CHICAGO and SAN DIEGO – Cox Communications and Big Ten Network announced Thursday that it will add BTN to Cox’s lineup in Orange County, Palos Verdes, San Diego and Santa Barbara on Aug. 15, 2012. BTN is the first internationally distributed network dedicated to covering one of the premiere collegiate conferences in the country.

We’re in Lincoln, one day after watching Iowa practice on the first stop of our summer bus tour. Don’t forget you can watch Iowa’s preview show at 10 p.m. ET Thursday. Until then, here are Thursday’s best Big Ten web links.

When Tom Dienhart wrote that Penn State should put blue ribbon stickers on both sides of its helmet, it got my attention. No helmet, it seems, is as sacred as Penn State’s  – not even Michigan’s. After all, the Wolverines are coming off a season in which they added numbers to their lids and put gray facemasks in the rotation, both nods to the past. It’s back to the usual look in 2012. The last time Penn State made a significant change to its helmet: 1987, when it went from gray to blue facemasks.

I’m in Iowa City today to take in Iowa’s practice. It’s the first stop on our annual summer bus tour, and I’m excited to watch the team’s running backs, among other things. Enough about me, it’s time to bring you all of Wednesday’s top Big Ten web links.

Wisconsin is the hottest team in the Big Ten. It’s true. This is a new world Big Ten, where traditional heavyweights like Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State and Nebraska all are looking up at Wisconsin. This is the Badgers’ world … and everyone else is just living in it. The Badgers are coming off back-to-back Big Ten titles and Rose Bowl appearances, going an aggregate 22-5 overall the last two seasons (13-3 Big Ten).