Every week, BTN.com’s Brent Yarina (@BTNBrentYarina) and Tom Dienhart (@BTNTomDienhart) offer their predictions for each Big Ten football game. We also provide a poll for all of the games so fans can vote for their winners.

Nike Pro Combat uniforms are nothing new to college football. But college basketball, that would be something we’ve never seen. According to Diamond Leung, of MLive.com, the Spartans may became “either the first or one of the first teams chosen to wear Nike Pro Combat basketball uniforms this season.”

Phil Steele released his 2012 Midseason All-American Teams on Wednesday, and all things considered, the Big Ten was represented pretty well. In all, there were 14 honorees, including two first-team players and four second-team players. See all of Steele’s Big Ten standouts in this post.

Michigan head coach Brady Hoke recently bought 50 ChuckStrong T-shirts that he and his coaching staff will wear to Saturday’s game against Illinois. The Indianapolis Colts created the shirts last week to raise money for charity in support of their first-year head coach Chuck Pagano, who is on leave while he battles leukemia.

Every Tuesday morning during the NFL season, Brent Yarina singles out the best offensive, defensive and special teams performances by Big Ten products and links to their NFL.com highlights. View all the former Big Ten players on NFL active rosters. See Brent’s Week 5 winners in this post.

With Week 6 behind us, it’s time for my latest Big Ten Player Rankings. Again, I’m doing these a little different this year. Whereas I used to rank the top 10 players – a practice that was tough due to all the talent on both sides of the ball – I’ll rank the top six offensive and defensive players each week.

Expect big things from the Big Ten on the hardwood this winter. CBSSports.com’s Preseason All-American Teams, released Monday, is pretty good proof of that. The site named Indiana sophomore Cody Zeller its National Player of the Year and honored a total of six Big Ten stars on its six teams.

From the I-can’t-believe-what-I’m-seeing department, we give you a classic picture of Nebraska football coach Bo Pelini. As a basketball player. In high school. Hello, short shorts! And look, Bo’s smiling!

Former Purdue star and current New Orleans QB Drew Brees set an NFL record Sunday night by throwing a touchdown pass for the 48th consecutive game. The record, previously held by NFL Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas, stood since 1960. Brees set the record on 40-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter of Sunday’s 31-24 victory over San Diego, Brees’ old team (Watch the TD | Brees talks record).

We’ve reached the midpoint of the 2012 Big Ten football season. Before we turn our complete attention to Week 7, though, we need to review how BTN.com fans, Tom Dienhart and yours truly did with our Week 6 predictions. Dienhart led the way, going 4-1, while BTN.com fans and I went 3-2.

Every Saturday night during the college football season, BTN.com web editor Brent Yarina hands out his weekly Big Ten Game Balls. The series is called “U.S. Marines Corps: Leaders of the Week,” and it’s designed to spotlight the Big Ten’s top individual performances. Who took home the honors from Week 6? Find out in this post.

We’re always interested in the latest fashion trends across the Big Ten, and it’s of particular interest every Saturday during the fall. On Saturday, one of our show producers noticed something rather interesting about Michigan’s uniform for its Big Ten opener at Purdue.

When talking best running back in the Big Ten, BTN.com’s Tom Dienhart and Brent Yarina agree it’s Le’Veon Bell. Through five games, Bell leads Big Ten backs in yards (655 – yes, he also has most carries) and ranks in the top two in receptions (20) and receiving yards (125). He’s also a terrific blocker.

Hardcore sports fans will show their allegiance on just about anything. That includes caskets. How can we forget this memorable – and creepy – Ohio State one? And thanks to first-year Nebraska men’s basketball coach Tim Miles, we have a Nebraska-themed casket – sans corpse, luckily.

Nobody gets more excited while calling a game than BTN’s own Gus Johnson. To that point, in the latest Fox Sports commercial, Johnson gets so into the game he’s calling that he explodes. The ad ends with color commentator Charles Davis, covered in Johnson’s, um, guts, saying: “Every Saturday.” More like every game. Football, basketball, soccer, it doesn’t matter.