College Football: All-Time All-Big Ten Team
By Ty Duffy
QB: Drew Brees [Purdue] No other modern quarterback comes close. Maxwell Award. Two-time Heisman finalist. Took Purdue to the Rose Bowl. His accomplishments with the talent around him in an ultra-competitive period for the Big Ten make him the obvious pick.
RB: Archie Griffin [Ohio State] Back to back Heisman winner. Ran for 100 yards in record 31-straight games. Ohio State had a 40-5-1 record with him as the starter.
RB: Ron Dayne [Wisconsin] NCAA’s all-time leading rusher, three-time All American, Heisman winner. 1,220 carries in college helps explain where his NFL career went.
WR: Desmond Howard [Michigan] During his 1991 Heisman season, he touched the ball 100 times, totaling 1,788 yards and 23 touchdowns. Iconic.
WR: Anthony Carter [Michigan] Two-time consensus All-American. Averaged 19 yards per reception, 28 touchdowns his final three seasons. Did this in Bo Schembechler’s offense.
TE: Ron Kramer [Michigan] Incredible athlete. 6’3” 225 lbs in the pre-facemask era. Two-time All American. Led both football and basketball team in scoring for two years straight.
OL: Orlando Pace [Ohio State] May be the best offensive tackle in college football history. The “pancake” stat was invented as an attempt to quantify the wreckage left in his wake.
OL: Steve Hutchinson [Michigan] Four-time All Big Ten. Two-time All American. No sacks his final two years. Rock on 1997 National Title team. Later made Shaun Alexander a lot of money.
OL: Jim Parker [Ohio State] May be best guard in college and NFL history. Large reason Woody Hayes became Woody Hayes. 1954 national title team.
OL: Joe Thomas [Wisconsin] Outland award, Lombardi award. Consensus All-American
OL: Jake Long [Michigan] Two-time All American. Two-time Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year. Automatic four yards running behind him.
DL: Bubba Smith [Michigan State] “Kill, Bubba, Kill.” Ended up at MSU out of Texas because the SWC had not yet integrated. Two-time All-American. On one of college football’s greatest defenses, MSU went 19-1-1 his final two years. Notable acting career.
DL: Mark Messner [Michigan] Two-time All American. 36 sacks and 70 TFL in four years. Started as a freshman in Michigan’s vaunted 1985 defense. His mustache drove the Ann Arbor women crazy.
DL: Bronko Nagurski [Minnesota] Leather-helmeted God of the Gridiron. Insert tortuous Grantland Rice metaphor here. Played all over the offensive and defensive lines and in the backfield. Defensive player of the year award named after him.
DL: Jim Stillwagon [Ohio State] Two-time All American. Outland and Lombardi winner. Parter of tOSU’s “Super Sophomores” that went 27-2.
LB: LaVar Arrington [Penn State] Two-time All American despite skipping his senior season. The greatest thing about the “LaVar Leap” was that it wasn’t abnormal.
LB: Dick Butkus [Illinois] One of the best linebackers in the history of the sport (award named after him). Unanimous All-American in 1963 and 1964. Finished third in 1964 Heisman voting. Also known for his starring role in “Hang Time.”
LB: Chris Spielman [Ohio State] Two-time All American. Lombardi Award winner. 546 career tackles at Ohio State. Another bitchin’ 1980s mustache.
CB: Charles Woodson [Michigan] Heisman winner. Two-time All-American. Shutdown corner. National Champion. Can’t mention him without showing this.
CB: Rod Woodson [Purdue] Two-time All American. Track star.
S: Jack Tatum [Ohio State] Another of the “Super Sophomores”. Three-time All Big Ten. Two-time unanimous All-American. Legendary hitter, though the days of the NFL putting out concussion porn are probably over.
S: George Webster [Michigan State] Another fixture of Michigan State’s great defenses in the mid-1960s. Two-time All American in a hybrid safety/linebacker position.