The Big Ten Conference has removed Joe Patnero's name from their championship trophy, league commissioner Jim Delany said Monday...

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“We believe that it would be inappropriate to keep Joe Paterno’s name on the trophy at this time,” “The trophy and its namesake are intended to be celebratory and aspirational, not controversial. We believe that it’s important to keep the focus on the players and the teams that will be competing in the inaugural championship game.”

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The Big Ten championship game is Dec. 3 in Indianapolis.

An official from the University of Missouri is saying the school hopes to join the SEC but prefers an offer from the Big Ten - an offer that never came. The school really wanted in last year when the Big Ten chose Nebraska, but the school still wants in. And the SEC?

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"That's what's left," the official said, referring to the SEC.

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Missouri's seven voting curators agreed unanimously Tuesday night to give Chancellor Brady Deaton authority to look elsewhere rather than immediately commit to the troubled Big 12 Conference.

Either way they'll be mediocre in both conferences at best.

Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino spoke at the Little Rock Touchdown Club today and when asked about the plan for this season, the coach replied...

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"We need to get to Atlanta and win the SEC championship game,"..."And then history shows that you go to a national championship bowl game and draw one of those slow schools from the north and you beat them."

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The coach is obviously referencing the SEC's national title streak that includes two wins against Big Ten member Ohio State, which lost to Florida in 2007, and of course, LSU a year later.

The Big Ten Council of Presidents/Chancellors met recently to discuss expansion and said...

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..."there is no plan to "actively" engage in expansion now "or at any time in the foreseeable future, barring a significant shift in the current intercollegiate athletic landscape."

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Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said yesterday...

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"We're about as comfortable as we can be with where we are,"... "We've said that we will continue to monitor the landscape, but we have closed down active expansion and have no plans to seek new members."

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Starting in 2017 the Big Ten will be playing 9 conference games instead of the current 8. This leaves Big Ten teams with three slots for non-conference games. The change was something that was assumed once the conference was recently bumped up to 12 teams.