BIG 10 WEEKLY
• Week nine of the 2026 college football season features nine games. The conference slate begins with a pair of Saturday noon matchups and concludes with Washington at Nebraska annual at 8 p.m. ET on BTN. Michigan State will enjoy a bye this week, with the complete schedule appearing to the right.
• Eleven of the Big Ten’s 18 teams are mentioned in this week’s AP or US LBM Coaches Polls, announced on Sunday. The AP poll featured No. 2 Ohio State, No. 4 Indiana, No. 7 UCLA, No. 20 Northwestern and No. 25 Wisconsin while Iowa, Minnesota and USC received votes. At No. 2, Ohio State leads 11 Big Ten teams in the coaches’ poll (No. 4 Indiana, No. 7 UCLA, No. 18 Northwestern, No. 24 Iowa and No. 25 USC), Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon and Wisconsin also earned votes.
• UCLA is one of three NCAA FBS teams to remain undefeated through eight weeks of the 2026 season. The Bruins defeated Michigan State, 28-10, last week to improve to 7-0 overall and 5-0 in league play, both marking firsts since the 2005 season.
• Since entering college football in 2024, Jeremiah Smith leads all players in receptions (215), receiving yds (3,542) and receiving TDs (39). In the first seven games, Smith had 52 catches for 984 yds and 12 TDs, making him the only receiver in the country to be in the top two in receiving yards and touchdowns. Smith goes into Saturday needing 246 yards and one touchdown to break the Big Ten records.
• Another trophy is on the line this weekend, when Wisconsin heads to Iowa City to take on the Hawkeyes at Noon on FOX. Iowa leads the series, 8-7, since the inception of the Heartland Trophy in 2004.
• Luke Drzewiecki kicked a 46-yard field goal as time expired to help Minnesota beat No. 15 Iowa 13-10 Saturday to claim the Floyd of Rosedale trophy for the first time since 2023 and second time in 12 years. The Gophers hold the Little Brown Jug, Floyd of Rosedale and Paul Bunyan’s Axe at the same time for the first time since 1978.
• Northwestern’s Robert Fitzgerald, Ohio State’s Carson Hinzman and Oregon’s Dante Moore were named finalists for the 2026 William V. Campbell Trophy on Oct. 21, with each of them receiving an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship as a member of the 2026 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class Presented by Fidelity Investments. Now in its 37th year, the Campbell Trophy is presented annually to the nation’s top football scholar-athlete.
• The 2026 Discover Big Ten Championship Game will be played on Saturday, December 5, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis and will be broadcast by FOX. The winner will represent the conference as the Automatic Qualifier (AQ) to the College Football Playoff.
• Abbott and the Big Ten Conference kicked off Season 3 of the We Give Blood drive on August 26. Donations are tracked in real-time until December 4. The school with the most donations at the end will be announced on December 5 at the 2026 Discover Big Ten Championship Game. Every donation can help save up to three lives — and someone in the U.S. needs blood every two seconds. The leaderboard can be found on page 5.
• The Big Ten has claimed three consecutive College Football Playoff championships by three different universities (Indiana 2026, Ohio State 2025, Michigan 2024).
• With national championships in football and men’s and women’s basketball, the Big Ten became the second conference to sweep football and basketball national titles since 1981-82. The Big Ten is the only conference to achieve the feat with three different schools.
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NO. 2 BUCKEYES VISIT USC AND NO. 25 WISCONSIN HEADS TO IOWA IN THIS WEEK’S BIG TEN SPOTLIGHT GAMES
Things to watch this weekend in the Big Ten:
Game of the week
No. 2 Ohio State (6-1, 4-0) at Southern California (6-2, 3-2), Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET (NBC)
Ohio State’s quarterback uncertainty adds intrigue to a matchup that otherwise lost a bit of shine once USC fell 24-7 at Wisconsin to drop out of the AP Top 25.
This will be the first full game the Buckeyes play without the injured Julian Sayin. Ohio State coach Ryan Day has said Luke Fahey and Tavien St. Clair are competing for the nod to start. Fahey took over after Sayin hurt his throwing arm in a 19-15 victory at No. 4 Indiana on Oct. 17.
The undercard
No. 25 Wisconsin (5-2, 3-1) at Iowa (5-2, 2-2), Saturday, noon ET (Fox)
Wisconsin is in the Top 25 for the first time since September 2023 and now must face an Iowa team that has outscored the Badgers 118-26 over the last four seasons.
Minnesota (5-2, 3-1) at No. 4 Indiana (7-1, 4-1), Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET (CBS)
Indiana will try to get its offense going, as the Hoosiers haven’t exceeded 20 points in any of their last three games.
No. 20 Northwestern (6-1, 3-1) at Oregon (4-3, 2-2), Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET (Peacock)
Former Oregon coach Chip Kelly already faced the Ducks while coaching UCLA from 2018-23, but this is the first time he will be doing so as Northwestern’s offensive coordinator.
Impact players
— Wisconsin OLB Sebastian Cheeks recorded 2 ½ sacks against Southern California.
— Northwestern QB Aidan Chiles is the only Bowl Subdivision player to have two games this season with at least three touchdown passes and two touchdown runs. Chiles achieved that in victories over Colorado and Rutgers.
— UCLA LB Sammy Omosigho had 2 ½ sacks in a 28-10 win over Michigan State.
— Indiana DL Tobi Osunsanmi has at least one sack in seven straight games, which represents the longest such streak in school history. He recorded two sacks in the Hoosiers’ 13-6 overtime victory at Michigan.
Inside the numbers
The seven points USC produced in its loss to Wisconsin represented the lowest total for any team led by Lincoln Riley during his 10 seasons as a head coach. … Oregon had scored over 10 points in 61 straight games before losing 21-10 at Illinois last week. … Four of the top five FBS defenses in yards allowed per play are from the Big Ten. Michigan is first (4.10). Indiana and Wisconsin are tied for second (4.14). Ohio State is fifth (4.21). … UCLA coach Bob Chesney, who was at James Madison last year, has won his last 17 regular-season games. … Minnesota has its three primary rivalry trophies — Floyd of Rosedale (Iowa), the Little Brown Jug (Michigan) and Paul Bunyan’s Axe (Wisconsin) — at the same time for the first time since 1978. Minnesota will try to hold on to the Axe when it visits Wisconsin on Nov. 27.
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