B5Q Blogopean Union: it was a busy weekend

Good morning! This is going to be a daily(ish) post that discusses the goings on of the rest of the Big Ten Conference, and the country as needed. Much like the European Union, the Big Ten is a loosely confederated group of entities that sometimes have the same goals (like free movement of people between countries or not winning national titles in football or basketball) and sometimes accept new members that they later regret (Estonia or Rutgers).

We hope that you will use this post to comment on things happening around the conference and also as a sort of daily open thread to discuss breaking news or argue about Spotted Cow.

• The men’s soccer team has had a rough season, but they ended the regular season on a high note.

The win moves the Badgers up two spots in the conference pecking order to No. 7 which means UW will avoid conference champ Indiana and take on No. 2 seed Penn State in the B1G conference tournament on Sunday.

• The women’s soccer team was shocked by Purdue in the first round of the B1G Tournament.

The Badgers will find out where they are seeded in the NCAA Tournament in one week during the selection show on Nov. 11th at 3:30 p.m.

• In a preview of how they might rank the teams come tourney time, the NCAA volleyball committee released rankings through Nov. 2nd.

The 12-0 in B1G play Badgers are getting hot at the right time imo.

• I’ve been thinking about this since I saw it on Sunday and still find it hard to believe. 50 conference titles! That is more than every other B1G school combined!! THAT IS AMAZING!!!

• Seth Gross got his season started off right with a pin against Fresno State.

And the Badgers finished the weekend 3-0 in the Battle of the Midway.

• This is a welcome addition to Aleem Ford’s game tbqh.

• WELP! LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE TO REPLAY THE WHOLE SERIES! That’s how this works right?

• The women’s track and field team finished second in the B1G championship but did have the overall race winner. Flash that W!

• The No. 1 ranked women’s hockey team had a tough trip to Minneapolis against the No. 2 ranked Gophers. They lost 4-2 on Saturday, tied 2-2 on Sunday, but lost out on the extra point in the shootout due to this SAUCY goal from Amy Potomak.

The Badgers have a weekend off before resuming play against Minnesota State at LaBahn Arena on the 16th and 17th.

• After, well, the worst possible two game road trip imaginable the Badgers are back at home this week.

Should be pretty easy to get up for a rivalry game against a ranked Iowa team and I, for one, am already in full on HATE WEEK mode for the Hawkeyes.

• The men’s basketball season starts on Tuesday. Here is every preview post we’ve done this month in one handy stream. There are roundtables, predictions, previews of every single opponent the Badgers play, previews of each position group on the Badgers and a preview podcast. It is pretty comprehensive and we hope you enjoy it. We’ll obviously have more coverage on the Saint Mary’s game for Tuesday as the Badgers open the season against the Gaels in South Dakota.
• The Badgers have opened up as about nine point favorites against the Hawkeyes this weekend.
• Since it is IOWA HATE WEEK we, by law, have to post this video from The Solid Verbal.

• Penn State is 6.5-point favorites against Minnesota this weekend. This should be a really good game but I just, as a current Minnesota resident, need the Gophers to lose so everyone around here shuts the hell up.
• Here is a game recap of Purdue’s shocking victory over Wisconsin in women’s soccer.
• Florida State fired Willie Taggart because the Seminoles are an affront to good and decent football everywhere and now BROHM WATCH has started all over again for Purdue’s head coach Jeff Brohm. Will he go to Tallahassee? I doubt it. But it’s November and a helmet school fired their coach so LET’S SPECULATE WILDLY! P.J. Fleck’s name is also being bandied about for the opening.
• Nebraska lost to Purdue and their 11th string QB. Hopefully someone has compiled all of those “Nebraska is going to run away with the B1G West” articles from August. That would make for a pretty good post tbqh.
• Schiano back? Rutgers football may be moving closer to bring Greg Schiano back into the fold. They’re keeping Butch Jones warm in case a Schiano deal falls through.
• Northwestern’s offense is bad.
• The Illinois Can Still Win The B1G West train chugs along for another week.
• The Gophers should be the new No. 1 team in the nation when the women’s hockey rankings come out.
• Minnesota football controls their own destiny in November. What a wild sentence to type.