The 123rd season of Big Ten football will commence this weekend

• The 123rd season of Big Ten football will commence this weekend as 14 teams open the 2018 campaign. For the second-straight season, there will be a Big Ten matchup on the opening weekend of the season as Northwestern visits Purdue at 8 p.m. ET on August 30. That same night, Minnesota will make its 2018 debut at home against New Mexico State at 7 p.m. Michigan State and Wisconsin will each open the season on Friday, Aug. 31, as the Spartans host Utah State at 7 p.m. and the Badgers welcome Western Kentucky to Camp Randall at 9 p.m. The remaining nine schools will kick off the 2018 campaign on Saturday, Sept. 1 …
• Scott Frost will make his debut on the Nebraska sideline Saturday night as the Huskers host Akron. A member of two Husker national championship teams, Frost returns to his alma mater after two highly successful seasons as the head coach at UCF, where he guided the Knights to a perfect 13-0 season in 2017, and a 19-7 record in two seasons in Orlando …
• The 2018 campaign will feature 46 All-Big Ten players (11 first-team, 15 second-team, 20 third-team) and 60 honorable mention selections from last season …
• The winners of two of the 14 regular-season individual awards from last season will also hit the field again this fall. Wisconsin running back Jonathan Taylor was named the Thompson-Randle El Freshman of the Year last season, while Ohio State’s Nick Bosa was tabbed the Smith-Brown Defensive Lineman of the Year …
• Nearly 275 Academic-All Big Ten selections return from the 2017 season, along with 25 Big Ten Distinguished Scholars …
• The Big Ten will continue to feature the largest bowl lineup in conference history. This season, the Big Ten’s bowl lineup will be highlighted by 16 potential bowl destinations in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, Tennessee and Texas …
• The first Saturday of the season will feature a neutral site contest between Maryland and Texas. The Terps will face the Longhorns at noon ET at FedEx Field in Landover, Md., on FS1 …
• Ohio State was crowned the 2017 Big Ten Champion after its 27-21 win over Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game presented by Discover. It was the Buckeyes’ 36th Big Ten title and first since 2014. Ohio State will look to repeat as conference champions for the first time since winning five consecutive titles from 2005-09 …
• Ohio State and Wisconsin will look to repeat as division champions this season, as the Badgers finished 9-0 to win the West Division for the second consecutive season and the Buckeyes completed the season with an 8-1 mark to claim the East Division, giving the Buckeyes at least a share of their sixth straight division title. Last season’s divisional crowns marked the fourth for the Badgers and sixth for the Buckeyes …