<p>explain it to me please</p>
<p>Its like the modern version of the ivy leage.</p>
<p>Its a bunch of schools who have similar level sports teams that loosely associate themselves together as the big 10.</p>
<p>Except that it's not actually 10 schools. :)</p>
<p>This is the hardest thing for non-midwesterners to understand.</p>
<p>IDK if anyone has noticed, but when I lived near Penn State, all of the Big Ten signs in the gymnasium/natatorium had an "11" outlined within the words "Big Ten."</p>
<p>We call it the PAC 10. Pac being short for pacific.</p>
<p>It's a sports conference. End of discussion. It is not really anything hard to understand. Think: AFC in football, National League in baseball, Eastern Conference in basketball.</p>
<p>uc_benz relax. there are some people here (me excluded) who dont know what afc in football is.</p>
<p>And UChicago was one of the founding members (and winner of the first heisman trophy AND the only school to be undefeated against Notre Dame).</p>
<p>Of course now, we are a lackluster DIII School...</p>
<p>That's why I provided three examples.</p>
<p>Yeah. IDK any of those three (definately not a sports fan). But is it like the schools that are actually worth watching or just schools that have always competed.</p>
<p>Most of the schools are worth watching - Michigan, MSU, Minnesota, Wisconsin are all strong, especially in football. Then you have Penn State, Ohio State, Indiana... the bottom dwellers of the Big 10, in terms of football (which is the only college sport I really follow). Most teams are pretty good, but a lot of times its hype because they are a Big 10 school.</p>
<p>Since when has The Ohio State University been thought of as a bottom dweller in the big 10?</p>
<p>OSU a bottom dweller ... especially at football .... ???</p>
<p>No you obviously don't follow football jackieg because the Buckeyes recently won the national championship!</p>
<p>But Penn State has fallen apart these last couple years.</p>
<p>Exquese me, baking powder, OSU is the team in the Big Ten. National Championship! Anyone? Anyone? When was the last time any team that you mentioned (Michigan, MSU, Minnesota, Wisconsin) won a National Championship outright like OSU did 3 years ago? Minnesota in 1960?!?!?!?! Either you are a total pothead or a time traveler from the sixties. </p>
<p>Postscript: (Notice I said outright. U of M shared the national championship with Nebraska in 1997)</p>
<p>2nd Postscript: Exchange Minnesota with the Buckeyes and put Northwestern in the bottom list and you might have an alright list.</p>
<p>I agree with joev. (But I should disclose that I have a conflict of interest -- I was born and raised in Columbus :))</p>
<p>I am not denying my diehard Buckeye allegience either, but calling Ohio State a "bottom dweller" in the Big Ten is akin to saying that Harvard is the safety ivy. </p>
<p>BTW OSU basketball received stellar news today when stud prep center Greg Oden agreed to attend the school in 2006. Now you people can envy the basketball program as much as you do the football program!</p>
<p>The Big 10 is an athletic league that contains 11 members. Academically, if we were to use US News rankings for the 11 universities, it's average ranking would be the second lowest (lower is better) only to the Ivy League's average ranking. </p>
<p>The Big 10:
University of Illinois
University of Indiana
University of Iowa
University of Michigan
Michigan State University
University of Minnesota
Northwestern University
Ohio State University
Pennsylvania State University
Purdue University
University of Wisconsin</p>
<p>Muchos Gracias</p>
<p>Go U of M: Twin Cities!</p>
<p>not that I care about the sports or am going there, but it is a great campus in a great city.</p>