Dan Murphy, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Best Big Ten game setting: First-round results

The results are in. The first round of the Best Big Ten game day setting tournament is complete, what did we learn?

First of all, Purdue might be able to solve its attendance woes by building an international airport in West Lafayette (more on that in a minute). Second, there is a pretty significant gap between the haves and have-nots when it comes to entertaining fans on football Saturdays. Every first-round winner captured at least two-thirds of the vote. The next round is likely to be a bit more competitive. Before we get to that, a brief recap:

No. 3 Wisconsin def. No. 14 Indiana

The Badgers haven’t lost to Indiana on the field since 2002. They have controlled the series, reaching a high mark of 83 points against the Hoosiers in their 2010 meeting. The game day atmosphere is equally dominant. Wisconsin took 86 percent of the vote in this contest where 5,471 people weighed in. Even in its home state, Indiana finished with only 33 percent of the vote.

No. 4 Nebraska def. No. 13 Purdue

The Cornhuskers are advancing despite a bit of controversy. Purdue actually won 65 percent of the overall vote, but our crack team of investigators uncovered some trends pointing toward corruption that would make even the city of Chicago blush. More than 12,000 of Purdue’s 14,990 votes came from overseas. We're fairly confident that all of those aren't coming from Anthony Mahoungou's fan club. Nebraska won 49 of 50 states in the U.S. and when international numbers were excluded had a comfortable margin with 70 percent of the vote.

To put it in March Madness terms, some crafty engineers at Purdue found a way to put Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol and Tony Parker in Boilermaker jerseys and sneak them onto the court. Upon further review, the judges have sent Nebraska on to the next round.

No. 5 Michigan def. No. 12 Northwestern

This was no m00n repeat. The Wolverines would have had a clean sweep of the 50 states if not for the apparent diehard Northwestern fan base in Vermont. Michigan and the Big House, with 78 percent of the overall vote, still cruised to an easy victory over Ryan Field in the contest that drew the biggest legitimate crowd (7,377 participants) in the first round.

No. 6 Iowa def. No. 11 Illinois

Kinnick Stadium is a plucky six seed, and could be a good contender to pull of an upset in the next round. Iowa’s product on the field has struggled in the past few years, but the game-day experience had no issues competing with Illinois. The Hawkeyes won 81 percent of the vote. Only Wisconsin registered a more lopsided victory this week.

No. 7 Michigan State def. No. 10 Maryland

The Big Ten newcomers have yet to establish themselves as worthy of a road trip after their first year in the league. Maryland, despite its massive crab-and-cheese-covered pretzels, fell to Spartan Stadium in the 7-10 matchup. Michigan State took 77 percent of the 5,501 votes and moves on to face Penn State in the next round. If Tom Izzo can somehow get involved, the Spartans can be a dangerous seven seed.

No. 9 Minnesota def. 8 No. Rutgers

Our lone upset of the first round belong to Minnesota. Twice as many Gophers fans than Rutgers fans showed up to the polls this week. Rutgers won the Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy this year, which is given to the top college football team in the northeast. They controlled that upper corner of the country in our tournament as well, but the rest of the U.S. would rather eat their Dilly Bars in snowy Minnesota during college football season.

Voting for the Elite Eight contests begins this afternoon. Vote early, vote often, just please don’t ask your thousands of European cousins to vote as well. That skews the results. Here are your matchups for the next round:

1 Ohio State vs. 9 Minnesota

2 Penn State vs. 7 Michigan State

3 Wisconsin vs. 6 Iowa

4 Nebraska vs. 5 Michigan

^ Back to Top ^