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That podium microphone got an intense, 3-day workout last week in the Windy City as Big Ten Media Days cranked up.
College football’s current conference of champions features a lengthy rollout of 18 teams these days, so that was a lot of head coaches and a lot of star players saying a lot of things to the gathered reporters in Chicago. Some of the sound bites got lots of attention and made headlines, while other ones were left on the cutting room floor.
There are also 18 really passionate Big Ten fan bases who had their eyes and ears on the whole scene. They were curious. They wanted to hear what their head coach and players would say — and find out what they wouldn’t say. With that heavy annual dose of anticipation in mind and with the 2026 Big Ten Media Days having come and gone, here was what each Big Ten fan base needed to hear, whether it was actually said or not:
1. Indiana
We’ll start with the defending national champs, and Indiana fans didn’t have to worry about Curt Cignetti biting his lip at the podium because Cignetti doesn’t have much of a filter. This is good, because Cignetti needed to be asked all about new starting quarterback Josh Hoover and his 33 combined interceptions over the past 3 seasons at TCU. And IU fans needed to hear exactly how Cignetti, the QB whisperer/guru, was going to help Hoover limit those picks and play a lot more efficiently like Fernando Mendoza and Kurtis Rourke did the past 2 seasons in Bloomington.
2. Ohio State
When it comes to Ohio State‘s annual talent level, any big concern is usually downright nit-picking, so here it goes. Buckeyes fans who saw the departure of star linebackers Sonny Styles and Arvell Reese to the NFL should’ve wanted to know how exactly Matt Patricia’s defense was going to replace them. Replacing 2 of the top 7 picks in this past spring’s NFL Draft doesn’t just happen by waving a magic wand, even at a football factory like Ohio State. But at a football factory like Ohio State, fans should (and do) demand a whole lot. And that means Ryan Day should’ve been required to be ready with an answer on that linebacker corps.
3. Oregon
Oregon fans have been teased for far too long. They’ve got another year of Dante Moore, and that means this has to be the year — right? Dan Lanning doesn’t have any excuses this time around, and he needed to tell reporters — and by extension his tortured fans — that it’s national championship or bust this season with his stacked roster. Isn’t this why Moore came back to Eugene anyway? He surely didn’t return to lose in the College Football Playoff again, and Oregon fans are surely sick of getting so close to the promised land. Lanning should’ve been required to use the words “national championship” a few times (or more) during his Media Days session.
4. USC
The Trojans are under a ton of pressure in 2026 to finally make the Playoff. Specifically, Lincoln Riley is under a ton of pressure, because he got Oklahoma to the Playoff 3 times in his 5 years in Norman and hasn’t gotten USC to the Playoff in his first 4 years. In 2026, Riley has the roster to get the Trojans to the Playoff at long last, and during Media Days he owed it to his passionate and demanding followers to lean into that reality and proclaim to an anxious fan base that the Playoff pressure should be embraced, full throttle.
5. Michigan
In his very first Michigan Media Days foray, Kyle Whittingham needed to be brutally honest about Bryce Underwood. He needed to tell Wolverines fans last week the same things he’s been saying this offseason about the highly touted quarterback who was inconsistent as a true freshman. Whittingham loves Underwood but knows he also needs work, and Whittingham needed to reiterate that Underwood can be a star one day soon but that fans are also going to need some more patience as Underwood learns under a new offensive coordinator in Jason Beck.
6. Penn State
Penn State fans should be excited about Matt Campbell coming from Ames to coach their team. But Penn State fans are a passionate, impatient bunch, and they needed to hear the winningest coach in Iowa State history talk about how he’s going to win in State College — like, right away. Nittany Lions fans have been scarred by the James Franklin era, filled with a lot of insignificant wins and a lot of significant losses. Campbell needed to tell them in Chicago that things are finally going to be different for a program that hasn’t won it all since 1986. It would’ve probably been smart of Campbell to use the word “championship” a few times, while mixing in the words “win the big game” a few more times.
7. Iowa
Kirk Ferentz has been the head coach at Iowa for a really long time. Since 1999, in fact, so a whole generation of Hawkeyes fans have grown up with Kirk Ferentz being their coach. He’s won a whole lot of games — 209 of them, against just 128 losses. But there have been just 2 Big Ten titles, and those came way back in 2002 and 2004. Iowa (and Iowa fans) has stuck with Ferentz for so long, and last week in Chicago it would’ve been nice if he fed them something unexpected — whether an under-the-radar potential star or a super bold declaration — to indicate that this season is going to stop that vicious cycle of good but not good enough.
8. Illinois
Fighting Illini fans didn’t have to worry about Bret Bielema speaking out and speaking boldly. He did it a few weeks back in the aftermath of SEC Media Days when Nick Saban basically told the Big Ten to slow your roll because you’re still not as good as the SEC despite winning the past 3 national titles. Bielema responded on his social media by demonstrating that Illinois beat South Carolina and Tennessee in its past 2 bowl games, and Illinois isn’t even one of those Big Ten national champions. Last week in Chicago, Bielema really needed to give fans even more. He needed to tell them exactly why 10-3 and 9-4 the past 2 years wasn’t a mirage but rather a sign of even better things to come — like maybe Playoff contention.
9. Washington
The Demond Williams Jr. saga was destined to dominate Jedd Fisch‘s time at the podium in Chicago. For good reason, too, and Husky fans should’ve wanted to hear more about why Williams got “really bad advice” in his brief decision to leave Washington. But how about Fisch selling that same UW fandom on Williams’ supporting cast on offense and how it’s plenty good enough to make a run at a Playoff berth. How about Fisch boasting about his offensive line that features versatile Preseason All-American John Mills and star tackle Drew Azzopardi. Washington isn’t contending for the Playoff on just Williams’ back, and Fisch needed to talk enough about those other guys, even as the questions about Williams kept coming.
10. Michigan State
Michigan State fans are used to having physical teams, or they used to be. That proud label has faded, but here comes old arch enemy Pat Fitzgerald, the longtime Northwestern head coach who’s now wearing their colors. And everybody knows Fitzgerald has built his reputation as a coach — and a player before that — on physicality, on being a brute strong linebacker. So, Fitzgerald needed to open up his podium session with reporters last week by telling his new fandom about Michigan State‘s recommitment to that old Spartan physicality.
11. Northwestern
While Pat Fitzgerald tries to rebuild Michigan State, his old team and alma mater will try to take that critical next step under fourth-year head coach David Braun. For the first time ever, Braun shared the same Big Ten Media Days podium with Fitzgerald, who didn’t win big at Northwestern but won enough to stick around for 17 seasons. Fitzgerald made Northwestern football relevant, but so far Braun hasn’t, going 19-19 in 3 seasons. How about Braun telling his fandom last week that this brutal malaise of mediocrity is going to change and soon, and that Northwestern football is going to matter again like it did a lot of the time under Fitzgerald.
12. Minnesota
PJ Fleck has built up quite a reputation, both as a guy who can win games at Minnesota and as a bit of a character. Golden Gopher fans can appreciate and laugh with the latter, but they simply want more of the former. More wins, please. Or how about contending for a Big Ten title? One of PJ Fleck‘s biggest question marks in 2026 are his wide receivers. He replaced longtime receivers coach Matt Simon with former Gopher Isaac Fruechte, and Fleck needed to tell his fans that Minnesota will be OK at wideout despite losing so much at the position. He needed to tell them that returnees Javon Tracy and Jalen Smith will step up their games, and that Fruechte will be up to the task in Year 1.
13. Nebraska
Head coach Matt Rhule always has a lot to say, whether it’s at the Big Ten Media Days podium, whether it’s October or whether it’s March. He’s colorful but he’s also 19-19 in 3 seasons, and this is still Nebraska, where Cornhusker fans want desperately to get back to being, well, Nebraska. Rhule is replacing his starting quarterback, and his seat is as hot as ever going into the 2026 season. The outspoken coach needed to speak up once again, this time in his own defense, and reassure a once-spoiled fan base that he is in fact the guy who’s going to make Nebraska football matter again.
14. UCLA
While crosstown rival USC deals with immense pressure to make the Playoff, there is pressure in Westwood, too. Pressure to be relevant in the Big Ten. There is enormous pressure on second-year starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava, but there is even more heat on new head coach Bob Chesney as a fan base wonders if he can recreate what he did at James Madison. Before Chesney wins his first game at UCLA, he simply had to win the podium presser in Chicago. Chesney might be a known quantity back East, but his entire coaching career before now has taken place in the Eastern time zone. Last week, at long last, it was time for the Pennsylvania native to introduce himself to the West with inspiring words of hope.
15. Wisconsin
It used to be fashionable to tell people you were a Wisconsin football fan. Not anymore. The Badgers are a combined 9-15 the past 2 seasons under Luke Fickell, and the embattled head coach needed to tell his anxious (read: angry) fan base last week that it’s going to be a lot different in 2026 with the help of those 33 incoming transfers. If not, this very well might’ve been Fickell’s last Media Days at Wisconsin.
16. Maryland
Speaking of Big Ten head coaches on the hot seat, we give you Mike Locksley. The former Alabama assistant is an incomprehensible 17-48 in the Big Ten during his time in College Park, but he’s somehow still at Maryland. Last week, Locksley needed to clearly define how new offensive coordinator Clint Trickett is going to get the most out of erratic but talented quarterback Malik Washington, whose 118.4 passer rating last season as a true freshman ranked 108th out of 117 eligible FBS QBs.
17. Rutgers
This isn’t the 2000s golden era anymore for Greg Schiano, who is 31-41 during his second head coaching stint in Piscataway. Schiano needed to convey confidence in Chicago amid all those awful preseason projections, focusing on a revamped defense that hopes to erase the memories of a historically bad unit last season. Talking up standout running back Antwan Raymond and star wide receiver KJ Duff wouldn’t have been a bad idea, either.
18. Purdue
As hard as it might have been to do, head coach Barry Odom shouldn’t have been shy about leaning into that 0-9 albatross of a Big Ten record in his first season in West Lafayette. Because there’s nowhere to go but up for the Boilermakers, so Odom should’ve talked all about the promise of Purdue‘s new financial strategy for rebuilding its roster to be a lot more competitive this fall.
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