Tag: Big Ten Network

WATCH: Big Ten Network analyst explains resurgence of Phil Longo’s Wisconsin offense

WATCH: Big Ten Network analyst explains resurgence of Phil Longo’s Wisconsin offense

Big Ten Network analyst and former Michigan tight end Jake Butt took to the video board this week to break down Wisconsin’s recent resurgence, specifically on the offensive side of the football.

That resurgence has seen point totals of 52 and 42 over the last two weeks in the Badgers’ blowout victories over Purdue and Rutgers, respectively. The unit has suddenly found a balance with RB Tawee Walker running the ball effectively and QB Braedyn Locke improving by the week.

Related: 10 keys to a Wisconsin Badgers victory over the Northwestern Wildcats

Butt explained some of the reasons for Wisconsin’s night-and-day improvement on the offensive side of the football:

“It starts with the run game, and they’re finding something with Tawee Walker,” Butt began. “Well, off that run game you can start to affect the linebackers with play-action. Tawee has been a physical back, Rutgers knows they have to come downhill — bang, we’re going to rip a post right in that vacated area.”

His demonstration continued to show the different concepts and schemes Longo can build off of a strong, successful, downhill rushing attack. It also continued to show Locke’s improvement under center and his ability to threaten defenses sideline-to-sideline.

Here is the full two-minute breakdown:

Butt went on to stress the importance of the Badgers’ upcoming trip to Northwestern.

“The big question was ‘who are they going to be as a team?'” he continued. “Luke Fickell comes in and he wanted to reidentify, offensively, defensively. And that’s why these past two weeks, and this weekend, are so important. Because you talk about Wisconsin playing those opponents, now all of the sudden it’s ‘Penn State has to play Wisconsin, Oregon has to play Wisconsin.’ They’ve become a dangerous team there in the middle of the conference.”

Wisconsin is next on the field on Saturday at noon ET, 11 a.m. CT against Northwestern. Another decisive victory would build substantial momentum entering a big-time home matchup with top-ranked Penn State on Oct. 26.

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The Big Ten Network blackout is finally over for west coast fans

Fans in Oregon, Washington, and California now have access to the Big Ten Network after a lengthy delay.

Two television entities have finally come to an agreement that left west coast Big Ten fans in the dark for the first month-plus of the college football and college sports schedule.

Comcast/Xfinity and the Big Ten Network agreed to a carriage deal to bring the channel to Washington, Oregon, and California. BTN was blacked out on the west coast because Fox, which owns the network, could not get Comcast to budge on adding those states with their teams joining the Big Ten conference.

“We’re pleased the Big Ten Network will be available to Xfinity TV customers who subscribe to the Popular TV package in Oregon, Washington, and California in time for the action this weekend,” Comcast said Thursday.

West coast fans without another provider have missed numerous football games, and countless hours of live sports programming. Some of the live broadcasts are the only way parents and family members can see their loved one play.

None of the former Pac-12 teams play on the Big Ten Network Weeks 7 and 8. Only Rutgers at USC (11:00 p.m. ET on FOX) and Northwestern at Iowa (3:30 p.m. ET start) have info known about their Week 9 matchups.

This announcement also comes one day after Big Ten basketball teams started releasing their television schedules.

Congrats to fans of the Huskies, Ducks, Trojans, and Bruins for gaining access to Big Ten Network and some great live and original programming.

Superior Dome matchup to be featured on Big Ten Network

MSU v NMU will be featured on BTN with two of the best broadcasters in the business on the call

Michigan State basketball is going to the upper peninsula to play an exhibition matchup against Northern Michigan, the alma mater of MSU head coach Tom Izzo.

While an exciting game for MSU’s head man, and the program as a whole, fans will now be able to take in the action with two of the best commentators in the sport on the call.

According to the Northern Michigan athletics website, the game is going to be featured on the Big Ten Network with Lisa Byington and Bill Raftery on the call.

Read the press release, here.

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MSU football pick-six named play of the week

Big Ten Network named Charles Brantley’s pick-six as the play of the week:

Michigan State football improved to 3-0 on the 2024 season, the first in Jonathan Smith’s tenure at MSU, after defeating Prairie View A&M, 40-0, on Saturday.

In the win, the Spartans broke a school record, recording a 100-yard interception for a touchdown. It was cornerback Charles Brantley that recorded a pick-six for MSU, helping him earn the honor as the highest rated cornerback in the nation for week three.

The Big Ten Network has ranked the pick-six as the B1G Football Play of the Week:

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Watch the Big Ten Network break down MSU football’s game with PVSU

BTN broke down MSU’s matchup with PVSU

Michigan State football is off to the best start they could have asked for to open the Jonathan Smith era in East Lansing. The Spartans defeated Florida Atlantic before going on the road and earning a Big Ten road win against Maryland in College Park.

Next up for the Spartans is an FCS opponent, playing host to the Prairie View A&M Panthers inside of Spartan Stadium. The SWAC opponent was a late add to the Spartans schedule, and now is the team in the way from a 3-0 start to the Smith era.

The Big Ten Network broke down the Spartans matchup with the Panthers, a breakdown fans can watch via YouTube:

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Oregon State trolls Oregon about local Big Ten Network blackouts

Oregon State Beavers make jab at rival Oregon Ducks for Big Ten media rights causing blackouts locally ahead of college football season.

The Pac-12 conference was gutted for a variety of factors, which prominently included a media rights deal that wasn’t working for the member institutions or the fans.

The Pac-12 Network was difficult for fans to find, and the lack of games on major networks led to limited visibility and major frustration – which was expected to be alleviated in the Big Ten, Big 12, and ACC.

However, as Comcast subscribers in the Pacific Northwest are finding out, the same old problems persist.

Comcast offers a $10 add-on which features the Big Ten Network, a relatively small price to pay for fans of Oregon, Washington, USC, and UCLA to ensure access to their favorite teams as they embark on a new season.

Except, as reported by John Canzano, a battle of ‘territorial rights’ currently means local games will be blacked out on the Big Ten Network – proof the more things change, the more they stay the same.

The irony of Oregon bolting from the Pac-12 to join the Big Ten – in part because of more reliable media rights – is certainly not lost on Oregon State, who took a shot at their longtime rivals with a social media post on Tuesday.

The Beavers were one of two Pac-12 schools left in the dust during realignment, and they are now playing as independents along with Washington State for the next few years while they look to rebuild the conference.

It has certainly been a rough calendar year for the Beavers and Cougars, but they can relish the fact their games are much easier to find on TV locally, at least for the time being.

Michigan State football to be featured on Big Ten Network on Monday

Michigan State will be the focus on Big Ten Network all day:

Throughout training camp, the Big Ten Network makes their way to each individual campus in the conference, and dedicating a whole day of content to that school’s team. The day of content is cumulated with the training camp show.

On Monday, the Spartans will be the focus of BTN’s wall-to-wall coverage, and at 8 p.m. ET, the Michigan State training camp show will start.

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Wisconsin DC Mike Tressel: Badgers leadership is ‘completely different’ entering 2024

Wisconsin DC Mike Tressel: Badgers ‘leadership is completely different’ entering 2024

Wisconsin defensive coordinator Mike Tressel is impressed with what he’s seen from the team’s veterans on defense entering the 2024 season.

He shared his sentiment with the Big Ten Network crew as they made their annual trip to the Badgers fall training camp. The focus: the presence of senior safety Hunter Wohler and linebacker Jake Chaney.

Related: Projecting Wisconsin Badgers two-deep depth chart heading into Week 4 of 2024 fall camp

“I think the leadership is completely different in terms of those guys really hold their teammates accountable,” Tressel said. “It’s so much better when the players hold each other accountable than when the coaches get involved in that. That is so much better.”

Wohler and Chaney both return after finishing 2023 as two of the Badgers’ statistical leaders. That season, as explained by many, was unique in that it was an adjustment period for everybody, head coach on down. It’s reasonable to assume that setting created an unusual dynamic, especially for the previous leaders under Paul Chryst and Jim Leonhard who elected to stay after Fickell’s hire.

That dynamic is all gone entering 2024. Wohler and Chaney are two of the team’s senior leaders on defense, and have clearly left a positive impression on their coordinator.

“The other thing is we’ve challenged them to be problem solvers. We’ve put them in positions to see some things that they haven’t seen during practice or on film,” Tressel continued. “And have them communicate and be the problem solvers. Because we weren’t great in opening scripts last year. That’s when you see the stuff you haven’t seen in practice. So we’ve put that on their plates and they’ve done well.”

Tressel, Wohler and Chaney are looking to lead the Wisconsin defense to an improvement after a solid performance in 2023. That unit finished ranked No. 21 in the nation in scoring defense (20.2 points per game) and No. 39 in total defense (344 yards allowed per game). The 2024 group is expected to be better with another year of continuity, aided by a host of transfer additions at linebacker and defensive line.

That improvement, in Tressel’s eyes, will also come due to the growing leadership of Wohler and Chaney at the center of the unit.

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Big Ten Network to feature Wisconsin football on Saturday

Big Ten Network to feature Wisconsin football on Aug. 17

Big Ten Network will run a feature from Wisconsin football training camp on Saturday, Aug 17. at 5:00 p.m. CT.

The outlet will air one hour of content deriving from the Badgers’ training camp this summer to provide fans a glimpse into the team before the 2024 season commences.

All 18 Big Ten programs will receive coverage. Maryland, Iowa, USC, Nebraska, Illinois, Rutgers, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State and Penn State are all also slotted for Saturday.

Luke Fickell’s crew recently staged their first two weeks of football training camp from July 29-August 12 on the UW-Platteville campus for the second straight season. The platoon returned to campus in Madison last Monday.

It’s been a relatively eventful training camp period for Wisconsin ahead of its 2024 gauntlet. Offensive coordinator Phil Longo named Tyler Van Dyke as his unit’s starting quarterback and a few players, such as running back Darrion Dupree and cornerback Xavier Lucas, flashed brilliance during practices.

The coverage will likely showcase some of Wisconsin’s offensive and defensive leaders, and highlight the differences between this period and the Badgers’ 2023 training camp — Luke Fickell’s first as head coach.

Big Ten finally drops new ‘maps’ video to include new schools

New Big Ten, new Maps #GoBucks

One thing the Big Ten and Big Ten Network do well is market its schools. The brainchild of former commissioner Jim Delaney, the Big Ten Network set the standard for what revenue could look like in the world of college athletics. And since that time in the mid 2000s schools have been chomping at the bit to get a piece of the pie.

One of the most iconic marketing campaigns has been what is known as the Big Ten “Maps” segment. Set to the song “Silver Lining” by Guards, the original set started us on the West Coast with the Rose Bowl and then traversed us across the country as we watched our favorite school pop up on the map with a nod to traditions and landscapes.

But many have been asking when an update was coming after the additions of Oregon, Washington, UCLA, and USC. Well, we finally got the answer as the updated “Maps” was released earlier today. Check it out courtesy of the Big Ten Conference.

While it doesn’t change all that much, the addition is an official welcome to the new conference schools. And it’s a change fans from all over the new look Big Ten will appreciate.

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