Differences between Big 10 and Big Ten universities?

I know this might sound dumb, but I'm quite confused. Are 'Big 10' and 'Big Ten' universities the same thing or are they distinct? Can someone explain it to me?

Not a dumb question at all, it's always good to clarify! Yes, the terms 'Big Ten' and 'Big 10' refer to the same group of universities. The Big Ten Conference is a college athletic conference in the United States. This conference is part of the NCAA's Division I and includes 14 universities across the United States. The members include universities such as University of Michigan, Ohio State University, and University of Wisconsin, among others.

The name originally came about because the conference had ten members. It first became the "Big Ten" in 1896, and even though the number of member schools has increased to 14, the conference has kept the original name for historical and branding purposes. To accommodate this discrepancy, the conference uses a visual logo with the number ten in word ('Ten'), but written in such a way that the 'I' and 'G' in 'BIG' and the 'T' and 'E' in 'TEN' appear to form the numeral '10'. So don't worry about differentiating between 'Big 10' and 'Big Ten,' they're the same thing, just written differently!