Schedule strength will become more vital beginning in 2014, when a four-team playoff is started. Why? Because a major component of the playoff team selection process figures to be schedule strength, which is one of the reasons why the Big Ten is going to a nine-game league slate in 2016 and phasing out games with FCS.

The 2013 football season may still be two-plus months away, but that won’t keep me from taking an (early) in-depth look at each and every week’s top matchups and storylines. Oh, and I’m also offering my rankings of every week’s slate of games. Up now: Week 7, highlighted by Northwestern’s trip to Wisconsin.

Nebraska will be even more recognizable on the gridiron in 2013, and it has its new adizero 5-Star custom cleats to thank. The new kicks feature the following nods to Nebraska: “Huskers” on the right side, Nebraska’s “N” logo, with “Huskers” in it, on the back of the heel, and “Big Red Football” on the sole (we’ll rarely see this, I know). See pictures of the new cleats in this post.

Another day, another opportunity to take an in-depth look at the 2013 football season. Today, it’s all about Week 6 in my early week-by-week series. The first week of full Big Ten play, the slate offers some intriguing battles, including Northwestern hosting Big Ten favorite Ohio State. Get all the storylines, matchups and my game rankings for Week 6 in this post.

Athlon Sports has another awesome list. This time, the Nashville-based company ranks the Big Ten stadiums.