Tag: Big Ten Championship Game

The best pictures from Michigan football’s Big Ten Championship win

Back-to-back! #GoBlue

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Michigan football has gone back-to-back.

Two short years ago, the Wolverines seemed miles away from a Big Ten Championship, let alone two. After going 2-4 in 2020, the maize and blue went 12-2 and are now 13-0 and awaiting to find out who they will face in the first round of the College Football Playoff.

Perhaps more impressively in the past two games is that Michigan did it without the best players on either side of the ball.

See the 2022 Big Ten Championship game program here

From the game itself against Purdue, which Michigan football won 43-22, to the postgame celebration, here are our favorite pictures we managed to capture from the sidelines at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Penn State photo archive: 2016 Big Ten Championship Game

Let’s take a look back at some of the best photos from Penn State’s 2016 Big Ten championship game win

After scoring a surprising upset of Ohio State in 2016 with a blocked field goal returned for a game-winning touchdown, Penn State changed the entire outlook of the Big Ten championship race. Michigan, who had dominated Penn State earlier in the season, took the inside track to the East Division race but stumbled a few weeks later against Iowa, leading to Penn State having a path to its first Big Ten championship game appearance. As the Nittany Lions closed out its regular season without a loss, and with Ohio State handing Michigan a second conference loss, the Nittany Lions advanced to Indianapolis as the East Division champion thanks to their head-to-head upset of the Buckeyes.

Penn State faced Wisconsin, the Big Ten’s West Division champion, with a spot in the Rose Bowl up for grabs. Penn State was an underdog against the Badgers, who wee ranked just ahead of the Nittany Lions in the College Football Playoff rankings going into the game behind a strong defense and running game. And to their credit, Wisconsin flexed early on Penn State with their ground attack and some big plays from the defense. Penn State wasn’t rattled, however, and stormed back and came out on top of a back-and-forth game in the second half with [autotag]Trace McSorley[/autotag] and [autotag]Saquon Barkley[/autotag] electrifying the offense.

Here is a look at some of the images from Penn State’s first Big Ten championship game.

What J.J. McCarthy said after Ohio State, before Big Ten Championship game

Will the legend grow this week? #GoBlue

Entering the final regular-season game of the 2022 college football season, outside of Ann Arbor, not many people gave Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy a chance to beat rival Ohio State if the Buckeyes loaded up against the run.

Well, about that.

For the majority of the game, McCarthy outdueled likely Heisman Trophy finalist CJ Stroud in total yardage and outplayed him with four touchdowns and no turnovers to Stroud’s two touchdowns and two interceptions.

On Tuesday, McCarthy spoke with reporters about the impending Big Ten Championship game against Purdue as well as the Ohio State game this past Saturday. Here is everything he had to say.

What Jim Harbaugh said about Michigan football before Big Ten Championship game

It’s another game week for #Michigan! #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The world-famous Ohio State Buckeyes lost on the world’s stage to Michigan football — in embarrassing fashion on a nationally broadcast game that more people watched than any other game in the past 11 years. Thus, the Wolverines are preparing for another game this week while OSU gets a week off to watch.

The maize and blue are set to take on Purdue on Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, with the winner earning the Big Ten Championship. Should the Wolverines win, it will be their second in a row, and either way, they’re all but assured to get a College Football Playoff berth.

On Monday, head coach Jim Harbaugh met with the media to discuss the team’s success, the Big Ten game, and more. Here is everything he had to say.

2022 Big Ten Championship game matchup officially set

Get ready for next Saturday! #GoBlue

Michigan football did what few expected, earning a second straight win over rival Ohio State, this time in Columbus, and in an even more emphatic fashion. But the Wolverines had to wait to see who their next opponent would be.

The Big Ten West has been an absolute disaster. Had Iowa beaten Nebraska on Friday, the Hawkeyes would have had a rematch in Indianapolis. If Purdue lost to Indiana, then Illinois would have a rematch — which assuredly no one in Ann Arbor would have wanted. But the Boilermakers beat the Hoosiers, and are Michigan’s next opponent this Saturday.

Michigan hasn’t faced Purdue since 2017 when the Wolverines won in West Lafayette. It’s the Boilermakers’ first entry into the Big Ten Championship game and the maize and blue’s second.

Purdue went 6-3 in the conference and 8-4 overall.

[listicle id=65896]

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbzardvge799bm2 player_id=01f5k5y2jb3twsvdg4 image=https://wolverineswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Big Ten championship game scenarios

Iowa, Purdue, and Illinois all alive for the B1G West division. Updated B1G division scenarios.

The Big Ten schedule will need every single week available to it to determine who will play for this year’s Big Ten championship in Indianapolis. Both the East and West divisions are up for grabs going into the final week of the regular season, and it can be pretty easy to figure out who will be moving to the championship game.

The East will be the easiest to figure out as there is just one game that needs to be played to determine a division champion. Ohio State and Michigan likely are playing for more than just a Big Ten title shot when they square off in Columbus this weekend, but the first goal for both to clear is winning the East.

Things can be pretty easy to figure out in the West too, and Iowa will get a  chance to take care of things a day before anyone else in the conference plays. But if the Hawkeyes stumble, then the door is wide open for Purdue. But if both the Hawkeyes and Boilermakers take a hit, who goes from the West?

Here is a look at the Big Ten championship game scenarios in play going into the final weekend of the regular season.

Shamrock Series game needs to come to Chicago Bears’ new stadium

This is an obvious decision for the Irish.

If you live in the Chicago area, you most likely know that the Bears are talking about leaving Soldier Field. A deal to buy the land currently occupied by the defunct Arlington Park is expected to close before the end of the year. Despite efforts by Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot to keep the Bears in the city, all signs point to the team bolting for the suburbs in a few years.

When the new stadium opens, it needs to host a Shamrock Series game soon game. Soldier Field already has hosted two of them, and there’s no reason for Notre Dame not to bring this series to Arlington Heights, Illinois. A bigger stadium will be there for the filling, and that should be no problem. As our editor Nick Shepkowski said when I texted him about this, the Irish could schedule Montana State for the game, and the place still would sell out.

Assuming this stadium gets built, it will be in line to host a Super Bowl, the Final Four, maybe even the College Football Playoff or Big Ten title games. The Shamrock Series should be a layup. As soon as it’s ready to open, [autotag]Jack Swarbrick[/autotag] or whoever is athletic director needs to get on the phone and book the stadium for the first year that doesn’t already have a host city.

Chicago already has a heavy contingent of Irish fans, so you know there will be plenty of local fans present and not only folks from out of town. Imagine not having to go to the city to check out your team that only comes through once in a while. The best part is they can do it in November without having to worry about that cold wind blowing off Lake Michigan. The location and a roof will take care of that.

The Irish should have played their last game at Soldier Field. It’s in the past where it belongs. The future is coming to the Chicago area, and the Irish need to be part of it early on.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz1mmy7gev0xbr player_id=none image=https://fightingirishwire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Kirk Herbstreit predicts the Huskers to make the Big Ten Championship Game

A major analyst likes the Huskers in 2022!

Longtime ESPN College Football analyst Kirk Herbstreit held his annual preseason prediction show on ESPN earlier this week and made a bold prediction regarding the Big Ten and who will win the West Division in 2022. Herbstreit believes the Nebraska Cornhuskers will make it out of the West this year. It’s a bold take for a team that was 3-9 last year, but as you’ll read below, Herbstreit believes the previous season is a big part of the reason why they’ll be making a postseason championship appearance.

Should Nebraska win the west, it would be the first time the Huskers had played in the postseason since the 2012 season when they made it to Indianapolis as a member of the Legends Division. Nebraska would lose that game to Wisconsin by 70-31. That was a period in which Nebraska made a conference championship game five out of seven seasons (2006-2012). However, the Huskers would go 0-5 during that stretch.

Big Ten announces new media rights deal worth $1 billion annually

The conference has announced an unprecedented deal for collegiate media rights!

The Big Ten Conference has finally announced its much-awaited media rights deal after reaching agreements with CBS, FOX, NBC, and NBCUniversal’s Peacock for distribution. Beginning in the fall of 2023, the Big Ten will operate an unprecedented morning-to-night broadcast schedule. Starting next football season FOX will air Big Ten games at 11:00 am CT, CBS at 2:30 pm CT, and NBC in Prime Time. The media rights agreements will begin July 1, 2023, and run through the 2029-30 season.

Reports state that the conference will earn between $7-$8 billion over the length of the 7-year contract. Brett McMurphy of Action Network HQ has said that a source close to the agreement says the deal contains “contract escalators may increase value to nearly $10 billion, so B1G “is not done expanding.”

A Big Ten press release states that the three partner networks (CBS, FOX, and NBC) will broadcast the seven Big Ten Football Championship Games over the deal’s life on a rotating schedule.

CBS: 2024, 2028

FOX: 2023, 2025, 2027, 2029

NBC: 2026

 

Is the Big Ten about to make a big change?

One major conference took the first steps today. Are more leagues to follow?

It was back in May that we talked about the Atlantic Coastal Conference having discussions during their annual spring meeting discussing a new scheduling model that would see the conference abandon the Atlantic and Coastal Divisions. The NCAA recently repealed a rule mandating conference divisions for any league that wanted to play a conference championship game. Now, divisions are no longer required for championship games. With that rule now removed, the ACC has become the first league to eliminate their conference divisions, starting in 2023.

The new model the ACC has adopted is known as the 3-5 format. That would give each of the league’s 14 full-time member schools three permanent opponents, while the other ten schools would operate on an every other season rotation for ten seasons, five years on and five years off. That would allow a four-year player to play every conference opponent at least once. 

The Big Ten has made vague interest in dropping the conference’s east and west divisions and adopting the same format. That change would not occur though until after the Big Ten and its TV partners have signed a new media rights agreement. That agreement could make the Big Ten the first conference to earn more than $1 billion per year in media rights. 

Hopefully the Big Ten can move quickly and wrap up their negotiations and begin the process of having a division free conference starting in 2024. The ACC has take the first important step and it’s time for the Big Ten to start a trend among the other three major conferences with divisions remaining (Big Ten, SEC, Pac-12) and take that important first step and eliminate divisions in order create a more engaging schedule both for fans and for the conference itself. 

Look below at list of Big Ten Championship Game participants.