2008 Big Ten Conference football season


The 2008 Big Ten Conference football season is the 113th season for the Big Ten.

Preseason

Ohio State was selected as the preseason favorite to win the conference with Wisconsin and Illinois second and third, respectively by the Media. Ohio State running back Chris Wells was chosen as the Preseason Big Ten Offensive Player of the year while fellow Buckeye linebacker James Laurinaitis was named the Preseason Big Ten Defensive Player of the year.
Purdue Head Coach Joe Tiller will enter his final season, while Michigan's Rich Rodriguez will begin his first in Ann Arbor.
In a given year, each Big Ten team will play eight of the other Big Ten teams. Thus for any given team in a given year, there are two others which will not be competed against. Below is the breakdown of "no-plays" for 2008:
Team—Does not play

Rankings

AP PollPreWk 1Wk 2Wk 3Wk 4Wk 5Wk 6Wk 7Wk 8Wk 9Wk 10Wk 11Wk 12Wk 13Wk 14Wk 15Final
Illinois2024T242222
Indiana
Iowa20
Michigan24
Michigan State23202218181722211924
Minnesota2520
Northwestern242422
Ohio State2 3 5 131414121210131210101010109
Penn State2219171612663333 776668
Purdue
Wisconsin1311108918

Schedule

Akron @ Wisconsin
Coastal Carolina @ Penn State
Maine @ Iowa
Syracuse @ Northwestern
Western Kentucky @ Indiana
Youngstown State @ Ohio State
Utah @ Michigan
Northern Illinois @ Minnesota
Michigan State @ California
Illinois @ Missouri
Eastern Illinois @ Illinois
Eastern Michigan @ Michigan State
Marshall @ Wisconsin
Miami @ Michigan
Northern Colorado @ Purdue
Ohio @ Ohio State
Florida International @ Iowa
Oregon State @ Penn State
Murray State @ Indiana
Northwestern @ Duke
Minnesota @ Bowling Green
Florida Atlantic @ Michigan State
Louisiana @ Illinois
Montana State @ Minnesota
Southern Illinois @ Northwestern
Iowa State @ Iowa
Oregon @ Purdue
Penn State @ Syracuse
Michigan @ Notre Dame
Ohio State @ Southern California
Wisconsin @ Fresno State
Central Michigan @ Purdue
Florida Atlantic @ Minnesota
Iowa @ Pittsburgh
Ohio @ Northwestern
Temple @ Penn State
Troy @ Ohio State
Notre Dame @ Michigan State
Ball State @ Indiana
Michigan State @ Indiana
Minnesota @ Ohio State
Northwestern @ Iowa
Purdue @ Notre Dame
Wisconsin @ Michigan
Illinois @ Penn State
Indiana @ Minnesota
Iowa @ Michigan State
Penn State @ Purdue
Illinois @ Michigan
Ohio State @ Wisconsin
Iowa @ Indiana
Minnesota @ Illinois
Toledo @ Michigan
Michigan State @ Northwestern
Purdue @ Ohio State
Penn State @ Wisconsin
Purdue @ Northwestern
Wisconsin @ Iowa
Ohio State @ Michigan State
Michigan @ Penn State
Indiana @ Illinois
Illinois @ Wisconsin
Minnesota @ Purdue
Northwestern @ Indiana
Penn State @ Ohio State
Michigan State @ Michigan
Northwestern @ Minnesota
Central Michigan @ Indiana
Iowa @ Illinois
Michigan @ Purdue
Wisconsin @ Michigan State
Illinois @ Western Michigan
Michigan @ Minnesota
Ohio State @ Northwestern
Penn State @ Iowa
Purdue @ Michigan State
Wisconsin @ Indiana
Indiana @ Penn State
Minnesota @ Wisconsin
Northwestern @ Michigan
Ohio State @ Illinois
Purdue @ Iowa
Iowa @ Minnesota
California Polytechnic State @ Wisconsin
Illinois @ Northwestern
Indiana @ Purdue
Michigan @ Ohio State
Michigan State @ Penn State

Key matchups

Spring games

April 12

September 27

Team

Individual

All-Big Ten Conference Team

Awards

National awards

Doak Walker Award
Rimington Trophy
Lott Trophy
Jim Thorpe Award
Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year
Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year
Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year
Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year
Big Ten Freshman of the Year
Dave McClain Coach of the Year

Attendance

The overall attendance for the Big Ten was a total of 5,399,659 fans attending 77 contests this year. This meant that conference schools averaged 70,125 fans per home contest this season. Each Big Ten team has seven home games during the season with two exceptions; Indiana played eight games in Memorial Stadium and Illinois played two neutral sites to limit the Illini to six games in Memorial Stadium. Below are the figures for each game, the total for the team's season and the average attendance per game. The rankings below are by average attendance per game.
TeamGame 1Game 2Game 3Game 4Game 5Game 6Game 7Game 8TotalAverage
Michigan108,421106,724109,833109,750107,267110,146107,856---759,997108,571
Penn State106,577108,159105,106109,626110,017108,445109,845---757,775108,253
Ohio State105,011105,002102,989105,175105,378105,711*105,564---734,830104,975
Wisconsin80,91080,39681,60881,52481,24181,22880,709---567,61681,088
Michigan State71,78970,32176,36677,52677,36075,12175,522---524,00574,857
Iowa70,58570,58570,58570,58570,58570,58567,676---491,18670,169
Illinois60,13158,63262,87062,87062,87062,870------370,24361,707
Purdue51,47654,66657,10157,21554,21559,13563,107---396,91556,702
Minnesota44,02943,92941,00340,51154,12255,04064,071---342,70548,957
Indiana30,06730,12341,34931,83233,42830,69826,14030,618254,25531,781
Northwestern20,01519,06222,06932,52727,16347,13032,166---200,13228,590

* denotes Ohio Stadium record vs. Penn State on October 25.