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Miss college football? Bowl games begin this weekend. Giddy up.  1. Wisconsin can't officially offer its vacant head coaching job to anyone until Wednesday, but all signs still point to Paul Chryst being the guy despite chatter about him being interested in staying at Pitt and athletic director Barry Alvarez talking to Greg Schiano.
The focus now is on hiring assistants, and Jeff Potrykus writes that keeping defensive coordinator Dave Aranda is a possibility. If so, that would be a major coup, as Aranda is one of the brightest young defensive minds in the game and is loyal to Gary Andersen. Potrykus also reports that former Wisconsin assistant Joe Rudolph could return to Madison along with Chryst.  2. The Michigan search continues, and the longer this goes on the more you have to think the Wolverines must believe they have a shot at Jim Harbaugh. There's a potential interesting twist to this saga, however, as there are reports the Miami Dolphins could fire coach Joe Philbin and take a run at Harbaugh.
Of course, the Dolphins are owned by Stephen Ross, who is arguably Michigan's most well-known booster. He would naturally be involved in putting together a lucrative package to bring Harbaugh to Ann Arbor. I can't imagine Ross would trap door his alma mater in order to bring Harbaugh to Miami, so if there's more to this pursuit than it indicates that Harbaugh truly is interested in leaving the NFL ranks right now.  3. The Columbus Dispatch's Bill Rabinowitz reports that the Ohio State parents association has written a letter to the Big Ten asking for financial assistance to travel to the Buckeyes' semifinal game against Alabama in New Orleans.
Each family can be reimbursed $800 out of the school's student-assistance fund, but that's still not enough to cover all the travel costs. And things only get more expensive if Ohio State wins and moves on to the national title game in Texas. Star defensive tackle Michael Bennett's mother, Connie, called it "reprehensible" that players' families aren't helped more when it comes to traveling to watch their sons play. "They're making hand-over-fist dollars on our guys, the guys take all of the risk for the entertainment dollars and they ignore their families altogether," she said, according to Dispatch story. The playoff is a great thing for the sport, but how fans and especially families were going to be able to get to those games has always been a major unanswered question. Neither the Big Ten nor NCAA can change that right now, but given the new autonomy measures the Power 5 conferences have been granted, this needs to become a priority. The playoff will generate an enormous pile of money, and a small part of that should go toward making sure participating players' parents are in the stands. West Division
Illinois may be playing in a minor bowl game, but the program has to approach it like a major one. Iowa could shake up its depth chart for its bowl game. Alvarez learned a few things from the last time he stepped in to coach a bowl game, in 2012. This is cool: Former Minnesota All-American Bobby Bell finally finished up his college degree -- at age 74. Nebraska high school coaches would like to see new coach Mike Riley recruit more in-state kids. Purdue picked up a tight end they hope is a Tennessee stud. Will change happen at Northwestern?
East Division
Michigan State's Pat Narduzzi would make a lot of sense for Pitt, Joe Rexrode writes, and I totally agree. Tom Herman is on the fast track toward becoming a head coach, but Ohio State fans wouldn't mind if he waited another year. Penn State offensive coordinator John Donovan spoke to the media for the first time since August, and of course Christian Hackenberg was a popular topic. Indiana landed a commitment from a former Ohio State pledge. Rutgers offensive lineman Kaleb Johnson is about to make his 50th straight start. Maryland is hoping to keep more top recruits home and build itself into a Big Ten power. Big Ten football is a study in riches and rags, Mike Hlas writes.
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