Big Ten at Ten, Linked Up on 9.25.12: The New Site is Here!

Good Morning Off Tackle Empire. As you can tell, there were a few changes implemented overnight. Some of them you will probably say, "Hey Jesse, I can't do _________," and to that I say, "Well, you probably can, but like everything new, you gotta figure that out." The new layout and community of SBNation United should be pretty sweet once we all get the hang of it. All of us writers had to go through extensive training (okay, fine, we watched a bunch of videos) to figure this out, but like all of you, we're still working our way through things. Be patient and give constructive feedback and we'll make this happen. Also, you can go ahead and read about the changes here. From what I have gathered, this change will be pretty awesome. Of course, I'm also on #TeamSunshine as Salt Creek has said, so there's that. On an absolute upside, we're probably better at our sidejobs (blogging) than the NFL Replacement Officials (officiating) are at theirs.

Anyhow, turning back to the Big Ten, last weekend was not one we really want to spend a lot of time talking about, so let's hear it for conference play!!! Everyone is essentially (0-0) and now we have a chance to at least beat each other up instead of watch the Domers do their thing. With that in mind, with all of the information you have at this point, who do you think makes it to Indianapolis in December? For me, I'm going with Michigan State and Purdue. Both defenses have been stingier than the others, and in this conference, defense matters.

I would put all of the possible matchups out there on a poll, but instead, I'll rephrase the question to be who you think wins the conference. You can comment on the matchups below because then we won't have the world's longest poll. Links, as always, after the jump.

Team Links:

• "Nathan Scheelhaase is Illinois' starting quarterback. It's not like he was never not the starter, he just was not the starter, but for now when Illinois plays Penn State, he will be the starter" -Tim Beckman
• Robert from A Lion Eye gets deep after the brutal La. Tech game on Saturday.
• The Hoosiers are rested and ready for their tilt with Northwestern on Saturday. Also worth noting, both teams have winning records. That's fun.
• The Crimson Quarry looks at the good and the bad from the Indiana Hoosiers so far.
• Not that I like to link to B/R because it's generally obnoxious and will probably infect your computer screen, but still, this is Adam Jacobi and this is all about the worst contract in College Football: Iowa's Kirk Ferentz.
• BHGP's Patrick Vint goes indie-rock on us all and looks at just how far the Iowa program has slid.
• MnB has an extensive set of thoughts on the Michigan Wolverine's offense, defense, and ST in light of the debacle on Saturday.
• MGoBlog goes all Day of Atonement and looks at what exactly went wrong for Borges and Michigan against Notre Dame.
• The Only Colors looks at the box score from Saturday to figure out just how bad the offense was.
• Looking forward, Michigan State must contain Braxton Miller this weekend.
• TDG continues their trend of trying to keep things in perspective for Minnesota, which is smart. Still, 4-0!
• Penn Live looks at why Minnesota could be a real contender this year!
• Corn Nation does some digging on the 'game' that was played in Lincoln on Saturday for the good and the bad.
• Hail Varsity thinks Nebraska OC Tim Beck is ready for the Badgers this time around.
• SoP takes a look at the Northwestern 'game' against South Dakota from Saturday.
• Apparently the Big Ten office did not want teams to be ill prepared against Northwestern this year.
• LGHL talks about some key points for the OSU-MSU tilt this weekend.
• Urban Meyer does not think last weekend was a complete and total disaster and manages to find some positives in looking just okay in a game the Buckeyes should have rolled in.
• Penn State has been having some decreases in attendance and here is why.
• BSD has a statistical preview of the Penn State-Illinois game this weekend.
• If I wanted to, I could probably find an article on why every team (not named Penn State or Ohio State) could win the Big Ten this year. The term, "wide open" is being thrown around a lot. So here is Purdue's version.
• H&R has a look at the Purdue Recruits up to this point.
• Not sure if you all saw this, but Madison was voted best College Football town by USA Today. Maybe our March Madness poll wasn't as skewed as you all thought.
• Stats and Charts and stuff from Wisconsin's tilt with UTEP last week via B5Q.

Conference and Other Links

• Official Big Ten Weekly Release
• Shutdown Fullback Week 4
• ESPN's B1G Preview Week 5
• CBS Sports Big Ten Power Rankings