B5Q Blogopean Union: Chris Orr is back with the football team

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 Nebraska).

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 (which we NO LONGER DO).

• It will be interesting, he says through gritted teeth, to see how this season goes for Tony Granato and the Badgers. Things are not looking so great early in the season as Wisconsin’s inability to put the puck in the net against teams as good or, in Michigan’s case, better than them makes an NCAA Tournament bid highly unlikely. After squandering last season’s team, Granato has to be on the hot seat this year. Anyway...there’s another game on Friday night.

• On the other hand, the women’s team has won 16 straight games and will look to make it 17 against Mankato State, or Minnesota State at Mankato, or whatever they’re calling themselves these days on Friday afternoon.

• You may have noticed over the past couple of weeks that Wisconsin linebacking legend Chris Orr has been on the sidelines. Well, there is a great reason for that as Orr is back apart of the program as Director of Player Development.

• It’s Senior Night for the men’s soccer team against Penn State and the match also has important postseason implications. If the Badgers win, and some other things happen, they’ll be in contention for the No. 4 seed in the Big Ten Tournament which means they’d host a quarterfinal match.

• With the women’s Big Ten Tournament on deck this weekend, where the Badgers play top-seeded Rutgers, the conference released their all-conference teams on Thursday.

The Wisconsin women’s soccer quartet of senior Natalie Viggiano, junior Macy Monticello, sophomore Gabby Green and freshman Aidan McConnell all earned Big Ten Conference year-end honors, the league announced on Thursday.

Viggiano collected second-team All-Big Ten accolades, McConnell and Monticello were named third-team All-Big Ten and Green received Big Ten Sportsmanship honors. In addition, McConnell was also named to the All-Big Ten Freshmen Team.

• The Badgers open the season with an exhibition game against Oshkosh on Sunday. There will be something extra on the line for Brooke Schramek though, especially this close to Thanksgiving.

• Good news for the tight end room heading into Saturday’s Homecoming game.

• I answered some questions for BHGP and, judging by the comments, I caused one of their commenters to quit the site?
• How are Indiana football fans feeling?
• Rutgers, Wisconsin’s first round opponent in the Big Ten Women’s Soccer Tournament, had a BUNCH of conference honorees.
• What do the Michigan Wolverines need to improve to win the men’s hoops national title?
• Game preview and predictions for Ohio State/Penn State from the Buckeyes point of view and from the Nittany Lions point of view.
• Purdue’s defense just can’t wrap up.