snowy […]
3 months ago | 6 reads
Michigan State officially announced Jonathan Smith was to be relieved of his duties effective Sunday. Not long after, the rumor mill started churning Pat Fitzgerald as the candidate to replace Smith as the Spartans head coach. Because we’re a serious operation here at Off Tackle Empire, we come with instant reactions to the news! LincolnParkWildcat: […]
3 months ago | 5 reads
Ten Fourteen Eighteen B1G Things The Rundown It’s Iowa They do it again. It’s now the 7th time they’ve beaten Nebraska in Memorial Stadium, which puts Ferentz at second in Big Ten wins at Memorial Stadium, behind Bo Pelini and ahead of Scott Frost, Mike Riley, and Matt Rhule, who all have six. At least […]
3 months ago | 2 reads
HAT! AXE! GAME! and so much more. Come join the conversation. The Morning Shows This is a deeply silly sport. Big Ten Football Schedule (1) Ohio State Buckeyes @ (15) Michigan Wolverines 11AM | FOX | Ohio State -9.5 | O/U 44.5 (5) Oregon Ducks @ Washington Huskies 2:30PM | CBS | Oregon -6.5 | O/U 51.5 wisconsin badgers @ Minnesota […]
3 months ago | 3 reads
Plus, basketball—if you so choose. Big Ten Football on Today Iowa Hawkeyes @ Nebraska Cornhuskers 11AM | CBS | Iowa -6.5 | O/U 38.5 (2) Indiana Hoosiers @ Purdue Boilermakers 6:30PM | NBC / Peacock | Indiana -28.5 | O/U 54.5 What else is on? Well, for one, I’ve told you everything you should and shouldn’t watch: But if […]
3 months ago | 8 reads
RIVLARY! RIVALRY! RIVALRY! Now that MNWildkit is three, we’ve started to expand out our limited TV programming allowances into the educational classics—Mrs. MNW is champing at the bit for Wishbone, but for now, it’s all Magic School Bus, all the time. So shout-out to the Season 2 episode about butterflies, which is allowing me to […]
3 months ago | 5 reads
Hello? Is anybody there? Happy Thanksgiving to you, yours, and those you care about. Even the Michigan fans. This will also serve as your open thread for Thanksgiving Day’s football. Maybe basketball if I don’t have time to put up a thread for that. Who’s to say? It wasn’t ideal to learn yesterday, after we […]
3 months ago | 2 reads
College basketball on today. Like…almost too much basketball? Wha’ happen? So…Michigan might be really, really, really good. Bonesaw Invitational Players’ Era Festival, Brought to You by PIF #7 Michigan Wolverines 101, #12 Gonzaga Bulldogs 61 Genuinely, just…terrifying. Yaxel Lendeborg and the Wolverines crumpled up Graham Ike and the Bulldogs and shoved them in a locker. […]
3 months ago | 2 reads
Welcome to the last power poll of the regular season! We’re going to compare our favorite Big Ten teams to characters in movies we know and love! Some of these are going to be a little too on the nose, and others I had a little fun with. No. 1: Ohio State Buckeyes First place […]
3 months ago | 2 reads
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all enjoy the long weekend, but it is, alas, the final weekend of the regular season. For some, their teams will move on to bigger, better games, e.g., the B1G CCG, CFP, and bowl games, while for others, their teams will head home, lick their wounds, and try to […]
3 months ago | 2 reads
MORE FEAST MORE FEAST MORE FEAST MORE FEAST You ever have that moment where you look around and wonder if it’s only you left? Yeah, me neither. Here is what I wrote yesterday—drafted on Monday night—about the Players Era Festival: Maryland Terrapins 74, UNLV Rebels 67 There were approximately 50 people in the stands for […]
3 months ago | 3 reads
Another day in the life of the Big Ten in FEAST WEEK: Rutgers sucks, USC’s mediocre, everything else…eh. FEAST WEEK DAY 1: RECAPS Players Era Festival I’m increasingly angry about this tournament—not specifically because Michigan routed San Diego State and ran up the score, but specifically because the nature of “18 teams playing a fucking […]
3 months ago | 4 reads
Before I get into the preview of the Indiana at Purdue game, I want to take a moment to wish everyone throughout the Empire a very happy Thanksgiving. I hope each and everyone of you will spend some time with family, friends, and loved ones. While our school’s sports teams clash on the field, pitch, […]
3 months ago | 1 read
Nebraska wins a championship, Purdue stuffs Tech in a locker, and all the other news that’s fit to print. Good morning. Lots of Big Ten hoops to get to, since Rutgers—and boy do we have more on them in a second—is going to get flattened by Tennessee in about an hour. The Weekend That Was […]
3 months ago | 3 reads
Where is your team going, and why can’t they sell tickets? A Roundup: Back when I was a fresh-faced, 20-something graduate student desperately seeking to avoid writing my dissertation, I would do full bowl projections each week. I remember sitting at my RAship in the Digital Scholarship Lab, pounding these out instead of doing an […]
3 months ago | 2 reads
Ten Fourteen Eighteen B1G Things The Rundown Northwestern finally wins at Wrigley! At first it looked like a very West type of game, then suddenly both teams decided to give the defense the rest of the afternoon off, and couldn’t stop each other. It was actually one of those “last team with the ball wins.” […]
3 months ago | 1 read
What can I interest you in: Wrigley? West Coast? A 1983 rematch? A return to the old Big Ten? Good morning. Apologies for my lateness, but I hope you’re enjoying College Gameday at a traditional Big Ten matchup. Rutgers Scarlet Knights @ (1) Ohio State Buckeyes 11AM | FOX | Ohio State -33.5 | O/U 56.5 Minnesota […]
3 months ago | 2 reads
Oregon-USC! Nebraska-Penn State! Illinois-wisconsin! All of these games are certainly equal! My department is currently trying to make some hires for positions that are going to be vacant thanks to retirements—just like-for-like hires is all we’re asking, a tenure-track position for a retiring tenured faculty member. In the last two years our enrollments have gone […]
3 months ago | 1 read
The season is winding down and turkeys everywhere are in witness protection! Welcome to the week 13 edition of our weekly recurring Where We Be, What We Be Drinking column, where we learn what the OTE “writers” will be doing this gameday. Please note that we are contractually obligated to not watch the games. RMB: […]
3 months ago | 4 reads
…because it’s almost FEAST WEEK, you see. Illinois lost to Alabama. Washington should’ve lost to Southern. Same for Maryland with the Mount. And Michigan State pounded Kentucky. That about sums up the week of Big Ten basketball, yes? Thursday, November 20 #1 Purdue Boilermakers 80, Memphis Tigers 71It was jarring to see Purdue give up […]
3 months ago | 1 read
Plus, it’s Division III bowl weekend, while the D-II and D-III playoffs are beginning. In 1996, the Minnesota Vikings signed a castoff from the Cleveland Browns who had spent the first half of that season bouncing around the Baltimore Ravens and Carolina Panthers: Leroy Hoard. A Michigan Man, signed to replace the injured Robert Smith, […]
3 months ago | 3 reads
What’s this? BoilerUp89 is still writing for Off Tackle Empire and not talking about basketball? Well… yes, I’m still occasionally putting my two cents in regarding Purdue football here. Basketball is still the superior sport. Anway, I figured it was time for my yearly contribution to the power poll. This year I’ll be talking about […]
3 months ago | 1 read