Rating the Top Out of Conference Football Games for Big Ten schools for 2010

The Big Ten Conference has a lot of buzz heading into the 2010 season. The conference is coming off a strong 4-3 bowl season in '09. Four teams (Ohio State, Iowa, Penn State and Wisconsin) finished 2009 in the Top 16, with all four of those teams defeating Top 15 teams in respective bowl games.
Further, there is a lot of excitement heading into 2011, with Nebraska joining the conference as the 12Th member of the conference. There will not be any conference title games in 2010. There is talk in the future of reducing an OOC game for another conference game, but that is down the road.

For now, the 2010 College Football season looks like an exciting one with the Big Ten Conference. Here's our look at the Top 13 OOC games in the Big Ten for 2010 (cidsports preseason Top 25 ratings):

1. #20 Penn State @ #1 Alabama on 9/11 - The Nittany Lions will travel to Tuscaloosa for a rare in-season Big Ten-SEC showdown vs. the defending national champs ...


2. #11 Miami-FL @ #2 Ohio State on 9/11 - The Buckeyes will host in Week 2 a rematch of the 2002 season BCS championship game ...


3. #4 Iowa @ Arizona on 9/18 - The Hawkeyes head down to Tucson in '10, after hosting the Wildcats last year and pulling out a 27-17 win at Kinnick ...


4. Missouri vs. Illinois on 9/4 in St. Louis - The Fighting lllini are 0-5 in this series played in St. Louis in a game that could help lower the flame on coach Ron Zook's hot seat in '10 ...


5. USC @ Minnesota on 9/18 - The Trojans are heading into '10 on probation, but this is a big game for coach Tim Brewster and the Gophers program, no less ...


6. Arizona State @ #10 Wisconsin on 9/18 - Another Big Ten-Pac Ten match up, as the Badgers look to capture a win over the Sun Devils for the first time ...


7. Michigan @ Notre Dame on 9/11 - Coach Rich Rodriquez is 1-1 in this series, as Brian Kelly takes over the reigns in South Bend for the Fighting Irish ...


8. Notre Dame @ Michigan State on 9/18 - The Spartans have won 9 of 13 vs. the Fighting Irish, but the series lead favors the Irish 45-27-1 ...


9. Purdue @ Notre Dame on 9/4 - The Boilermakers are 1-11 in South Bend over the years, with the lone win in '04 ...


10. Iowa State @ Iowa on 9/11 - In the Cy-Hawk series, the Hawkeyes have held the Cyclones to zero TDs for 14 straight quarters ...


11. Northwestern @ Vanderbilt on 9/4 - The Big Ten-SEC square off for not one, but two rare OOC match ups as the Wildcats open '10 at the Commodores ...


12. Illinois @ Fresno State on 12/3 - Could this game in California mark the conclusion of the Ron Zook era at Illinois? Last year's game was a wild finish in a 52-53 loss for the Illini ...


13. Minnesota @ Middle Tennessee on 9/2 - A BCS vs. non-BCS match up that many are suggesting may turn out poor for the BCS member, as the Golden Gophers open at this Sun Belt school in '10 ...

Ranking Big Ten teams OOC schedules for 2010 ...

1. Illinois - vs. Missouri in St. Louis (9/4), Southern Illinois (9/11), Northern Illinois (9/18), bye and @ Fresno State (12/3)


2. Minnesota - @ Middle Tennessee State (9/2), South Dakota (9/11), USC (9/18) and Northern Illinois (9/25)


3. Penn State - Youngstown State (9/4), @ Alabama (9/11), Kent State (9/18) and Temple (9/25)


4. Michigan - Connecticut (9/4), @ Notre Dame (9/11), Massachusetts (9/18) and Bowling Green (9/25)


5. Iowa - Eastern Illinois (9/4), Iowa State (9/11), @ Arizona (9/18) and Ball State (9/25)


6. Ohio State - Marshall (9/2), Miami-FL (9/11), Ohio U. (9/18) and Eastern Michigan (9/25)


7. Northwestern - @ Vanderbilt (9/4), Illinois State (9/11), @ Rice (9/18) and Central Michigan (9/25)


8. Wisconsin - @ UNLV (9/4), San Jose State (9/11), Arizona State (9/18) and Austin Peay (9/25)


9. Purdue - @ Notre Dame (9/4), Western Illinois (9/11), Ball State (9/18), Toledo (9/25) and bye week ...


10. Michigan State - Western Michigan (9/4), vs. Florida Atlantic in Detroit (9/11), Notre Dame (9/18) and Northern Colorado (9/25)


11. Indiana - Towson (9/2), bye, @ Western Kentucky (9/18), Akron (9/25) and Arkansas State (10/16)

Overall, the conference has too many OOC games that would lead many fans to say: bring on a 9Th conference game, like the Pac Ten. By the way, the Pac Ten is is adding two teams in 2011, with Colorado and Utah, to get to 12 members, like the Big Ten. Traditionally, the Big Ten and Pac Ten meet in the Rose Bowl. Though, the BCS championship game has sometimes altered that tradition over the past decade.

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