50 Fun Facts About Big Ten Conference

Which school's arrival in 1990 led the Big Ten Conference to hide the number 11 in its logo?

Penn State made it eleven members, but the Big Ten kept its famous name. Designers tucked an 11 into the negative space of the lettering, where it stayed until 2011.

Which Disney character is the University of Oregon's mascot based on, thanks to a handshake deal with Walt Disney?

Donald Duck became the Oregon mascot when athletic director Leo Harris met Walt Disney and sealed the deal with only a handshake. Student cartoons had already been copying the character for years.

Which future US president played center for Michigan's unbeaten national champion football teams of 1932 and 1933?

Gerald Ford was good enough to draw offers from the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers. He turned both down and ended up at Yale, where he earned a law degree.

Which Big Ten school packed 92,003 fans into its football stadium for a women's volleyball match in 2023?

Nebraska swept Omaha 3–0 on what was billed as Volleyball Day, drawing one of the largest crowds ever recorded for a women's sporting event.

Iowa football fans turn after the first quarter to wave at patients in which building beside the stadium?

A children's hospital opened overlooking the east stands in 2017, and a fan's Facebook suggestion started the wave. ESPN called it college football's coolest new tradition.

Which Ohio State sprinter set five world records and tied a sixth within an hour at the 1935 Big Ten championships?

Jesse Owens did it in about 45 minutes in Ann Arbor while nursing a lower back injury. A year later he won four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics.

Which color did Iowa coach Hayden Fry paint the visitors' locker room to put opposing football teams in a passive mood?

Pink still covers everything in the room, right down to the lockers and urinals. It survived a 2005 protest by faculty and students who called the color scheme demeaning.

Which animal, extremely rare in the state itself, gives the University of Michigan's teams their nickname?

Wolverine sightings are so scarce that a 2004 photograph was the first confirmed one in Michigan since the early 19th century. The state has long been called the Wolverine State all the same.

Which sportswear company was founded as Blue Ribbon Sports by a University of Oregon runner and his coach Bill Bowerman?

Nike grew out of experiments like the one in 1971, when Bowerman used his wife's waffle iron to mold a lighter rubber sole that would still grip the track.

Floyd of Rosedale, the trophy Iowa and Minnesota play football for, is a bronze statue of which animal?

A pig named Floyd was the original stake. In 1935 Minnesota's governor bet Iowa's governor a prize hog on the result, and the loser walked the live animal into the winner's office.

Which 1979 Fleetwood Mac single features the USC Trojan Marching Band, recorded at Dodger Stadium?

Tusk got its brass after Mick Fleetwood asked for the USC band, and a mobile studio was set up at Dodger Stadium to record all 112 members.

Which founding member, a football power under Amos Alonzo Stagg, is the only school to leave the Big Ten for good?

Chicago chose to de-emphasize varsity sports just after World War II and withdrew, which is why the league spent a few years known as the Big Nine.

Michigan and Minnesota play football for which trophy, a 30-cent water container left behind after a 1903 visit?

The Little Brown Jug is the oldest trophy game in top-level college football. Michigan's student manager bought it because coach Fielding Yost feared the home fans might tamper with his team's water.

Which nickname did Purdue's teams take from an 1891 newspaper headline about a 44–0 football rout of Wabash College?

Boilermakers began as "Burly Boiler Makers" in a Crawfordsville paper. Rivals then claimed Purdue was hiring workers from the nearby Monon railroad yards to play football.

Which nickname do Indiana University's teams share with the people of the state of Indiana?

Hoosiers is simply the demonym for people from the state, and the teams carrying it have won national titles in men's soccer, swimming, basketball and football.

Which horse, ridden by a costumed Trojan warrior, has appeared at USC home football games since 1961?

Traveler arrived with a Hollywood touch: USC used its film industry connections to dress the first rider in the costume Charlton Heston had worn in Ben-Hur two years earlier.

Which colors did a three-student committee choose for Ohio State after learning Princeton already used its first pick?

Scarlet and gray was the committee's second recommendation. Some references still list Ohio State's original colors as orange and black, the pair Princeton had claimed.

Which University of Michigan fight song did student Louis Elbel write on a train home after an 1898 football win?

The Victors won over John Philip Sousa, who performed it in Ann Arbor days after its 1899 premiere and praised its harmony as the work of a master of counterpoint.

Which 1960s hit did the Ohio State marching band adopt before it became Ohio's official rock song?

Hang On Sloopy was named the state rock song by a resolution of the Ohio legislature in 1985. It helped that the McCoys came from the Dayton area.

Which marching band formation ends with a sousaphone player dotting the letter i before Buckeyes home football games?

Script Ohio saves its dot for a fourth- or fifth-year sousaphone player, who high-fives the drum major and then struts out to the top of the i.

Which USC rallying song did dental student Milo Sweet compose for a 1922 student spirit competition?

Fight On has since been borrowed by high schools across the United States, usually with modified lyrics.

Which bronze statue of a terrapin do University of Maryland football players touch for good luck before games?

Testudo was first cast in bronze as a gift from the Class of 1933. Decades later Maryland made the diamondback terrapin its official state reptile.

Which song do Wisconsin football crowds celebrate to between the third and fourth quarters at Camp Randall Stadium?

Jump Around, the 1992 House of Pain hit, is so tied to Wisconsin that the university's credit union prints the song's title on its debit and credit cards.

Which Big Ten school calls itself the birthplace of college football after hosting Princeton in the first game in 1869?

Rutgers won that first meeting 6–4 in New Brunswick, under rules so close to soccer that carrying or throwing the ball was not allowed.

Which Big Ten school hosted the first NCAA men's basketball championship game in its campus gym in 1939?

Northwestern staged the final at Patten Gymnasium in Evanston, where Oregon beat Ohio State 46–33 to finish off a tournament of just eight teams.

Which nickname belongs to Michigan Stadium, the University of Michigan's football home since 1927?

The Big House got its nickname in the 1980s, with broadcaster Keith Jackson credited for making it stick. It is the largest stadium in the United States, officially seating 107,601.

Which Ohio State running back is the only player to win the Heisman Trophy twice, in 1974 and 1975?

Archie Griffin fumbled on his only carry in his first college game. He recovered well enough to start four Rose Bowls and lead the Big Ten in rushing three years running.

Which Illinois halfback, nicknamed the Galloping Ghost, scored four touchdowns in 12 minutes against Michigan in 1924?

Red Grange opened with a 95-yard kickoff return, then ran 67, 56 and 44 yards for scores. It all happened at the grand opening of the new Memorial Stadium.

Which Ohio State coach was fired the morning after punching a Clemson player during the 1978 Gator Bowl?

Woody Hayes had won 205 games and 13 Big Ten titles in 28 seasons. He swung at Charlie Bauman after the Clemson nose guard's interception ended at the Ohio State sideline.

Which Michigan quarterback, taken 199th in the 2000 NFL draft, went on to win seven Super Bowls?

Tom Brady made his college debut in 1996 at the tail end of a 35–3 lead over UCLA. His draft slot later earned him a reputation as the NFL's biggest steal.

Which coach led Michigan to the 2023 national title, then left for the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers?

Jim Harbaugh had been a quarterback at the school himself. The 2023 crown was Michigan's first since 1997, and its first undisputed national championship since 1948.

Which Michigan State guard beat Larry Bird's Indiana State in the 1979 NCAA basketball final?

Magic Johnson and Bird faced each other for the first time that night, in a final that drew the highest television rating of any basketball game in American history.

Which Indiana coach, who once threw a chair across the court, guided a 32–0 team to the 1976 NCAA title?

Bob Knight grabbed a red plastic chair from the bench and flung it toward a Purdue free-throw shooter. He later joked that he was offering a seat to an old lady across the court.

Which nickname was given to the all-freshman lineup that started for Michigan in the 1992 NCAA basketball final?

The Fab Five were the first all-freshman starters in an NCAA championship game, and they set a fashion with baggy shorts, black shoes and black socks.

Which Michigan star called a timeout his team did not have with 11 seconds left in the 1993 NCAA final?

Chris Webber drew a technical foul that effectively sealed the title for North Carolina. Later that year he was the first overall pick in the NBA draft.

Which three-time All-American guard at Purdue later coached UCLA to ten NCAA basketball titles in 12 years?

John Wooden was the first person enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach. He went in as a player in 1960, before any of the UCLA titles.

Which Purdue center from Toronto was named national player of the year in both 2023 and 2024?

Zach Edey was the first player to win the award back to back since Virginia's Ralph Sampson in 1982 and 1983.

Which Iowa guard became the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division I basketball, men's or women's?

Caitlin Clark was twice named national player of the year and carried Iowa to the national title game in back-to-back seasons, the first two finals in the program's history.

Which coach took over Michigan State men's basketball in 1995 and won the national championship in 2000?

Tom Izzo got the job on the recommendation of his retiring boss, Jud Heathcote, who had made him associate head coach before the 1990–91 season.

Which Indiana point guard led the 1981 NCAA champions as a sophomore before a career with the Detroit Pistons?

Isiah Thomas was named the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player, went second in the NBA draft and later led the Pistons' Bad Boys to back-to-back championships.

Which nickname did fans give Williams Arena, the University of Minnesota's basketball home since 1928?

The Barn has a student section known as the Barnyard, and the nickname has since been written into the building's official sponsored name.

Which conference lost USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington to the Big Ten in 2024?

Pac-12 departures pushed the Big Ten to 18 members and gave a league rooted in the Midwest a presence on the West Coast.

Which simple two-word name do followers give the annual Michigan–Ohio State football meeting, first played in 1897?

The Game was ranked by ESPN in 2000 as the greatest rivalry in North American sport. It has closed the regular season almost every year since 1935.

Which Minnesota hockey coach won three NCAA titles before leading the 1980 US Olympic 'Miracle on Ice' team?

Herb Brooks had been the last player cut from the 1960 US Olympic team, a week before the Games. Nine of his 1979 college champions were recruited for the 1980 squad.

Which Michigan cornerback beat Tennessee's Peyton Manning to win the 1997 Heisman Trophy?

Charles Woodson was the first primarily defensive player to win the award. He also returned punts and occasionally lined up at wide receiver.

Which pair of names did the Big Ten give its two football divisions for the 2011 to 2013 seasons?

Legends and Leaders were not met with enthusiasm, and after three seasons the league replaced them with plain geographic divisions called East and West.

Johns Hopkins University joined the Big Ten in 2014 as its first affiliate member, competing in which sport?

Lacrosse brought the Blue Jays in, and they won the first Big Ten men's tournament in 2015 by beating Ohio State 13–6.

Which nickname covers the Michigan–Ohio State football era when Bo Schembechler coached against his old mentor?

The Ten Year War set Schembechler against the man who had coached him as a player at Miami of Ohio and later hired him as an assistant in Columbus.

Which Illinois village beside O'Hare International Airport has housed the Big Ten's headquarters since 2013?

Rosemont put the league in its Financial District in October 2013. The village also hosts the American headquarters of the candy maker Haribo.

Which school did Michigan beat 49–0 in the first Rose Bowl game, played on New Year's Day 1902?

Stanford's captain asked to stop with eight minutes left. The rout was so lopsided that organizers ran chariot and ostrich races instead of football for the next 13 years.