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Big Ten Conference facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Big Ten Conference logo
Big Ten Conference logo

The Big Ten Conference is a very old sports group for colleges in the United States. Most of the 14 schools that are part of it are in the Midwest part of the country. These colleges compete against each other in many different sports.

Member Schools

The Big Ten Conference has 14 full member schools. They are mostly large public universities. Here are the schools that are part of this conference:

School Location Joined Conference Nickname Varsity Teams
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Urbana and Champaign, Illinois 1896 Fighting Illini 21
Indiana University Bloomington Bloomington, Indiana 1899 Hoosiers 24
University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa 1899 Hawkeyes 24
University of Maryland, College Park College Park, Maryland 2014 Terrapins 20
University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan 1896 Wolverines 27
Michigan State University East Lansing, Michigan 1950 Spartans 25
University of Minnesota Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota 1896 Golden Gophers 23
University of Nebraska–Lincoln Lincoln, Nebraska 2011 Cornhuskers 21
Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois 1896 Wildcats 19
Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio 1912 Buckeyes 35
Pennsylvania State University University Park, Pennsylvania 1990 Nittany Lions 31
Purdue University West Lafayette, Indiana 1896 Boilermakers 18
Rutgers University New Brunswick and Piscataway, New Jersey 2014 Scarlet Knights 27
University of Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin 1896 Badgers 23

Associate Members: Schools in Specific Sports

Sometimes, a school might join the Big Ten for only one or two sports, not all of them. These schools are called "associate members."

School Location Joined Nickname Big Ten Sports Main Conference
Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland 2014 (men)
2016 (women)
Blue Jays Men's and women's lacrosse Centennial Conference (Div. III)
University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana 2017 Fighting Irish Men's ice hockey ACC


Images for kids

See also

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