Northwestern Wildcats

NFL Hopefuls Play to Impress in East-West Shrine Game

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By Jim Henry 1/24/2010 12:20 AM ET

ORLANDO -- John Estes has discovered potentially the quickest path from Hawaii to the NFL included a week layover in Florida.

Estes, a center from the University of Hawaii, isn't a household name. He lacks size and, while technically sound, isn't outstanding in any one area. In fact, NFL scouts were not surprised when Estes had the shortest arm length among offensive linemen on his West team.

Regardless of measurements, background or position, Estes was one of many players with plenty to prove here in Saturday's East-West Shrine game, a showcase for college football All-Stars looking to boost their profiles for the NFL Draft.

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By Chris Tomasson 1/01/2010 6:29 PM ET

TAMPA, Fla. -- This column is under review. It's possible a call still might be reversed or a late flag thrown, which will change everything you are about to read.

But for now, Auburn has defeated Northwestern 38-35 in overtime Friday in the Outback Bowl in the most exhilarating game you'll see this bowl season.

Wait a minute. You say Idaho beating Bowling Green 43-42 somewhere near the Yukon Territory was good? Nobody cares about those teams.

But this was the SEC against the Big Ten. And there was big tension.

"I'm not sure I've ever gone into a game with seven wins and came out with 10,'' said Auburn coach Gene Chizik, whose team technically finishes 8-5.

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By Mark Hasty 12/31/2009 12:00 PM ET

Northwestern defensive end Corey Wootton

Conventional wisdom holds that the SEC must flat-out own the Big Ten, since the SEC is considered the best conference in college football, and the Big Ten is regarded as being down on its luck. In truth, in the two yearly games guaranteed to pit the two conferences against each other, the margin is Olsen-twin slim. In the Capital One Bowl, both conferences have nine victories, with the Big Ten winning four of the last five. The SEC has the edge in the Outback Bowl, but only by an 8-7 margin.

So as Auburn and Northwestern prepare for this year's game, you'd best start by flushing out any preconceived notions you have of either program.

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By Mark Hasty 11/19/2009 4:30 PM ET

Every Thursday, Pickin' on the Big Ten previews the upcoming weekend's games and ponders the meaning of it all, staring into the yawning existential void and calling a fullback dive on third-and-seven.

With one more loss, Michigan will become ineligible for a bowl game for the second season in a row. This has not happened since W.A. "Brad" Thornwhistle's disastrous first two seasons in 1847 and 1848. To avoid this horrible dishonor, all the Wolverines have to do is to beat Ohio State on Saturday. That will keep them alive for the Little Caesar's Pizza! Pizza! Bowl Bowl.

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By Mark Hasty 11/18/2009 11:03 PM ET

Below, former Buckeye Raymont Harris models the uniforms Ohio State will wear this weekend.

Your eyes don't deceive you. Raymont Harris still exists, and he's modeling the new throwback uniforms the Buckeyes will be wearing for this weekend's game at Michigan. This is where all you coastal and Southern types wonder aloud how anybody can tell if a Big Ten team is wearing a throwback uniform.

Of course, Columbus is the headquarters of Abercrombie and Fitch, Victoria's Secret, The Limited, and a few other fashion-type retailers. You'd expect some swanky threads on the Buckeyes sooner or later. But what else is going on in less fashionable parts of the conference?

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By Mark Hasty 11/12/2009 4:30 PM ET

Every Thursday, Pickin' on the Big Ten previews the upcoming weekend's games and issues random taunts to overconfident fan bases.

Be careful what you ask for, college football fan. The very same Iowa team that so many of you desperately wanted to see lose lest the Big Ten get another team into the title game is now the only thing standing between Ohio State and the BCS. If the Hawkeyes can't pull off a ginormous upset in Columbus behind a quarterback making his first college start, you're going to get the Scarlet and Grey facing some honked-off Pac 10 team.

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By Mark Hasty 11/07/2009 5:17 PM ET

We finally figured out what sort of misfortune Iowa's Cardiac Kids couldn't survive. They couldn't survive losing Ricky Stanzi. As a result, No. 8 Iowa fell to unranked Northwestern on Saturday, 17-10.

The junior quarterback left just before halftime after Northwestern's Corey Wootton tackled him in the end zone. Stanzi sprained his right ankle and fumbled the ball. As Northwestern's Marshall Thomas recovered the fumble for a touchdown, Stanzi remained on the Kinnick Stadium turf. He would walk off the field on his own power, but Stanzi would not return to the game. Neither would Iowa's offense.

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By Mark Hasty 10/29/2009 12:00 PM ET

Every Thursday, Pickin' on the Big Ten runs down the weekend's games from inside a chicken coop, at least as far as you know.

Cue the inevitable anti-Iowa backlash. A team that barely got by Arkansas State and Northern Iowa is somehow No. 1 in the nation according to the computer polls the BCS uses. Don't like it? Line forms to the left. Kirk Ferentz even agrees with you.

Shouldn't the computers' top ranked team have at least some sort of offense? Yes, of course. But whose fault is that No. 1 ranking?

Yours, you loudmouth.

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By Mark Hasty 10/26/2009 7:30 AM ET

While most of the world is still trying to figure out how the Iowa Hawkeyes stole the cheese out of the mousetrap -- again -- the conference title race is beginning to take a little more shape. Since neither Iowa nor Ohio State lost this past weekend, there's no shakeup at the top. Both teams remain equally in control of their respective destinies.

But what about the rest of the league? Is anybody new out of the hunt this week? Who's still alive but barely breathing? And where do things go from here in this crazy conference?

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By Mark Hasty 10/22/2009 3:00 PM ET

Ohio State coach Jim Tressel and quarterback Terrelle Pryor

Every Thursday, Pickin' on the Big Ten answers the questions, questions the answers, and looks ahead to Saturday's games.

It's now indisputably late October. The leaves here in Wisconsin went from being Monet-like things of beauty to being a soggy ground-based nuisance in less time than it takes for a new Jim Tressel criticism to appear on the internet. It feels like the season just started but after this weekend it's two-thirds over.

There are so many questions yet to answer, however. I've already explored the various Big Ten title scenarios, so let's look at some of the other burning issues.

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