• Five Big Ten schools were selected for bowl competition this year, highlighted by a berth in the College Football Playoff for Ohio State.
• Ohio State was selected to compete in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on Jan. 1. The Buckeyes were ranked No. 3 by the College Football Playoff selection committee and will take on second-seeded Clemson. The winner of that semifinal will advance to the College Football Playoff National Championship against either No. 1 Alabama or No. 4 Notre Dame on Jan. 11 at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.
• Ohio State was crowned Big Ten Champion after its 22-10 win against Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship Game presented by Discover on Dec. 19 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. It was the Buckeyes’ 39th Big Ten title and fourth in as many years.
• The Buckeyes are the first team to claim four consecutive Big Ten Championship titles. A complete statistical recap of this year’s Big Ten Championship Game can be found on Page 7.
• Bret Bielema was named as the 26th Illinois Head Football Coach on Dec. 19. A native of Prophetstown, Illinois, Bielema has 24 years of collegiate coaching experience and compiled a 12-year record of 97-58 (.626) as head coach at Wisconsin and Arkansas. From 2006-12 Bielema was the head coach at Wisconsin, where he led the Badgers to three Big Ten championships (2010-12), six consecutive bowl games and a 68-24 record (.739). Bielema then spent five seasons as head coach at Arkansas from 2013-17. After inheriting a depleted roster and enduring a difficult first season, he led the Razorbacks to three consecutive bowl games, including victories against Texas in 2014 and Kansas State in 2015.
• A total of 582 Big Ten football student-athletes earned Academic All-Big Ten honors, the conference announced Dec. 10. To be eligible for Academic All-Big Ten selection, student-athletes must be on a varsity team (as verified by being on the official squad list as of Nov. 1 for fall sports), have been enrolled full time at the institution for a minimum of 12 months and carry a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or higher. Among this year’s football honorees, 12 had unblemished GPAs: Illinois’ Christian Bobak, Doug Kramer and James McCourt; Indiana’s Nicholas Grieser; Iowa’s Matt Fagan; Michigan’s Ren Hefley and Carlo Kemp; Minnesota’s Connor Olson and Bailey Schoenfelder; Nebraska’s Garrett Hustedt; Ohio State’s Harry Miller, and Wisconsin’s Matt Henningsen.
• On Oct. 23, the Big Ten Conference announced the launch of the ‘United As One’ social justice campaign. ‘United As One’ is among several conference-wide Equality Coalition initiatives dedicated to constructively and collectively recognizing and eliminating racism and hate in our society by creating resources for inclusion, empowerment and accountability.
• The Big Ten Conference established the Equality Coalition in 2020 with 227 members including presidents and chancellors, directors of athletics, coaches, student-athletes, conference and school administrators, alumni, families and friends representing all 14 institutions.
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