The Big Ten Conference has released the 2014 football schedule that features two new faces in the prestigious conference.
The Michigan State Spartans come into the 2014 season with hopes of improving on a subpar 2013 season. The Spatans finished with a 7-6 overall record but produced a disappointing 3-5 conference record with key losses against Michigan, Ohio State, and Nebraska. Michigan State will open conference play with hopes of avenging one of those three key losses when they host the Cornhuskers on October 4th. The Battle for the Paul Bunyan trophy will be taking place in East Lansing, when the Spartans host the Michigan Wolverines on October 25th. Michigan State will host the Buckeyes and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights to close out the home portion of their schedule.
The Michigan Wolverines will be looking to pick up where they left off last season. Michigan finished the Big Ten last year with an overall record of 8-5 to go along with an impressive 6-2 conference record with wins coming against Illinois, Purdue and Michigan State. The Wolverines will open conference play at Michigan Stadium when they host the Golden Gophers of Minnesota on September 27th. The Wolverines will have the privilege of welcoming the two newest additions to the Big Ten Conference this season when they will travel to New Jersey to welcome the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on October 4th. Michigan will welcome the Maryland Terrapins to the Big House on November 22nd to close out their home schedule. The following week, the Wolverines will end conference play in Ohio when they take on the Ohio State Buckeyes on November 29th.
Arriving from the Big East, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights will make their Big Ten debut on the road. The Scarlet Knights will take on the Penn State Nittany Lions on September 3rd and will travel to Ann Arbor to take on the Wolverines on October 4th. The Maryland Terrapins will be bringing their standout Under Armour uniforms and helmets over from the Atlantic Coast Conference to add some flashy flair in a “fashion” sense to the Big Ten.
The Terrapins open up conference play when they travel to Bloomington to take on the Indiana Hoosiers on September 27th, and will host the Ohio State Buckeyes on October 4th for their Big Ten home opener.
The three-time conference champion Wisconsin Badgers will have a unique path to the hopes of winning their fourth consecutive Big Ten championship with games against Northwestern, Illinois, Rutgers and a repeat of last year’s Big Ten Conference championship game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Badgers will not face Michigan or Michigan State out of the East Division this season.
This year’s Big Ten championship game will take place on December 7th, 2014 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for the third consecutive year.
