B1G Game of Thrones Mailbag

So unless you’ve been disconnected from all social media, you know that the final season of Game of Thrones premieres on Sunday April 14 at 9PM. The internet is awash with excitement, sadness, theories, and anticipation. Brands like adidas, Mountain Dew, Johnnie Walker Whiskey and Oreo have capitalized on this and partnered with HBO to create limited edition Game of Thrones themed items. It’s everywhere. Out here in LA, I can’t look any direction and not see a “#ForTheThrone” ad on a bus, billboard, or train.

So what better way to get involved with the Game of Thrones hype than sitting down and thinking hard about what Game of Thrones house your beloved Big Ten team would be? This is a different kind of mailbag. Instead of answering your questions, we’ll be showing off the best B1G+House correlations from the comments below.

And okay, I know what you’re thinking. “Didn’t you guys do this back in February?” This is different though. We’re letting the people decide, and this is exclusively for legitimate Houses. That’s right, we’re opening up the floor to you, the commentariat, the commoners, to make your best case for the Game of Thrones House that best connect with your team, or even another team. Feel strongly that Penn State is House Bolton? Write that! That Michigan is definitely House Baratheon? Let us hear it. That your team is DEFINITELY House Stark of Winterfell? Make your case.

To help give you some resources and background, there are nine great houses in Westeros. If you watch the show or read the books, you are likely familiar with their attributes, but referring to this Wiki won’t hurt.

House Targaryen of King’s Landing

House Stark of Winterfell

House Lannister of Casterly Rock

House Arryn of the Eyrie

House Tully of Riverrun

House Greyjoy of Pyke

House Baratheon of Storm’s End

House Tyrell of Highgarden

House Martell of Sunspear

There are also tons of other, lesser, but still relevant houses which can be found here (same link as before). That Wiki list might be a little intimidating, so I’ll help you guys out with some of the more common lesser houses featured in the series which include:

House Bolton of the Dreadfort

House Frey of the Twins

House Mormont of Bear Island

House Glover of Deepwood Motte

House Dayne of Starfall

House Karstark of Karhold

House Payne

House Reed of Greywater Watch

House Tarly of Horn Hill

House Clegane of Clegane’s Keep

So that’s more than 14 houses total! Lots to choose from.

On Sunday, the day of the premiere, we’ll release the final determined Big Ten Game of Thrones Houses and our responses based on the best comments and reasoning. So get these in by early Saturday if you want yours to be considered!

Also, hey, watch this awesome video to get into a B1G Game of Thrones mood.

I’ll go first for Rutgers since no one from Rutgers really comments here anyway.

I think Rutgers should be House Dayne of Starfall. House Dayne, which exists in Dorne, was built on a river, like Rutgers. It’s a super old house, about 10,000 years old, up there with the Starks, and like with (Scarlet) Knights, a sword is very important to this house, even appearing on the sigil. House Dayne, while incredibly old, hasn’t really done anything of significance in very recent history in Westeros. Ser Arthur Dayne had a good moment a few years before the events in A Song of Ice and Fire (TV show timeline), but experienced a knife to the back, then lost, and that’s the last of anything impressive for House Dayne. Schiano leaving and the Athletic Department nightmares that happened soon after would be the figurative knife in back for Rutgers. The 2006 season is the gif below.

We look forward to reading your comments that will totally reveal how nerdy you all are (as if we didn’t already know.)