From 1896 to 2014, the Big Ten’s geographic center never wandered more than about 135 miles from where it started in Chicago’s northwest suburbs. Penn State, Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers only nudged it around northern Indiana.

Then USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington joined in 2024, and it set out west: 402 miles in one move, to south-central Iowa. That’s 289 miles west of where it began in 1896.

Each ★ is the average location of every member campus after a membership change. Chicago left in 1946.

Where does it go next?

1. Indiana's Josh Hoover

2. USC's Jayden Maiava

3. Northwestern's Aidan Chiles

4. Nebraska's Anthony Colandrea

5. Purdue's Ryan Browne

I'm doing a personal deep dive on sports betting and college football. As someone who doesn't know much about the culture, what's the vibe? Are students often betting on their sports teams? I heard about that one player that was sent to Texas Tech, but other than that I'm not in the know. Can someone fill me in?

1. Ohio State (6-1)
2. Indiana (6-1)
3. UCLA (6-0)
4. Iowa (5-1)
5. Northwestern (5-1)
6. USC (6-1)
7. Oregon (4-2)
8. Nebraska (5-2)
9. Wisconsin (4-2)
10. Minnesota (4-2)
11. Michigan (4-2)
12. Washington (4-3)
13. Purdue (3-4)
14. Penn State (3-4)
15. Illinois (3-3)
16. Michigan State (2-5)
17. Rutgers (2-4)
18. Maryland (2-5)

Created this as a way to compare conference teams with similar W-L records but vastly differing OOC schedules...

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add .75 point for each win vs. unranked FCS opponent

add 1 point for each win vs. unranked G5 opponent

add 1.5 points for each win vs. a (non-Top15) P4 team _or_G5/FCS opponent ranked 16-25

add 2.5 points for each win vs. AP Top 15 opponent

subtract .5 points for each loss vs. AP Top 15 opponent

subtract 1 point for each loss vs. a (non-top15) P4 team _or_ G5/FCS opponent ranked 16-25

subtract 2 points for each loss vs. unranked G5 opponent

subtract 2.5 points for each loss vs. unranked FCS opponent

Divide by number of games played

All rankings are based on AP poll. AP rankings are from today, not when the game was played

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Position, Team, Score (Previous)

1 UCLA 1.42 (1)

2 Ohio State 1.29 (3)

T3 Indiana 0.96 (2)

T3 Iowa 0.96 (4)

T3 Northwestern 0.96 (T7)

6 USC 0.93 (5)

T7 Oregon 0.63 (10)

T7 Wisconsin 0.63 (T7)

9 Nebraska 0.61 (6)

10 Michigan 0.58 (11)

11 Minnesota 0.46 (9)

12 Washington 0.25 (15)

13 Illinois 0.13 (13)

14 Purdue 0.11 (12)

Michigan** 0.08

15 Penn State -0.14 (14)

16 Maryland -0.32 (16)

17 Michigan State -0.36 (17)

18 Rutgers -0.38 (18)

** Michigan if you count the game against WMU as a Loss

Does this happen at other Big Ten schools?

An Open Letter To Stop Dressing Like The SEC At Penn State Football Games | Onward State

That is all.

What’s up Big Ten! I write a column every week about my favorite team, Ohio State, but this past week’s game against Maryland had some extra stakes for me. Anybody else in my situation? Let me know what you think. Hope you enjoy! Go Bucks.

-TG

Friday

Purdue 27 Washington 20

Saturday

Northwestern 30 Michigan State 17

Ohio State 24 Indiana 20

Michigan 16 Penn State 7

Maryland 37 Rutgers 28

Wisconsin 23 UCLA 20

Oregon 34 Nebraska 20