Big Ten TV

November 11, 2016

The Big Ten Conference likes to say it "appreciates" high school football within its footprint; but the evidence is otherwise.

First, in 2010 the Big Ten adopted a "bye week" to stretch its scheduling that pushed the final game of the Big Ten regular season – with its great rivalries, including Michigan v. Ohio State – to the day on which the high school Football Finals have been scheduled in Michigan for more than three decades. A periodic problem became an every-year plague.

Now the Big Ten has announced it will play and televise games on Friday nights; and in its first year of this new deal, Michigan State will play at Northwestern in a televised game on Friday night, Oct. 27 – the first night of the MHSAA Football Playoffs all across our state. 

So, in 2017 we can thank the Big Ten for damaging the first as well as the last weekend of our high school Football Playoffs.  

The Big Ten's reaction? "We are only playing six games on Friday nights. It could have been much worse."

I expect it will get worse. The greed of college sports knows no limits.

Unforgettable 5ive: 2021 11-Player Football Finals

By Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties

December 1, 2021

Here's a look at our Playoff Week 4 "Unforgettable 5ive" from MHSAA.tv and MHSAA media partner broadcasts:

Belleville's Jeremiah Caldwell hauls in the 72-yard touchdown pass from Bryce Underwood in a 55-33 Division 1 win over Rochester Adams.

Warren De La Salle Collegiate's Brady Drogosh breaks for a 45-yard touchdown run in a 41-14 Division 2 win over Traverse City Central.

Detroit Martin Luther King gets a huge 4th-down stop against DeWitt to preserve a Division 3 victory, 25-21.

Hunter Shaw's 33-yard walk-off field goal clinches Chelsea's 55-52 come-from-behind Division 4 win over Hudsonville Unity Christian.

Grand Rapids Catholic Central's Nolan Zeigler takes the John Passinault pass 59 yards for the score in GRCC's 31-7 win over Marine City in Division 5.

Dan Shipman intercepts the pass and returns it 29 yards, one of four Lansing Catholic interceptions, in a 16-6 win over Warren Michigan Collegiate in Division 6.

Pewamo-Westphalia's Dak Ewalt runs it in from 35 yards out as PW defeats Lawton 14-10 in the Division 7 Final.

Hudson's Nick Kopin scored twice, including this 6-yard run, in a 14-7 win over Beal City in Division 8.