The Big Ten has existed under a few different titles since 1896, giving member programs well over a century to develop some of the most recognizable traditions in college sports.
While the SEC has owned this century, no Football Bowl Subdivision conference represents the history of college football better than the Big Ten. In fact, the depth of history among Big Ten teams makes it hard in some cases to settle on just one primary tradition.
After choosing which best represents each Big Ten program, let’s group the conference into three tiers. Most of these traditions, especially those near the top, are immediately recognizable; it’s safe to say a few near the bottom might not have the same reputation.
Tier one: The best of the best
Iowa
The Hawkeye Wave ― This tradition debuted in 2017 following the opening of the university’s Stead Family Children’s Hospital, which overlooks Kinnick Stadium. At the end of the first quarter, fans turn and wave to the pediatric-care patients and families watching the game from the hospital’s upper floors. The top floor hosts game-day parties in what the hospital call its “Press Box.”
THE WAVE: How children at Iowa experience the tradition at Kinnick Stadium
DOWN SOUTH: Ranking the best traditions in the Southeastern Conference
Michigan
“Go Blue” banner ― Michigan’s most impressive football tradition is owning the most wins in FBS history. In terms of a memorable gameday tradition, the Wolverines will charge out of the tunnel leading from the locker room and run onto the field under a “Go Blue” banner. Sponsored by the school’s alumni association, the practice dates to 1962. The banner has been stolen twice but “no one has been able to take away the fighting spirit of the club or the Wolverines,” according to the university.
Nebraska
Sellout streak ― In terms of paid attendance, the last Nebraska home game not to be played in front of a sold-out crowd came on Oct. 20, 1962, at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis. (That may be a coincidence.) But Memorial Stadium has been full for every game since Nov. 3 of that year, a 389-game span that is by far the longest in the FBS and last through some recent struggles in the program.
Ohio State
Dotting the “i” ― Performed to the tune of Robert Planquette’s “Le Régiment de Sambre et Meuse,” the school marching band’s iconic Script Ohio formation is capped with a senior sousaphone player strutting to the dot above the “i” in “Ohio” and taking a deep bow to both sides of the stadium. The honored assignment has only been granted to a handful of non-band members, including John Glenn, Jack Nicklaus and Bob Hope.
Penn State
The White Out game ― Every season since 2004, Penn State has designated one home matchup as the annual “White Out” game, where all fans are asked to dress in white. While they’ve gone 10-8 in these games, the matchup is almost always reserved for the biggest home game on the Nittany Lions’ schedule; only four White Out opponents have been unranked when arriving in Happy Valley.
Wisconsin
“Jump Around” ― At the end of the third quarter of home games, Wisconsin fans jump up and get down to House of Pain’s “Jump Around.” The tradition started during a win against Purdue in 1998 and picked up in earnest during the 1999 season. (Fans will also sing along during home games to The Foundations’ “Build Me Up Buttercup.”)
Tier Two: A cut below, still very good
Michigan State
Zeke the Wonder Dog ― Zeke (or Zekes, since there have been multiple) is a Frisbee-catching Labrador that has been providing halftime entertainment off and on at Michigan State home games since 1977. The current incarnation, Zeke IV, took over in 2016. In 1977, the original Zeke was given a varsity letter by then-coach Darryl Rogers, who called the canine “the best receiver in the Big Ten.”
Minnesota
“Ski-U-Mah” ― The catchy slogan has been in use since being developed in 1884. Originally but incorrectly believed to be derived from the Dakota word for “victory,” the celebratory phrase can be found in “Minnesota Rouser,” the school fight song: “Firm and strong, united are we. Rah, rah, rah, for Ski-U-Mah.”
Purdue
A really big drum ― It’s not the “World’s Largest Drum,” as the university says; that honor belongs to a 20-feet tall, 7-ton drum in South Korea, according to Guinness World Records. But it’s pretty damn big: Purdue’s behemoth is 10 feet tall, requires four handlers and still rolls on the original eight-foot frame built in 1921.
Tier Three: We might’ve had to Google
Illinois
Card stunts ― Over at halftime in the student section, attendees will pick up plastic cards and flip them around to make some sort of design or say some sort of phrase. This isn’t great. (For the example of how to do card stunts the right way, read up on Caltech and the Great Rose Bowl Hoax.)
Indiana
“Hep’s Rock” ― In 2005, then-Indiana coach Terry Hoeppner placed a boulder unearthed from the Hoosiers’ practice field in the north end zone of Memorial Stadium. Since then, Indiana players have touched the rock before every home game. In 2010, the rock was renamed after Hoeppner, who died of brain cancer in 2007.
Maryland
State flag unfurling ― The school touts the team’s pregame walk to the stadium through “Terp Alley” and the postgame singing of the alma mater, but every school does some variation on these shared traditions. In terms of something more unique, the student section will unfurl two pieces of the state flag to the theme from “2001: A Space Odyssey.” But that’s not even the most famous or notable use of the song in the Power Five (see: South Carolina).
Northwestern
Making sportswriters ― Northwestern fans are no longer allowed to “Lake the Post,” or tear down and toss the goalposts into Lake Michigan. With that out of the equation, the school’s best tradition is churning out generations of sportswriters who would go on to cover football teams in the Big Ten and beyond.
Rutgers
Firing the cannon ― The school’s Revolutionary War-era cannon will fire at key gameday moments, such as when the team takes the field, at halftime and when the Scarlet Knights put points on the board. The cannon was originally donated by the school’s 1949 graduating class to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the first college football game, which Rutgers won 6-4 against Princeton.
