Will Luke Fickel become the next Bill Lynch in the Big Ten Conference?

The circumstances are completely different. The Ohio State University is in trouble with the NCAA and many have said that Jim Tressel had to go in Columbus.

News in: Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel resigns

Yes, it's Memorial Day, but in Columbus, it's the day that Tressel said "goodbye" to one of the prime jobs in all of College Football.

So, will Luke Fickel be the next Bill Lynch and take the interim tag to head coach, as Lynch did at Indiana, after the death of former IU coach Terry Hoeppner? Lynch replaced Hoeppner in 2007, leading IU to a 7-6 season. Lynch was dismissed, after the 2010 season though, when IU lost for the third straight year.

Some call for the Death Penalty for Ohio State. However, that would be terrible for College Football, especially the Big Ten Conference. How did the Southwest Conference fare the demise of SMU? Ohio State's ills are not good for the conference, but OSU is not SMU either, and the conference's most consistent program just took a hit.

Luke Fickel will likely wear the interim tag for the 2011 season. The 2011 Big Ten conference race just opened up even more, with the six-time defending champions of the conference joining the ranks of Michigan, Indiana and Minnesota welcoming a new coach for the 2011 season.

The 2011 Big Ten season will certainly be an interesting one.

• Nebraska joins Big Ten and conference will host first ever Big Ten title game


• Legends and Leaders


• Michigan hires Brady Hoke to replace


• Indiana hires Kevin Wilson, most recently OC at Oklahoma


• Minnesota hires Jerry Kill, most recently NIU's head coach


• Luke Fickel moves from five game interim coach to 2011 interim coach, upon news of Tressel's resignation in Columbus for Ohio State

It's Memorial Day ... the 2011 Big Ten season just got a little more interesting!

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Memorial Day weekend opens the official preseason of College Football as the magazines soon hit the newstand for the 2011 College Football Season

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone. It's Iowa, cool and wet, another tradition this time of year, along with the arrival of Summer and preseason college football magazines in June!

The first magazine out for the 2011 Preseason is AthlonSports, as Pat Harty's article highlights. Don't look for Iowa to a be a preseason darling in the Top 25 or in the Big Ten for 2011.

• Oklahoma will be a team getting a lot of attention this preseason nationally and in the new Big 12


• Despite the off the field distractions, suspensions; Ohio State is the team to beat in Big Ten, again


• The Big Ten will kick off a Big Ten title game in '11 between the winners of the Leaders and Legends divisions


• The Big Ten grows to 12 teams in '11 - Nebraska may be team to be in new Legends division?


• AthlonSports appears to like four Big Ten teams in Preseason Top 25


• Iowa's final opponent for 2010 - Insight Bowl: Missouri is in at #25, coming off loss to Iowa in the bowl game and absent QB Blaine Gabbert

As always, Athlon's 2011 annual provides in-depth team-by-team previews, along with our preseason Top 25, All-America teams, the first annual Big Ten Championship Game pick, All-Big Ten teams and everything else you need to know about the upcoming season of Big Ten football. - AthlonSports

Iowa's Marcus Coker is #26 in Athlon's College Fantasy Mock Draft, but surprising that Iowa WR Marvin McNutt is not listed among the 240 drafted. Major -FAIL - alert anyone?

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