B5Q Blogopean Union: Brad Davison is charging into the minds of N.C. State fans

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.

• Lots of CFP and Rose Bowl talk on the ol’ blog on Tuesday. Here is an important quote from the chair of the committee.

• The men’s basketball team is back in action tonight on the final day of the ACC/B1G Challenge (currently tied at 4-4)! Which Wisconsin team will be on the court tonight? WHO KNOWS!?!? Anyway, the Badgers play N.C. State and they’re still big mad about how last year’s game ended.

There also seems to be a lot of pressure surrounding the program, so maybe Wisconsin can use that to their advantage?

We’ll have a Q&A with our N.C. State SB Nation cousins as well as a game preview and open thread later today.

• Man, they’ve been doing a B1G title game in football for so long you just know a historical power like Michigan has made it a couple of times. Oh, well, they’ve certainly made it more times than Michigan State, the team they always make fun of, right? More times than Nebraska? MORE TIMES THAN NORTHWESTERN?!?!?! Sweet heavens Michigan is terrible!

• Hey cool! That’s the same team Vitto Brown is on!

• Seriously...N.C. State folks are MAAAAAAAD. So mad, they can’t even count 100% correct charge calls in a 17 second video.

• A brief B1G Championship game injury update.

• The B1G coaches and media announced their all-conference awards for the defense and special teams on Tuesday evening. Zack Baun was a consensus first-team all-conference linebacker and Chris Orr was a consensus second-team all-conference linebacker.

The Badgers also had a number of honorable mention defenders: S Eric Burrell, DE Matt Hennigsen (coaches only), CB Faion Hicks, CB Rachad Wildgoose (media only) and DE Isaiahh Loudermilk.

As far as special teams go, kick returner Aron Cruickshank was a consensus second-team choice.

OL David Moorman was the Wisconsin recipient of the B1G Sportsmanship Award.

• In an up and down weekend for the men’s hockey team, Wyatt Kalynuk’s goal against Michigan was definitely on the “up” side of things.

• I don’t know how we are going to keep track of everything that is happening in Madison (and Indianapolis) on Saturday but it’s damn sure going to be fun to try!

• Despite losing to No. 1 Iowa on Sunday, the Badgers remain in the top-10.

A couple of individual notes: Seth Gross is No. 2 at 133 pounds, Evan Wick is No. 3 at 165 pounds, Trent Hillger is No. 3 at heavyweight and Johnny Sebastian joined the rankings at No. 21 for 184 pounds.

• I did not know there was a dedicated pole vaulting magazine before today, but I’m glad that the Badgers are on the cover!

• Drew answered some questions from Backing the Pack before the game against N.C. State on Wednesday night.
• Here is a great recap of the Iowa/Wisconsin wrestling dual from BHGP.
• Penn State fans seem to be PRETTY confident that the Nittany Lions are going to the Rose Bowl.
• Star DE Yetur Gross-Matos is declaring for the NFL Draft so suck on that Penn State!
• If you want to get into the mathematical reasons that Nebraska lost to Iowa, I’ve got just the post for you.
• Purdue’s injury situation this year was...impressive. In the sense that they did a whole post on how many injuries they had and it probably could’ve been stretched over multiple posts.
• Even more thoughts on who the next OC at Northwestern will be.
• Here is what, uh, we are saying about the B1G Title game. LGHL has a roundup of what Coach Chryst, the players and some of us have said about the game.
• Rough go for No. 4 Michigan against new No. 1 Louisville on Tuesday night.
• Rutgers volleyball has fired their coach. Rock probably could’ve told you that at the beginning of the season.
• Maryland RB Anthony McFarland, Jr. is going pro.
• I didn’t know that Brad Underwood was the architect of so many fake comebacks at Illinois. Here are his top-ten!
• P.J. Fleck was named B1G Coach of the Year by the coaches.
• Indiana is a football school so their fans need a guide to the basketball team.

ACC/B1G Challenge basketball scoreboard from last night (losses in bold because we are here to laugh at misfortune):

Iowa 68 - Syracuse 54
Northwestern 82 - Boston College 64
No. 4 Michigan 43 - No. 1 Louisville 58
Indiana 80 - No. 17 Florida State 64
Rutgers 60 - Pitt 71
No. 11 Michigan State 75 - No. 10 Duke 87

B1G 4 - ACC 4