By Zack Meisel (TheLantern.com) -- The media predicted Ohio State will notch its sixth consecutive Big Ten title when they ranked the Buckeyes No. 1 in the conference preseason poll at the annual Big Ten meetings in Chicago on Monday. Along with choosing OSU as the team to beat, the media tabbed Buckeye quarterback Terrelle Pryor as the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. The junior led OSU to a 26-17 Rose Bowl victory over Oregon, a game in which he ... Read More

By: Matt Wood (SBNation.com) --  Ohio State did land one recruit today in 3 star WR Devin Smith, making him the 15th member of the class. The 6’1 175lbs Smith chose Ohio State over Notre Dame, Michigan State, West Virginia and Cincinnati. As a senior Smith had 50 catches for 989 yards (19.8 YPC) and 15 TD’s on his way to becoming a First Team All-Ohio WR. Braxton Miller to Devin Smith has a nice ring to it. No related ... Read More

By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -- Nebraska's in. So where do the Cornhuskers fit? Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said there were three factors that would determine how the 12-team conference breaks into two six-team divisions for the 2011 season. He's got people working on it. Here's a suggestion, following the three Delany factors: competitive balance, rivalries and geography. Here's my reasoning: 1. Competitive balance is the first factor, so split the four programs that have been clearly above the ... Read More

By: Tim Bielik (BleacherReport.com) -- Expansion fever seems to finally be finding its footing, as Nebraska will in all likelihood find a home in the Big Ten. With the Huskers being one of possibly a handful of teams about to join the Big Ten Conference, one thing that is being largely overlooked is the effect this process has on the rivalries in the conference. The most specific of these might be the greatest rivalry in college football if not sports: Ohio ... Read More

By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -- Columbus – With 36 sports and a $128 million budget for the next fiscal year, Ohio State has the largest, and one of the healthiest, athletic departments in the country. One of a handful of self-sustaining college athletic departments, Ohio State will turn a slight profit this year, just over $20,000, after losing money a year ago. At the moment, Athletic Director Gene Smith said the department is in the midst of ... Read More

By: Andy Katz (ESPN.com) -- The NCAA's deadline to withdraw from the NBA draft was pushed up five weeks from its usual spot in mid-June. Thus, so too was our post-deadline top 25. This is what we know about the 2010-11 season: There won't be a truly great team. Sound familiar? It was true last season. And because of that, Duke has a chance to repeat as national champions. Not losing anyone early to the NBA draft after winning a national ... Read More

By: Adam Rittenberg (ESPN.com) -- The 2010-11 Big Ten bowl lineup is now set, with the Insight Bowl moving up in the pecking order and three new games -- Gator, Texas, Dallas Football Classic -- coming aboard. A ton of things can happen between now and Sept. 2, but there's no harm in taking a look at which teams likely will be packing their bags in late December or early January, and which teams will be staying home. The ... Read More

From: BigTenNetwork.com -- EAST LANSING, Mich. -- No. 20 Ohio State finished off its 12-3 victory over Michigan State (18-20) in emphatic fashion on Saturday. The Buckeyes (25-11) scored two runs in the sixth inning. Ohio State's best inning was the fourth. In the inning, Lauren Kramer gave up one run on a double by senior Rebecca Schultz. Later that inning, two runs came in when Whitney Cooper homered and a run came in when Dee Dee Hillman ... Read More

By: Brian McLaughlin (SportingNews.com) -- Over the weekend, Ohio State landed its eighth commitment for 2011, as Firestone (Akron, Ohio) OL Tommy Brown gave his word to the Buckeyes, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported. The 6-foot-5, 330-pound offensive tackle also reported scholarship BCS offers from Michigan State, West Virginia and Duke, while he also had several MAC offers. "OSU really liked his size, and I think they have him pegged as an offensive tackle," Firestone coach Tim Flossie told the newspaper. "He ... Read More

By: NANCY ARMOUR (The Associated Press) -- INDIANAPOLIS — The Big Ten can be an easy mark. Boring. Ugly. Obsessed with defense. And those are some of the nicer things said about the conference's heavy-contact, low-scoring games — by fans who didn't rush for the remote when those games come on, that is. But it's the Big Ten that keeps getting the last laugh. Michigan State's appearance at this Final Four is its second straight and the third in four years by a Big Ten team. ... Read More

By: Eamonn Brennan (ESPN.com) -- In recent years, the Final Four has served as a nice little showcase for the NBA's incoming stars. Carmelo Anthony and Syracuse. Greg Oden, Mike Conley, and the Ohio State Buckeyes. Derrick Rose and the Memphis Tigers. In recent years, even as so many NBA fans angrily turned away from the NCAA tournament (some NBA folks like to act as if college hoops is so inferior as to be beneath their finely-tuned basketball-watching sensibilities), they still had ... Read More

By: By Blake Oestriecher (TigerWeekly.com) -- Of the 4.8 million people who filled out brackets on ESPN's NCAA Tournament Challenge, zero were perfect after the first round. It's really a testament to the balance in this year's tournament. There are no truly great teams in the field, but plenty of really good ones and even more that have flown under the radar on the way to setting up a Sweet 16 that could be a classic. Midwest: Tennessee vs. Ohio St. - In Tennessee's third Sweet ... Read More

By: Drew Gatewood (BleacherReport.com) -- The Big Ten takes heat whenever its teams take the field or the court. Both football and basketball get criticized for not being flashy enough, especially by the media. Well, the Big Ten says keep your flash, they will keep the wins. Ohio State, Purdue, and Michigan State are the three remaining Big Ten teams left in the NCAA tournament. These teams were also the Big Ten regular season champions, showing this is no fluke they all have survived. ... Read More