The Big Ten
By Matt Shetler
The Big Ten Conference is the oldest
active Division I conference in the United States, founded in
1895. It currently consists of eleven members, with all of its
schools being from the Midwest. Six of its original members are
still in the conference (Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota,
Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin), with the only exception
being the University of Chicago. It was once known as The Big
Nine when the universities of Iowa and Indiana joined in 1899.
In 1950, Michigan State became the
tenth member, but the conference did not formally adopt the name
Big Ten until 1987. Penn State would join in 1991, but despite
having eleven members, the conference is still known as The Big
Ten. The only subtle change came in the conference’s logo where
they placed a one on each side of the T to signify Penn State's
arrival as the eleventh team. The headquarters of the Big Ten
is based in Park Ridge, Illinois and the 2008 commissioner is James
E. Delany, a post he has held since 1989.
As of 2008, the Big Ten has produced
28 National Champions on the gridiron. Michigan is head of the
class with nine, followed by Ohio State with seven and Minnesota
with six. The Big Ten won its last title when Ohio State was
crowned National Champions in 2002. A member of the BCS, the
Big Ten has ties to many Bowl Games which could send as many as
seven teams to bowls.
The conference has ties to the Rose
Bowl dating back to 1946 and also sends teams to: the Capital
One Bowl, Outback Bowl, Alamo Bowl, Champs Sports Bowl, Insight
Bowl and Motor City Bowl.
More than every other conference,
the Big Ten has longstanding rivalries on the football field;
the most notable being the historic Michigan-Ohio State clash
that take place the final week of each regular season. The rest
of the inter-conference rivalries all have a traveling trophy at
stake. Some of the notable ones include: Paul Bunyan’s Axe
(awarded to the winner of Minnesota-Michigan State), the Little
Brown Jug (Minnesota-Michigan), the Old Brass Spittoon
(Indiana-Michigan St) and the Governor’s Victory Bell
(Minnesota-Penn St).
Most of the teams continue out of
conference rivalries as well, as four of the teams continue to
play Notre Dame. Pitt, Syracuse and Boston College are just
many of the common opponents of Big Ten teams.
The Big Ten is also a powerhouse in
basketball as well, sending teams to the championship game
twenty-one times, winning ten of those. Big Ten teams have also
captured seven NIT Championships as of 2008.
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