2010 Big Ten Conference football season

The 2010 Big Ten Conference football season was the 115th season for the Big Ten. The conference started its season on Thursday, September 2, as conference member Minnesota traveled to Murfreesboro, Tennessee to face Middle Tennessee, and Ohio State hosted the Thundering Herd of Marshall. The conference's other 9 teams began their respective 2010 season of NCAA Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) competition on Saturday, September 4. It was also the final season for the conference before the Nebraska Cornhuskers joined the conference from the Big 12 the following season.

Preseason

After a 2010 NFL Draft, which saw 34 Big Ten athletes selected,^[4] 12 2009 first-team All-Big Ten selections, 8 second-team selections and 33 honorable mention selections returned for the 2010 season.^[5] The Big Ten held the 2010 Football Media Days and 39th annual Kickoff Luncheon on Monday and Tuesday, August 2–3.^[4]

Schedules

In a given year, each Big Ten team will play eight of the other Big Ten teams. Thus for any given team in a given year, there are two others which will not be competed against. Below is the breakdown of each team and its two "no-plays" for 2010:^[6]

Illinois: Iowa, Wisconsin
Indiana: Michigan State, Minnesota
Iowa: Illinois, Purdue
Michigan: Minnesota, Northwestern
Michigan State: Indiana, Ohio State
Minnesota: Indiana, Michigan
Northwestern: Michigan, Ohio State
Ohio State: Michigan State, Northwestern
Penn State: Purdue, Wisconsin
Purdue: Iowa, Penn State
Wisconsin: Illinois, Penn State

Rankings

In Weeks 3 and 4, the Big Ten had six teams ranked in both polls for the first time since September 13, 2004.^[7]

Spring games

April 17

Indiana
Iowa
Michigan
Purdue
Wisconsin

April 24

Illinois
Michigan State
Minnesota
Northwestern
Ohio State
Penn State

Season

Homecoming games

October 2

Penn State @ Iowa 7:05 p.m. CT (Iowa's record in homecoming games is 52-41-5) ^[8]
Northwestern @ Minnesota 11:00 a.m. CT (Minnesota's record in homecoming games is 54-33-3) ^[9]

October 9

Illinois @ Penn State 12:00 p.m. ET (Penn State's record in homecoming games is 65-20-5) ^[10]
Minnesota @ Wisconsin 11:00 a.m. ET (Wisconsin's record in homecoming games is 52-45-5) ^[11]

October 16

Arkansas State @ Indiana 12:00 p.m. ET (Indiana's record in homecoming games is 43-48-6) ^[12]
Iowa @ Michigan 3:30 p.m. ET (Michigan's record in homecoming games is 83–26) ^[13]
Illinois @ Michigan State 12:00 p.m. ET (Michigan State's record in homecoming games is 61-30-3) ^[14]
Minnesota @ Purdue 12:00 p.m. ET (Purdue's record in homecoming games is 48-35-4) ^[15]

October 23

Indiana @ Illinois 11:00 a.m. CT (Illinois's record in homecoming games is 42-55-2) ^[16]
Michigan State @ Northwestern 11:00 a.m. CT ^[17]
Purdue @ Ohio State 12:00 p.m. ET (Ohio State's record in homecoming games is 64-19-5) ^[18]

On September 25, Joe Paterno became the fifth head coach to earn 150 victories as a member of the Big Ten Conference.^[7] On October 9, Jim Tressel became the first Big Ten head coach to earn 100 victories in his first ten seasons, surpassing Bo Schembechler and Lloyd Carr who achieved the milestone in their 11th seasons and he did so in the third fewest games (121), behind Schembechler and Fielding Yost (119) and ahead of Henry Williams (123). (The wins for the 2010 season were later vacated.)^[19] On November 6, Paterno became the first FBS coach to total 400 career wins.^[20]

Big Ten vs. BCS matchups

Attendance

Week 3 attendance (September 18) set an all-time Big Ten single-day attendance record with an average of 78,844. All eight games had crowds of over 50,000; Michigan State (78,411), Wisconsin (81,332), Ohio State (105,075) and Michigan (110,187) had sellouts; and 100,610 patrons were in attendance for Penn State. It surpassed the September 3, 2005 eight-game single-day average of 76,475.^[21] On October 9, the Big Ten set a five-game attendance record of 88,034, surpassing the 87,620, set on October 28, 1995. Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin all hosted sellouts.^[19]

Bowl games

The following is the Big Ten Bowl game schedule.^[22]

Head coaches

2011 NFL Draft

Awards

^[28]

Notes

^ #16: Jacksonville → Washington. (D) see #10: Washington → Jacksonville.^[23]
^ #61: New York Jets → San Diego (PD). The Jets traded this conditional selection to San Diego for cornerback Antonio Cromartie.^[24]
^ #72: Washington → New Orleans (PD). Washington traded this selection and a conditional 2012 sixth-round selection to New Orleans for offensive tackle Jammal Brown and a fifth-round selection.^[25]
^ #135: multiple trades:
#135: Denver → Tampa Bay (PD). Denver traded this selection to Tampa Bay for a 2010 seventh-round selection it acquired from Pittsburgh (225th overall; Denver selected Syd'Quan Thompson) and a 2010 seventh-round selection it acquired from Baltimore (232nd overall; Denver selected Jammie Kirlew).^[26]
#135: Tampa Bay → Kansas City (PD). Tampa Bay traded this selection to Kansas City for Kansas City's 6th round selection (#187) and defensive tackle Alex Magee.^[27]

References

^ "Buckeyes vacate wins from last football season". ESPN.com. July 8, 2011. The measures taken by the school included vacating all the Buckeyes' wins from last season, a year in which Ohio State captured a record-tying sixth straight Big Ten title and won an unprecedented seventh straight game over Michigan.
^ "Big Ten Conference Standings - 2010". ESPN. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
^ "2014 NCAA Football Rankings - Week 16". ESPN. December 7, 2010. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
^ a b "National Football League Selects 34 Big Ten Student-Athletes in 2010 Draft: Big Ten ranks second among all conferences with 34 selections overall". CBS Interactive. April 26, 2010. Archived from the original on May 15, 2010. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
^ "2010 Big Ten Football Prospectus: Twenty All-Big Ten players return to the field for the 2010 campaign". CBS Interactive. 12 April 2010. Archived from the original on 15 April 2010. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
^ "Big Ten Weekly Football Release - Preseason: Big Ten set to kick off 114th year of football on Sept. 3 and Sept. 5". CBS Interactive. August 3, 2009. Archived from the original on August 13, 2009. Retrieved August 24, 2009.
^ a b "Big Ten Weekly Football Release - Sept. 27: 115th Big Ten football season starts Saturday". CBS Interactive. September 27, 2010. Archived from the original on December 23, 2010. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
^ "2010 Iowa Football Schedule". Iowa Sports Information. June 25, 2010. Archived from the original on June 29, 2010. Retrieved June 25, 2010.
^ "2010 Minnesota Football Schedule". Minnesota Sports Information. June 25, 2010. Retrieved June 25, 2010.
^ "2010 PSU Football Schedule". PSU Sports Information. June 25, 2010. Archived from the original on June 18, 2010. Retrieved June 25, 2010.
^ "2010 Wisconsin Football Schedule". Wisconsin Sports Information. 25 June 2010. Archived from the original on 29 June 2010. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
^ "2010 Indiana Football Schedule". Indiana Sports Information. June 25, 2010. Retrieved June 25, 2010.
^ "2010 Michigan Football Schedule". Michigan Sports Information. June 25, 2010. Retrieved June 25, 2010.
^ "2010 Michigan State Football Schedule". Michigan State Sports Information. June 25, 2010. Retrieved June 25, 2010.
^ "2010 Purdue Football Schedule". Purdue Sports Information. June 25, 2010. Archived from the original on May 16, 2011. Retrieved June 25, 2010.
^ "2010 Illinois Football Schedule". Illinois Sports Information. June 25, 2010. Archived from the original on August 21, 2013. Retrieved June 25, 2010.
^ "2010 Northwestern Football Schedule". Northwestern Sports Information. 25 June 2010. Archived from the original on 20 June 2010. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
^ "2010 OSU Football Schedule". OSU Sports Information. June 25, 2010. Retrieved June 25, 2010.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ a b "Big Ten Weekly Football Release - Oct. 11: Five Big Ten teams among top 25, including nation's No. 1 team for first time since 2007". CBS Interactive. 11 October 2010. Archived from the original on 14 October 2010. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
^ "Big Ten Weekly Football Release - Nov. 8: Penn State's Joe Paterno becomes first FBS coach to earn 400 wins". CBS Interactive. 8 November 2010. Archived from the original on 12 November 2010. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
^ "Big Ten Weekly Football Release - Sept. 20: Big Ten tied for national lead with six top 25 teams, most top 25 squads since 2004 season". CBS Interactive. 20 September 2010. Archived from the original on 25 October 2010. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
^ "2010-11 bowl schedule". ESPN. December 5, 2010. Retrieved December 6, 2010.
^ Stellino, Vito (April 28, 2011). "Blaine Gabbert: Face of the Jaguars' future: Jags pull major surprise again with deal for Missouri QB". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
^ "Former All-Pro Cromartie headed to Jets". ESPN.com. March 5, 2010. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
^ Schefter, Adam (June 19, 2010). "Redskins add OT Brown in trade". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on June 22, 2010. Retrieved June 19, 2010.
^ "Draft trade tracker: Let's make a deal: Broncos collect two more late picks from Buccaneers". NFL.com. National Football League. April 24, 2010. Archived from the original on April 25, 2010. Retrieved April 24, 2010.
^ Stroud, Rick (19 October 2010). "Bucs trade for Chiefs' DE Alex Magee". St. Petersburg Times. Archived from the original on 22 October 2010. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
^ "Big Ten Announces 2010 Football All-Conference Teams and Individual Honors". Big Ten Conference. Archived from the original on December 22, 2010. Retrieved June 8, 2016.