NCAA Big 10 Conference Standings 1988
| W | L | T | PF | PA | W | L | T | PF | PA | |
| Big Ten Conference | ||||||||||
| Michigan Wolverines (C) | 7 | 0 | 1 | 273 | 94 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 339 | 153 |
| Michigan State Spartans | 6 | 1 | 1 | 219 | 75 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 242 | 143 |
| Illinois Fighting Illini | 5 | 2 | 1 | 177 | 143 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 234 | 229 |
| Iowa Hawkeyes | 4 | 1 | 3 | 213 | 141 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 315 | 205 |
| Indiana Hoosiers | 5 | 3 | 0 | 257 | 168 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 382 | 225 |
| Purdue Boilermakers | 3 | 5 | 0 | 78 | 221 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 124 | 303 |
| Ohio State Buckeyes | 2 | 5 | 1 | 157 | 199 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 229 | 283 |
| Northwestern Wildcats | 2 | 5 | 1 | 137 | 234 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 192 | 350 |
| Wisconsin Badgers | 1 | 7 | 0 | 72 | 248 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 106 | 314 |
| Minnesota Golden Gophers | 0 | 6 | 2 | 120 | 182 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 195 | 246 |
Legend: left-to-right: W-L-T-PF-PA (Conference) W-L-T-PF-PA (All Games)
NCAA Division 1A Big 10 Conference Standings 1989
| W | L | T | OW | OL | OT | |
| Big 10 Conference | ||||||
| Michigan Wolverines (C) | 8 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 0 |
| Illinois Fighting Illini | 7 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 0 |
| Michigan State Spartans | 6 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 0 |
| Ohio State Buckeyes | 6 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 0 |
| Minnesota Golden Gophers | 4 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 0 |
| Indiana Hoosiers | 3 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 0 |
| Iowa Hawkeyes | 3 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 0 |
| Purdue Boilermakers | 2 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 0 |
| Wisconsin Badgers | 1 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 0 |
| Northwestern Wildcats | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
(C) Conference Champions
NCAA Division 1A Big 10 Conference Standings 1990
| W | L | T | OW | OL | OT | |
| Big 10 Conference | ||||||
| Michigan Wolverines (C) | 6 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 3 | 0 |
| Michigan State Spartans | 6 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 1 |
| Illinois Fighting Illini | 6 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 0 |
| Iowa Hawkeyes | 6 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 0 |
| Ohio State Buckeyes | 5 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 1 |
| Minnesota Golden Gophers | 5 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 0 |
| Indiana Hoosiers | 3 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 1 |
| Northwestern Wildcats | 1 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 0 |
| Purdue Boilermakers | 1 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 0 |
| Wisconsin Badgers | 0 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 0 |
Report
Michael Mullen, who was born in Monkstown, Co. Dublin played as a kicker with the University of Wisconsin Badgers from 1988 to 1990, studying Business. His grandfather was a member of the Legendary Mayo GAA Gaelic Football team of 1925. His father played Rugby Union for Old Belvedere, and Michael was spotted kicking for CBC Monkstown, and offered a scholarship to the University of Wisconsin in the MidWest of the USA.
The University of Wisconsin is the second-largest in the USA with 70,000 students, and the American Football team were based at the sports facilities in Madison, where there were two 50m swimming pools and a Stadium bigger than any in Ireland. He played three years with Wisconsin, where they finisjed bottom or second bottom of their conference, the Big 10, one of Five Big Conferences in the Top Division of College Football, where the next generation of NFL superstars would play before being drafted at the end of their college career by NFL teams.
References
Newspapers
[1] Anon. (1988) “College Scoreline” First Down.December 3, 1988. pg. 21.
[2] Anon. (1988) “Laois man is big name in American Football” Leinster Express. March 5, 1988. pg. 11.
[3] Naughton, Lindie (1991) “Michael kicking his way to the big time” Evening Herald. January 5, 1991. pg. 4.
Bibliography
[4] Rowe, Pete (1989) “Guinness American Football: Records, Facts and Champions” Fifth Edition, 1989. Pg. 112. Published in Great Britain by Guinness Publishing Ltd. Enfield, Middlesex
Websites
[5] Sports Reference (2020) 1989 Big Ten Conference Year Summary [Internet] Available from: https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/conferences/big-ten/1989.html [Accessed 11 July 2020]
[6] Sports Reference (2020) 1990 Big Ten Conference Year Summary [Internet] Available from: https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/conferences/big-ten/1990.html [Accessed 11 July 2020]
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Eoin O’Fearghail, Todd Zboyan, and Tim Leadingham
About this document
Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the
Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive
Last Updated: 11 July 2020
(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2020
You may quote this document in whole or part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the authors. All Rights Reserved.