The Big Ten will begin gearing up for the college football season on July 28-29 with the Big Ten Media Days and Kickoff Luncheon at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Chicago. The annual event features coaches and players from all 14 Big Ten schools and will mark the first official appearance of Maryland and Rutgers as members of the Big Ten.

It’s mid-July, and that means it’s preseason college football awards watch lists season. See which Big Ten players were named to Biletnikoff Award watch list in this post.

The Big Ten is set to return a ton of talent at quarterback, but the same can’t be said at wide receiver. With names like Jared Abbrederis, Corey Brown, Quincy Enunwa, Jeremy Gallon, Cody Latimer and Allen Robinson all off to the NFL, there will be plenty of new names atop the receiving leader list.

I finally have had a chance to closely check out my three favorite college football preview mags: Athlon, Lindy’s and Sporting News. It’s fun to compare and contrast the predicted order of finish in the various publications. After considering the three publications’ picks, I decided to offer some reactions.

Which Big Ten rivalry is the most intense? Michigan vs. Ohio State, right? That would be the popular answer, but, according to Joe Rexrode, retired Big Ten official Bill LeMonnier takes Michigan vs. Michigan State. Read the full story here.

As Year Three of the Tim Beckman era dawns at Illinois, progress has been slow but tangible. The Fighting Illini went 0-8 in the Big Ten in 2012; they won a conference game last season and generally were more competitive. Why? The offense improved—a lot.