Hard to believe it's already the final week of the Big Ten regular season. Seems like we were all just downtown for media days and speculating about how great Illinois and Michigan State were going to be.

Anyway, with Saturday's games to go, here's how the 11 Big Ten teams have fared during this decade in league games only. Sorry for the unaligned formatting. That's on my wish list for Blog 2.0.

TEAM RECORD POINT SPREAD
Ohio State 63-16 +1044
Michigan 53-26 +488
Iowa 48-31 +429
Penn State 44-35 +438
Wisconsin 44-35 +207
Purdue 40-39 +89
Northwestern 37-42 -518
Michigan State 32-47 -188
Minnesota 30-49 -283
Illinois 26-54 -607
Indiana 18-61 -1099

As speculated here a couple hours ago, the Bears elevated running back Kahlil Bell from the practice squad to the active roster after placing running back Garrett Wolfe on injured reserve.

Bell entered the NFL this season as an undrafted free agent with the Vikings. The 5-foot-11, 212-pound UCLA product was signed to the Bears’ practice squad Sept. 16 after being waived by the Vikings a month earlier.

Bell rushed for 1,741 yards and 17 touchdowns on 395 carries (4.4-yard average) in 35 games at UCLA and caught 29 passes for 196 yards (6.8-yard average) with 1 touchdown.

Illinois Republican officials brought state Rep. Beth Coulson along to a strategy meeting with national party leader Michael Steele today, but they are working hard to dispel any notion they favor her in the seven-way GOP primary for congress.
“It is just a sit-down to get the lay of the land in Illinois,” says Curt Conrad, spokesman for the Illinois Republican Party.
Coulson was one of about two dozen Republicans set to meet with Steele at 2 p.m. today while he is in the area for private fundraisers. The meeting was organized by Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady, who invited GOP leaders from the state House and Senate. Coulson was invited by House Republican Leader Tom Cross of Oswego, who has endorsed her 10th District primary bid.

With RB Garrett Wolfe being placed on injured reserve Friday with a lacerated kidney, the Bears could decide to promote running Kahlil Bell from the practice squad.

Wolfe was injured early in the 41-21 loss to the Cardinals on Nov. 8, and since then the Bears have gone with Adrian Peterson as the only backup to Matt Forte. Before his injury, Wolfe had rushed for 120 yards on 22 carries, a 5.5-yard average. He also caught 2 passes for 22 yards and had 9 special-teams tackles.

The third-round pick from Northern Illinois missed the final three games last season when he was placed on injured reserve with a hamstring injury.

What separates the Blackhawks from most other teams in the NHL is their versatile and mobile defense.
Yes, that includes Brian Campbell, folks. Like him or not, and putting his $7.1 million salary aside, the Hawks wouldn’t be as complete a team without him.
The Hawks’ defensemen did it all in Thursday’s 7-1 rout of the Calgary Flames.
Duncan Keith was awesome with 3 assists and 3 blocked shots.
Niklas Hjalmarsson blocked 2 shots and delivered a massive check on Rene Bourque that helped turn the game the Hawks’ way in the second period.
Brent Seabrook fought the overrated Dion Phaneuf.
Campbell and Cam Barker each had 2 assists and combined for 3 blocked shots.
And Brent Sopel was solid in 17-plus minutes with 2 blocked shots.

The talk show queen will officially announce tomorrow that she plans to end her run on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in 2011, and at this point has no plans to move to another television platform.

As excited as I am at the idea of an Oprah-free world, I am terrified that the woman will decide to go into politics, and that her millions of brainwashed minions will elect her to some high office. What do you think Oprah's next move will be?

Since the offensive line has been unable to create much running room for Matt Forte this season, the Bears should take a page from the Eagles' playbook and use the scheme to get him the ball in space by continuing to throw it to him.

Over the past two games, Forte has 14 receptions for 194 yards, a 13.9-yard average, which is exceptional for a running back. He had gains of 37 and 31 yards against the 49ers on screen passes, when he was able to create in space, a chance he hasn’t gotten in the run game for most of this season.

Illinois’ Republican congressional delegation attempted to tone down their rhetoric today over housing detainees from Guantanamo Bay at a state prison by issuing a series of questions to Gov. Pat Quinn.
“As we move forward with a dignified and precise discussion regarding the cost, security and legal issues...,” the delegation’s letter begins.
The letter is in stark contrast to one the delegation sent to President Barack Obama over the weekend that raised the specter of such a move inviting a local terrorist attack.

Center Olin Kreutz (back) returned to practice today, but tight end Desmond Clark (neck), safety Kevin Payne (back) and running back Garrett Wolfe (back) remain out.

Even though Frank Omiyale finished last week's game at left guard in place of starter Josh Beekman, it looks like Beekman will get his fourth straight start Sunday night. Omiyale started the first six games.

"I don't think there's going to be any changes," Omiyale said, "so I would say Josh still is getting the job done."

Omiyale is considered the better pass protector, which is why he was on the field last week for the final series, when the Bears threw on all 11 plays. Beekman gets the edge as a run blocker.

John Shurna so wanted to be able to send the postgame text message.

Northwestern’s sophomore forward and Butler sophomore forward Gordon Hayward roomed together this summer when they (and Butler sophomore guard Shelvin Mack) played for USA Basketball’s gold medal-winning U-19 world championship team.

Before and during No. 11 Butler’s 67-54 win over Northwestern, Shurna and Hayward exchanged verbal jabs and inside jokes. Hayward, apparently, picked up somewhat of a fan club during their stay in New Zealand, so Shurna told him he’d import that fan club to Evanston tonight. When Butler came out to warm up at halftime and didn’t see any available basketballs, Hayward ripped into Shurna for the weak hospitality. And so on and so forth.