Don't know about you, but I love Thursday night college football. It gets even better once the conference season starts to kick in. But even with not-so-epic games, it's still good. So what we're going to do each Thursday night is post our Big Ten Bloggers Pick'em entry (explanation below), but also make this into a fun Thursday Night Football Open Thread. Sound good? So let the chatter roll!
Some of the old-hat readers here will remember way back in the day when the Big Ten Bloggers were really cooking with gas. We used to have annual preview roundtables, weekly collaborations, and of course the Big Ten Bloggers Pick'em. Well, the only surviving one of those is the pick'em, graciously kept alive by The Daily Gopher.
And since I like doing it so much, you'll get to see us feebly pick each Big Ten football game this season. The standings will be posted at TDG each week, while we'll keep our own internal BSD standings for fun. I hope you enjoy, and definitely give us your own picks in the comments!
Galen was in charge of these back at LBU, where he did it all fancy-like. He'll likely take the reigns here in the next few weeks. They'll look much better when he's in charge.
The Schedule:
| Day | Date | Opponent | Location | TV | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu | 09/01/11 | UNLV @ Wisconsin | Madison, Wis. | ESPN / ESPN3 | 8:00 PM ET |
| Fri | 09/02/11 | Youngstown State @ Michigan State | East Lansing, Mich. | BTN | 7:30 PM ET |
| Sat | 09/03/11 | Akron @ Ohio State | Columbus, Ohio | ESPN / ESPN3 | 12:00 PM ET |
| Sat | 09/03/11 | Indiana State @ Penn State | University Park, Pa. | BTN | 12:00 PM ET |
| Sat | 09/03/11 | Middle Tennessee @ Purdue | West Lafayette, Ind. | BTN | 12:00 PM ET |
| Sat | 09/03/11 | Northwestern @ Boston College | Chestnut Hill, Mass. | ESPNU | 12:00 PM ET |
| Sat | 09/03/11 | Tennessee Tech @ Iowa | Iowa City, Iowa | BTN | 12:00 PM ET |
| Sat | 09/03/11 | Arkansas State @ Illinois | Memorial Stadiun | BTN | 3:30 PM ET |
| Sat | 09/03/11 | Chattanooga @ Nebraska | Lincoln, Neb. | BTN | 3:30 PM ET |
| Sat | 09/03/11 | Minnesota @ USC | L.A. Coliseum | ABC / ESPN3 | 3:30 PM ET |
| Sat | 09/03/11 | Western Michigan @ Michigan | Ann Arbor, Mich. | ABC (ESPN2) / ESPN3 | 3:30 PM ET |
| Sat | 09/03/11 | Indiana vs. Ball State | Indianapolis, Ind. (Lucas Oil Stadium) | ESPN3 | 7:00 PM ET |
The Picks:
| Ben | Peter | Mike | Kyle | Jeff | Pick |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wisconsin | Wisconsin | Wisconsin | Wisconsin | Wisconsin | UW |
| Michigan State | Michigan State | Michigan State | Michigan State | Michigan State | MSU |
| Ohio State | Ohio State | Ohio State | Ohio State | Ohio State | OSU |
| Penn State | Penn State | Penn State | Penn State | Penn State | PSU |
| Purdue | Purdue | Purdue | Middle Tennessee | Purdue | PU |
| Boston College | Northwestern | Boston College | Northwestern | Northwestern | NW |
| Iowa | Iowa | Iowa | Iowa | Iowa | IA |
| Arkansas State | Illinois | Illinois | Illinois | Illinois | ILL |
| Nebraska | Nebraska | Nebraska | Nebraska | Nebraska | NEB |
| Minnesota | USC | USC | USC | USC | USC |
| Michigan | Michigan | Michigan | Michigan | Michigan | UM |
| Indiana | Ball State | Indiana | Indiana | Indiana | IND |