The Big Ten made a big deal out of competitive equality when it split into divisions for the 2011 football season. Competition was the No. 1 component in balancing divisional play, and rightly so. The newest member, Nebraska, was part of an acrimonious geographical split when the Big Eight morphed into the Big 12 back [...]

The Big Ten’s push to conquer the college athletics universe has hit a pregnant pause about two weeks after accepting Maryland and Rutgers as the league’s 13th and 14th members. Everyone expects the league to consider future expansion, and Commissioner Jim Delany reiterated the possibility in his subsequent news conferences and interviews. Rather than sitting [...]

    NEW YORK — Miscues, mistakes and penalties have cost Iowa State in the first half of today’s Pinstripe Bowl. The Cyclones trail Rutgers 17-6 at halftime, and they’ve been the cause of much of their deficit. Iowa State had a 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown wiped out because of a holding call. [...]

Hundreds of Iowa State fans arrived outside of Yankee Stadium this morning more than five hours before kickoff for today’s Pinstripe Bowl. I talked to several in the parking lots and most were in mid-October tailgating form. Iowa State sold more than 5,000 tickets to the game and thousands more purchased them from the bowl. Rutgers [...]

Iowa State’s players, coaches and officials have had some amazing experiences at the Pinstripe Bowl, from touring the 9/11 Memorial and the Empire State Building to ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange. The Cyclones also had their team walkthrough today at Yankee Stadium and took a team photo in the left [...]

NEW YORK — Erratic quarterback play defined the Rutgers and Iowa State offenses this year in both victory and defeat. If either team can budge its leader upward by even a modicum, it could mean the difference in winning and losing Friday’s Pinstripe Bowl. Iowa State is led by freshman Jared Barnett, who showed flashes [...]

WHEN RUTGERS HAS THE BALL Stop Sanu. Rutgers wide receiver Mohamed Sanu is tall at 6-2 and physical at 215 pounds and prolific with a Big East record 109 catches. He poses a difficult match-up for ISU’s defensive backs and expect Rutgers to force the ball in his direction multiple times each possession. Dual threat? [...]

NEW YORK — Leonard Johnson, Jeremy Reeves and the rest of Iowa State’s defensive backfield have covered most of college football’s best wide receivers in some fashion this year. There was the Big Ten’s best wide receiver — Iowa’s Marvin McNutt — in week two. There was the nation’s best wide receiver — Oklahoma State’s Justin Blackmon — in the [...]