B5Q Blogopean Union: hey, didja hear? Wisconsin is going to the Rose Bowl!

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.

• Winning games on the road is never easy and should always be celebrated.

• It will be sad, but also joyous, when Jonathan Taylor announces he’s going pro after the Rose Bowl. I can’t wait to follow his NFL career.

• Speaking of the Rose Bowl! Did you know that Wisconsin will be playing in it!!

• This coming weekend’s regional semifinals and final should be some high-quality, top-notch volleyball. If you live in Madison, try and get tickets which go on sale Monday morning.

• The Badgers are now off until Jan. 10 (with an exhibition game against the USA U-18 team on New Year’s Day sprinkled in) and they’ll need every single day of their break to figure out what exactly is wrong. Wisconsin was swept by Michigan State over the weekend and have only won two (out of 10) B1G games.

• Well, Ethan. It went well. Maybe not for this Chad dude, but for the rest of us.

• I don’t know how good this time is, but I do know that finishing third in a race is impressive. It appears that the Badgers future is in good hands.

• As a team, the Badgers finished second overall in the Cougar Clash.

• Rose Lavelle is one of the best players IN THE WORLD.

• On the other end of the hockey spectrum, these Badgers finished off a sweep of No. 10 Minnesota Duluth and head into their break like, well, just look at the tweet I guess.

• Junior defenseman Natalie Buchbinder, sophomore forward Britta Curl and senior forward and alternate captain Abby Roque will join Badger greats Alex (Rigsby) Cavallini (UW goalie 2010-14), Brianna Decker (UW forward 2009-13) and Hilary Knight (UW forward 2007-12) as well as recent graduates Annie Pankowski (UW forward 2014-19) and Sophia Shaver (UW forward 2015-19) at Team USA training camp.

• I think the team probably read our emergency roundtable after the N.C. State loss.

• Just in case you forgot from earlier in the post.

• Luke Garza had a monster game for Iowa in their loss to Michigan. He’s going to be a problem the rest of the season for the B1G.
• Penn State men’s hockey won at Michigan for the first time in 10 tries!
• Fred Hoiberg is struggling in his first season in Lincoln.
• Purdue volleyball advanced to the Sweet 16 but now have to face No. 1 Baylor.
• Northwestern has a new man in charge of the offense heading into next season.
• What does Ohio State need to shore up before playing Clemson in the CFP semifinals?
• Michigan plays Alabama in the Citrus Bowl and I hope that a disinterested Crimson Tide mops the floor with the Wolverines.
• Greg Schiano is already paying off! Rutgers received a verbal pledge from a 3-star in-state TE over the weekend.
• Maryland got something like one million (ok, it was four) football verbal commits over the weekend, including two players from the junior college featured on Last Chance U in 2017 and 2018, Independence Community College. Here is the first one, a massive OG, and you can explore Testudo Times for the rest if you’d like.
• Indiana head coach Tom Allen signed a seven-year contract extension and the Hoosiers football coach is now higher paid than the basketball coach. What a time to be alive!
• MSU fans are “excited” for the Pinstripe Bowl. Hopefully one of their players doesn’t try to top Chris Orr’s “consecutive days wearing a Pinstripe Bowl winter hat” record. It can’t be beaten, friend.
• Minnesota vs. Auburn should actually be pretty fun.
• Illinois nabbed a 3-star Texas QB and a 3-star JUCO DT over the weekend.

B1G basketball scoreboard from the weekend (losses in bold because we are here to laugh at misfortune):

No. 4 Michigan 103 - Iowa 91 (Luke Garza had 44 points!)
No. 6 Ohio State 106 - Penn State 74
Nebraska 76 - Creighton 95
No. 3 Maryland 59 - Illinois 58
Purdue 58 - Northwestern 44
No. 11 Michigan State 77 - Rutgers 65