Tag: BTN

Rewatch Montee Ball break the Big Ten rushing touchdown record on BTN

On October 13th, 2012, former Wisconsin running back Montee Ball broke the Big Ten record for career rushing touchdowns with his 72nd car…

On October 13th, 2012, former Wisconsin running back Montee Ball broke the Big Ten record for career rushing touchdowns with his 72nd career rushing touchdown against the Purdue Boilermakers. Big Ten Network Wisconsin’s Twitter properly commemorated the eighth anniversary of the record-breaking touchdown with a video of the run itself.

Ball ran for more than just Big Ten records during with time with the Badgers, in fact, he finished his collegiate career holding the FBS record for career rushing touchdowns with 77 as well as the FBS record for total career touchdowns with 83. Although these FBS records have since been broken, the legacy that Ball has left at Wisconsin will always be remembered by Wisconsin fans.

Montee Ball may not have had the best professional career, but Badger fans will forever be grateful for his time at Wisconsin. I am reminded of Wisconsin’s dominance of the Big Ten in the early 2010s from this video and am excited to see how Wisconsin will fare this season.

WATCH: Melvin Gordon’s greatest runs for Wisconsin on BTN

In Big Ten Network’s ‘Countdown To Kickoff,’ Melvin Gordon was selected to represent 25 days left to the start of the Big Ten football se…

In Big Ten Network’s ‘Countdown To Kickoff,’ Melvin Gordon was selected to represent 25 days left to the start of the Big Ten football season. The selection included a highlight video from Gordon’s playing days as a Badger and showed just how dominant his college career was.

The clip showed several of Gordon’s most impressive runs, including some highlights from his outstanding performance in the 2012 Big Ten Championship Game where he ran for 216 yards and a touchdown in the Badgers 70-31 blowout win against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Although the 216 rushing yards were eye-popping from that game, the statistic that really stands out is Gordon’s 24 yards per carry.

It is great to be able to see some of Melvin Gordon’s old highlights to remember just how great his play was at Wisconsin and gets me even more excited for the start of Big Ten football.

WATCH: Marcus Cromartie goes over his favorite memories as a Badger on BTN

This morning, Marcus Cromartie went on Big Ten Network’s Take Ten Podcast to discuss his favorite memories as a Wisconsin Badger from 200…

This morning, Marcus Cromartie went on Big Ten Network’s Take Ten Podcast to discuss his favorite memories as a Wisconsin Badger from 2009 to 2012.

Throughout the interview, Cromartie talked about his connection to Wisconsin athletics, and the importance that the Big Ten Championship games had to him. Cromartie also talked about his life after football and the start of his new podcast called Chat With Cro to talk to other former Wisconsin players.

The whole interview on Youtube is about 42 minutes, but it is definitely worth the watch as Marcus Cromartie talks about his childhood, college career at Wisconsin, life in the NFL, and his life after football. It is really interesting to learn more about a former Wisconsin star after his NFL career has finished.

WATCH: David Gilreath picks his four favorite plays at Wisconsin on BTN

Monday afternoon, former Wisconsin wide receiver and return threat David Gilreath picked his top four plays in his time with the Badgers…

Monday afternoon, former Wisconsin wide receiver and return threat David Gilreath picked his top four plays in his time with the Badgers on Big Ten Network Wisconsin’s twitter account. Gilreath showed just how versatile he was in college by picking a rushing touchdown, a punt return for a touchdown, a receiving touchdown, and a kick return for a touchdown as his favorite plays.

After his successful career at Wisconsin, David Gilreath was a journeyman in the NFL playing for seven teams in his eight-year career as mostly a practice squad player. Despite his lack of success in the NFL, Gilreath has the record for most all-time kick return yards in the Big Ten and is the only Badger to score a rushing touchdown, a receiving touchdown, a punt return touchdown, and a kick return touchdown.

It appears that Gilreath may have aimed to remind people of his record and versatility when picking his four top plays. It is really fun to be able to see how talented Wisconsin was in the early 2010s era and reminds me just how good the Badgers have consistently been.

Watch: Tom Izzo talks about the depth of the Big Ten on BTN

Today on Big Ten Network, Tom Izzo joined Andy Katz to talk about how talented and deep the Big Ten will be this season because of teams …

Friday afternoon on Big Ten Network, Tom Izzo joined Andy Katz to talk about how talented and deep the Big Ten will be this season because of teams like Wisconsin, Maryland, Iowa, Illinois, and Michigan State returning lots of experienced players.

Katz briefly mentioned Wisconsin because they will be returning all of their starters and most of their bench, with the notable exception of Brevin Pritzl, but much of the interview focused on how dominant the Big Ten could be this season. The talent of the Big Ten will definitely be fun to watch as March Madness approaches, and could lead to a very exciting Big Ten Tournament.

Urban Meyer applauds Ryan Day and Scott Frost’s decision to fight for their players’ ability to play in the fall

Urban Meyer sat down with BTN and expressed his thoughts on Ryan Day and Scott Frost’s fight for their players’ ability to play this fall.

By now, you know how decisive and polarizing the Big Ten’s decision to postpone the fall football season for 2020 is. Many players and coaches have come out to express outrage at the communication, lack of plan, and all-around confusion surrounding how things were handled. But most of all, many of the players at the bigger-ticketed teams are extremely upset that they won’t get to play in the fall after all the hard work that’s been put in.

And as a head coach at one of these programs, often being an advocate for kids you’ve been entrusted with by families is part of the job.

In the case of Ohio State head coach Ryan Day and Nebraska head man Scott Frost, they have been vocal about fighting their hardest to still find an avenue for their players to compete in the fall.

If anyone knows about being in this type of situation, it’s former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer. So, what does he think of what Frost and Day are doing for their kids, and in some way, going against the Big Ten’s decision amid the coronavirus pandemic?

Meyer answered that very question while appearing with BTN’s Gerry DiNardo this past week.

“Well, I applaud them,” said Meyer. … “In my mind I didn’t work for the university, I don’t work for the president, I don’t work for the athletic director. I work for the parents and the families of the student-athletes.”

He then explained how the families entrust the head coach of the program they choose to go to bat for their kids at all costs.

“They (the parents) have to really believe deep in their heart, that coach is going to fight for them as hard as they can. Does that mean try everything possible to let people do what they dreamed of doing and they worked so hard to do? Absolutely it does.”

So count Meyer in the camp that is behind what Frost and Day are doing to try and fight as hard as they can for their kids to be able to realize their dream this fall. It may not end the way they want, but they aren’t going down without swinging.

You can listen to the rest of what Meyer says by clicking on the below and watching the full three-minute interview with DiNardo.

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Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion.

We have a forum and message board now. Get in on the conversation about Ohio State athletics by joining the Buckeyes Wire Forum.

Watch: Big Ten Network puts out touching video memorializing fall college football season

The Big Ten Network has released a video tribute memorializing the now lost fall college football season.

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Yesterday, the Big Ten Conference made waves across the country when the presidents of the Big Ten schools made the unprecedented decision to postpone the fall college football season in response to the dangers presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. While this decision was not made lightly, and was done to ensure the safety of the student-athletes, it cannot go unsaid that the fall college football season is extremely important to fans, coaches, an especially the players. To memorialize the fall season, the Big Ten Network put out a really touching video tribute to the season.

You can watch the video below:

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WATCH: J.K. Dobbins picks his four favorite plays from his college career at Ohio State

Former Ohio State running back J.K. Dobbins picked out his favorite four runs while donning the Buckeye uniform for BTN. Watch them here.

I don’t know that I’ll fully appreciate what J.K. Dobbins was for Ohio State until we see the season start up again and miss his presence and character in the lineup.

Now that he’s doing his thing in Baltimore, we can at least still follow his career and hope he has a breakout moment somewhere along the way for the Ravens while he bides his time on a team that loves to rush the ball.

Still, we have those memories that Dobbins left us all with in Columbus, and some of them are the same ones that he will likely remember too. In fact, BTN recently asked the Ohio State single-season rushing record holder what his favorite four plays were while wearing a Buckeye uniform and he was happy to oblige.

You can see the four plays he picked by clicking on the below video link that has them all embedded thanks to the Twitter feed of BTN.

Also of interest, Dobbins has been communicating back and forth with fans on what play they liked the most, so you can get in on the action if you find your way to this thread.

Personally, our favorite was the run against Clemson early in the game. It’s just too bad the whole deal ended on such a sour note, otherwise we might have another one to choose from in a national championship format.

 

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion.

We have a forum and message board now. Get in on the conversation about Ohio State athletics by joining the Buckeyes Wire Forum.

Playoff or bust? Urban Meyer and Gerry DiNardo on what success looks like at Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State

Urban Meyer and Gerry DiNardo spent some time debating what success looks like at Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan. They don’t agree.

Throughout the offseason, BTN and FOX College Football have been having conversations on various topics as it relates to Big Ten football. And since former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer is a big part of the studio crews for both, he’s been featured in a lot of those discussions, and his take on things is always interesting.

On Friday, BTN’s Gerry DiNardo and Meyer got debated what success looks like for three of the historical best programs in the Big Ten’s East division, Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan. The topic? What defines success at those schools.

For Meyer, it was easy — win the Big Ten Championship.

“In my mind it’s very simple,” said Meyer. ” It’s did you win the (Big Ten) Championship? If not — and I hate to be so blunt — I just remember growing up in the Woody Hayes – Bo Schembechler era, you either won the championship or you really just had an okay year.”

DiNardo had a little different take on it and said for at least two of the programs, it’s now bigger than that.

“I look at it that it’s changed,” DiNardo said. ” I look at it that college football, for certain programs has become national championship or bust. I think that’s how you define Ohio State, you might define Penn State as a national championship or bust program — certainly a Big Ten Championship program.”

He then went on to provide an unattended slam to Michigan with a dose of reality.

“Michigan is the confusing one for me,” DiNardo continued. “I don’t see Michigan as being a national championship or bust program. I do think that they expect to win the East (division), they expect to go to Indianapolis, they expect to go to the Rose Bowl. But historically, Bo (Schembechler) set the tempo for Big Ten coaches goal should be to win the conference and go to the Rose Bowl. That mentality is different than what I perceive in Columbus and in State College.”

So, there was a bit of a disagreement between the two. Meyer went on to agree with what DiNardo was saying, but said it shouldn’t be that way because of the tradition of what Woody and Bo set.

You can watch the entire exchange here thanks to BTN sharing it via their Twitter profile.

Next … What we say

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Mike Sadler named All-Decade punter by Big Ten Network

Sadler is the second Spartan named All-Decade by the Big Ten Network

There might not be a more appropriate representation of the Mark Dantonio era at Michigan State than a punter being named first-team All-Decade.

Forever Spartan Mike Sadler has been named just that by the Big Ten Network, becoming just the second Spartan to make the first team.

Sadler was twice named first-team All-Big Ten during his four-year career and was first team All-American in 2013. He led the nation in punts downed inside the 20 that season. Sadler was also a four-time Academic All-American and authored a number of magical trick plays during his time punting. And who could forget the fan-driven #Sadler4HeismanCampaign that wasn’t totally farcical.

Sadler was set to attend Stanford Law School in 2016 when he and Nebraska punter Sam Foltz were tragically killed in a car accident that July. In his memory The Michael Sadler Foundation was formed to help recognize and build a generation of young students-athlete leaders.

It’s rare that a punter becomes more than just the guy who trots on the field to kick the ball away on fourth down. Mike Sadler far outshone that typical punter status, both on the field and off.

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