Last season Minnesota blog the Daily Gopher ran the Big Ten Blogger's Pick'em where only the most prestigious blogs around the Big Ten got invited to face off in a battle royal of prognostication. Sadly this year the contest doesn't exist. Fear not, oh loyal BSD reader, the contest is not going away as far as we're concerned; we've retooled it like a failing 80's sitcom. I give you the BSD's Big Ten Challenge/Thursday Night Open thread weekly post. Every Thursday night we'll give you a list of Big Ten games, our picks, and this year you get to play along. It will be done by majority vote with a ballot box at the end of the post for the readers. It's a democracy, we live in 'merica after all, so scroll to the bottom and give us your answers.
This is a multitasking post, along with BSD's BTC we also will use this space for the Thursday night open thread. Join us each week as we watch the Thursday night game, make fun of the horrible Nike uniforms that are about to be thrust on us, and share month-old internet meme's and inappropriate gifs. Tonight the season gets kicked off at 7:00 PM on ESPN where No.9 South Carolina travels to Vanderbilt Stadium to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores. That's a lot of Vanderbilts in one sentence.
Let's get this party started after the jump...
The Games
Thu | 8/30/2012 | Minnesota @ UNLV | Las Vegas, Nev. | CBS Sports Net | 11:00 PM ET |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fri | 8/31/2012 | Boise State @ Michigan State | East Lansing, Mich. | ESPN | 8:00 PM ET |
Sat | 9/1/2012 | Miami (Ohio) @ Ohio State | Columbus, Ohio | BTN | 12:00 PM ET |
Sat | 9/1/2012 | Northwestern @ Syracuse | Syracuse, N.Y. | ESPN2 | 12:00 PM ET |
Sat | 9/1/2012 | Ohio @ Penn State | State College, Pa. | ESPN | 12:00 PM ET |
Sat | 9/1/2012 | Western Michigan @ Illinois | Champaign, Ill. | ESPNU | 12:00 PM ET |
Sat | 9/1/2012 | Eastern Kentucky @ Purdue | West Lafayette, Ind. | BTN | 3:30 PM ET |
Sat | 9/1/2012 | Iowa @ Northern Illinois | Chicago, Ill. (Soldier Field) | ESPNU | 3:30 PM ET |
Sat | 9/1/2012 | Northern Iowa @ Wisconsin | Madison, Wis. | BTN | 3:30 PM ET |
Sat | 9/1/2012 | Southern Miss @ Nebraska | Lincoln, Neb. | ABC (ESPN2) | 3:30 PM ET |
Sat | 9/1/2012 | Alabama @ Michigan | Arlington, Texas (Cowboys Stadium) | ABC | 8:00 PM ET |
Sat | 9/1/2012 | Indiana State @ Indiana | Bloomington, Ind. | BTN | 8:00 PM ET |
The Picks
Devon | Minnesota | Michigan State | Ohio State | Northwestern | Penn State | Illinois | Purdue | Iowa | Wisconsin | Nebraska | Alabama | Indiana |
Jared | Minnesota | Michigan State | Ohio State | Northwestern | Penn State | Western Michigan | Purdue | Iowa | Wisconsin | Nebraska | Alabama | Indiana |
Cari | Minnesota | Michigan State | Ohio State | Northwestern | Penn State | Illinois | Purdue | Iowa | Wisconsin | Nebraska | Alabama | Indiana State |
bscaff | Minnesota | Boise State | Ohio State | Syracuse | Penn State | Western Michigan | Purdue | Iowa | Wisconsin | Nebraska | Alabama | Indiana |
Dan | Minnesota | Michigan State | Ohio State | Northwestern | Penn State | Illinois | Purdue | Iowa | Wisconsin | Nebraska | Alabama | Indiana |
Jeff | Minnesota | Michigan State | Ohio State | Syracuse | Penn State | Illinois | Purdue | Iowa | Wisconsin | Nebraska | Alabama | Indiana State |
Tim Aydin | Minnesota | Michigan State | Ohio State | Northwestern | Penn State | Illinois | Purdue | Iowa | Wisconsin | Nebraska | Alabama | Indiana |
Mike | Minnesota | Michigan State | Ohio State | Northwestern | Penn State | Illinois | Purdue | Iowa | Wisconsin | Nebraska | Michigan | Indiana |
Nick | UNLV | Michigan State | Ohio State | Northwestern | Penn State | Illinois | Purdue | Iowa | Wisconsin | Nebraska | Alabama | Indiana |
Galen | Minnesota | Boise State | Ohio State | Northwestern | Penn State | Illinois | Purdue | Iowa | Wisconsin | Nebraska | Alabama | Indiana |
Most of the pundits agree that the Big Ten will have a solid week 1. We were unanimous with Penn State (yeah!) OSU, Purdue, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Mike stepped out on a tiny thin limb picking Michigan to upset the defending Champs. Ben and Jeff aren't sure about Northwestern and Ben and yours truly question Michigan State. Isn't it about time for a Spartan collapse? I mean they finally have national respect getting ranked close to top-ten in the preseason... they are ripe for the upset.
Now it's your turn, vote on the games below!
Ed note: Hey guys, don't forget to join the BSD Pick 'Em at www.funofficepools.com. Ballots due before noon on Saturday.--CG
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