BIG TEN FOOTBALL RELEASE - WEEK 9 | STANDINGS | SCHEDULE | WE GIVE BLOOD DRIVE
• 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.