2011 Big Ten Conference football season

Rankings

Spring games

April 9

• Purdue Boilermakers April 16
• Indiana Hoosiers
• Iowa Hawkeyes
• Michigan Wolverines
• Nebraska Cornhuskers
• Northwestern Wildcats
• Penn State Nittany Lions April 23
• Illinois Fighting Illini
• Minnesota Golden Gophers
• Ohio State Buckeyes
• Wisconsin Badgers April 30
• Michigan State Spartans

Regular season

All times Eastern time.

Rankings reflect that of the AP poll.

Week 1

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Week 2

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Week 3

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Week 4

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Week 5

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Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

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Week 12

Week 13

Big Ten Championship Game

Players of the week

Attendance

Post-season awards and honors

Individual Big Ten Award Winners

• Griese-Brees Quarterback of the Year: Russell Wilson, Wisconsin
• Richter-Howard Receiver of the Year: Marvin McNutt, Iowa
• Ameche-Dayne Running Back of the Year: Montee Ball, Wisconsin
• Kwalick-Clark Tight End of the Year: Drake Dunsmore, Northwestern
• Rimington-Pace Offensive Lineman of the Year: David Molk, Michigan
• Smith-Brown Defensive Lineman of the Year: Devon Still, Penn State
• Butkus-Fitzgerald Linebacker of the Year: Lavonte David, Nebraska
• Tatum-Woodson Defensive Back of the Year: Alfonzo Dennard, Nebraska
• Bakken-Andersen Kicker of the Year: Brett Maher, Nebraska
• Eddleman-Fields Punter of the Year: Brett Maher, Nebraska

All-Big Ten

The following players were named by the coaches.:

HONORABLE MENTION: Illinois: Jeff Allen, Jonathan Brown, Derek Dimke, Terry Hawthorne, Ian Thomas; Indiana: Mitch Ewald, Jeff Thomas; Iowa: Broderick Binns, James Ferentz, Eric Guthrie, Micah Hyde, James Morris, Markus Zusevics; Michigan: Kenny Demens, J.T. Floyd, Kevin Koger, Junior Hemingway, Denard Robinson, Fitzgerald Toussaint, Ryan Van Bergen; Michigan State: Denicos Allen, Le'Veon Bell, Kenshawn Martin, Trenton Robinson, Marcus Rush; Minnesota: Kim Royston; Nebraska: Will Compton, Ben Cotton, Spencer Long, Marcel Jones, Baker Steinkuhler; Northwestern: Jeremy Ebert, Jordan Mabin, Brian Mulroe, Al Netter, Dan Persa, Brian Peters; Ohio State: Johnathan Hankins, Dan Herron, Jack Mewhort, Jake Stoneburner; Penn State: Drew Astorino, Anthony Fera, Jordan Hill, D'Anton Lynn, Derek Moye, Chima Okoli, Chaz Powell, Johnnie Troutman; Purdue: Joe Holland, Dennis Kelly; Wisconsin: Jared Abbrederis, Patrick Butrym, Antonio Fenelus, Peter Konz, Brad Nortman, Jacob Pedersen, Ricky Wagner.

The following players were named by the media panel.

HONORABLE MENTION: Illinois: Derek Dimke, Terry Hawthorne, Travon Wilson; Indiana: Mitch Ewald; Iowa: Mike Daniels, James Ferentz, Adam Gettis, Eric Guthrie, James Morris, Tyler Nielsen, Shaun Prater, Markus Zusevics; Michigan: Kenny Demens, J.T. Floyd, Kevin Koger, Jordan Kovacs, Taylor Lewan, Craig Roh, Fitzgerald Toussaint, Ryan Van Bergen; Michigan State: Le'Veon Bell, Max Bullough, Dan Conroy, Kirk Cousins, Darqueze Dennard, Brian Linthicum, Chris McDonald, Chris Norman, Kevin Pickelman, Marcus Rush; Minnesota: Chris Bunders, Kim Royston; Nebraska: Mike Caputo, Austin Cassidy, Will Compton, Ben Cotton, Marcel Jones, Cameron Meredith, Daimion Stafford, Baker Steinkuhler; Northwestern: Kain Colter, Jordan Mabin, Brian Mulroe, Al Netter, Dan Persa; Ohio State: C.J. Barnett, Mike Brewster, Johnathan Hankins, Jack Mewhort, Tyler Moeller, Andrew Norwell, Jake Stoneburner, Andrew Sweat; Penn State: Drew Astorino, Quinn Barham, Jack Crawford, Jordan Hill, D'Anton Lynn, Chima Okoli, Chaz Powell, Nate Stupar, Johnnie Troutman; Purdue: Ricardo Allen, Dwayne Beckford, Joe Holland, Dennis Kelly, Carson Wiggs; Wisconsin: Jared Abbrederis, Patrick Butrym, Aaron Henry, Brad Nortman, Nick Toon, Ricky Wagner, Philip Welch.

National Award Winners

• David Molk, Michigan – Rimington Trophy
• Whitney Mercilus, Illinois – Ted Hendricks Award

First Team All-Americans

There are many outlets that award All-America honors in football. The NCAA uses five official selectors to also determine Consensus and Unanimous All-America honors. The five teams used by the NCAA to compile the consensus team are from the Associated Press, the AFCA, the FWAA, The Sporting News and the Walter Camp Football Foundation. A point system is used to calculate the consensus honors. The point system consists of three points for first team, two points for second team and three points for third team. No honorable mention or fourth team or lower are used in the computation.

The teams are compiled by position and the player accumulating the most points at each position is named a Consensus All-American. If there is a tie at a position in football for first team then the players who are tied shall be named to the team. A player named first-team by all five of the NCAA-recognized selectors is recognized as a Unanimous All-American.

Main article: 2011 College Football All-America Team

Academic All-American

The Big Ten led all conferences with 7 Academic All-America selections: 1st team – Rex Burkhead (Nebraska), Austin Cassidy (Nebraska), Patrick Ward (Northwestern) and Joe Holland (Purdue); 2nd team – Mike Sadler (Michigan State), Sean Fisher (Nebraska) and Jacob Schmidt (Northwestern). Cassidy was one of four repeat first-team winners, while Holland was a 2010 second-team selection.

Bowl games

2012 NFL draft

Main article: 2012 NFL draft

The conference lost 4 players in the first round of the NFL Draft: A total of 41 Big Ten players were drafted.

: No. 27: New Orleans → New England (PD). New Orleans traded this selection and their 2011 second-round selection (No. 56, New England selected Shane Vereen) to New England for New England's first-round selection in the 2011 Draft (No. 28, New Orleans selected Mark Ingram II). :Pick27Trade2No. 27: New England → Cincinnati (D). see No. 21: Cincinnati → New England. |group="R1 -"}} |cfb page exists=yes }}

:No. 126: New England → Denver (D). see No. 25: Denver → New England. :Pick126Trade2 No. 126: Denver → Tampa Bay (D). see No. 31: Denver → Tampa Bay. |group="R4 -"}} |cfb page exists=yes }}

Head coaches

• Ron Zook and Vic Koenning (for bowl game), Illinois
• Kevin R. Wilson, Indiana
• Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
• Brady Hoke, Michigan
• Mark Dantonio, Michigan State
• Jerry Kill, Minnesota
• Bo Pelini, Nebraska
• Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern
• Luke Fickell, Ohio State
• Joe Paterno (first nine games) and Tom Bradley (last three games), Penn State
• Danny Hope, Purdue
• Bret Bielema, Wisconsin

Joe Paterno was fired as head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions on November 9 in the wake of the Penn State sex abuse scandal. Defensive coordinator Tom Bradley was named interim head coach for the remainder of the season.

Notes

• July 28–29, 2011 – Media Days in Chicago.

References

Sources

References

1. (December 13, 2010). "Big Ten divisions: Legends, Leaders". ESPN College Football.
2. [https://www.espn.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/23382/big-ten-spring-dates-update Big Ten spring dates update]
3. "All-Big Ten Honors".
4. "NCAA Consensus All-America selection".
5. (2012-01-08). "Big Ten Leads All Conferences With Seven Academic All-Americans: Big Ten Tops All FBS Conferences in Honorees for Seventh Straight Season". [[CBS Interactive]].
6. Bennett, Brian. (2012-04-27). "Illinois leads late arriving B1G first round". [[ESPN]].
7. (2012-04-28). "2012 NFL Draft Central". [[CBS Interactive]].
8. (November 9, 2011). "Paterno fired over Penn St. child abuse scandal". [[CBS News]].