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For now, at least, the Big Ten is where the national championships reside, because the conference that used to be known for 3 yards and a cloud of dust has spent the past 3 years leaving the rest of college football in the dust.
While the SEC stews over this fact, while the Big 12 and ACC deal with this new reality, the Big Ten has stolen the sport’s stage, making special plays and iconic memories along the way.
Can the Big Ten do it all again in 2026 and capture a 4th straight national title? That’s a question that can’t and won’t be answered until January.
But what can be guaranteed is that college football’s current conference of champions will offer a bevy of shiny objects this fall to keep its loyal fans locked in every Saturday. Big Ten football will once again be a must-watch spectacle for so many delicious reasons, whether you’re sitting at The Horseshoe in Columbus or a sports bar in Madison.
So, while the Big Ten aims for that 4-peat, here are 5 things that will most definitely make it must-watch football:
1. The quarterbacks … it’s a ridiculously deep room
Imagine that being the reality in the Big Ten this fall despite losing the Heisman Trophy winner, the guy who led Indiana to the national championship during a perfect 16-0 season, then was the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft. But it’s true, because while Fernando Mendoza has left the Big Ten, the quarterback position in the Big Ten is alive and well with talent galore in 2026.
Dante Moore could’ve easily declared for the draft and followed Mendoza into the NFL, but he shocked many by deciding to return to Oregon. Now, he’s at the helm of arguably the best roster in college football and will try to chase down that elusive first national title in Eugene. Moore should be in the mix for the Heisman Trophy — you know, the sport’s top individual prize that Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin was a finalist for in his first season as the Buckeyes’ starter.
Moore and Sayin is where the serious Big Ten quarterback conversation starts. Not a bad duo to start with. But what about Indiana QB Josh Hoover, who soared into the Big Ten from TCU and is the latest toy that Curt Cignetti and Mike Shanahan have at their disposal? What about Bryce Underwood, the inconsistent signal-caller with the sky-high ceiling that Kyle Whittingham inherited when he signed on to be Michigan‘s coach?
The conference’s quarterback depth is truly remarkable, because we hadn’t even mentioned Jayden Maiava, who’s primed to finally lead USC to that elusive College Football Playoff berth. Or Rocco Becht, who headlines the legion of Iowa State transfers to Penn State as the Nittany Lions aim for a massive turnaround. And don’t discount Washington dual-threat dynamo Demond Williams Jr., who’ll be ultra-motivated to be great for the Huskies after a tumultuous offseason.
That’s 7 Big Ten quarterbacks alone who, on paper in August, have the chance to lead their teams to greatness by being great themselves. Maryland faithful would ask, what about the dynamic Malik Washington? And we shouldn’t ignore the potential that Nico Iamaleava could have at UCLA with Bob Chesney as his new head coach. It really is an embarrassment of riches at the QB position, and Big Ten fans will be feasting all fall.
2. The pressure … there’s a lot of it on a lot of coaches
Pressure is the price of fame for coaches like Curt Cignetti, who’s now set the highest standard possible at a place like Indiana, and for Ryan Day, who’ll be trying to get Ohio State back to the mountaintop after whiffing on last season’s repeat attempt. And those are the 2 Big Ten head coaches who presently boast national championship rings.
What about the ones who are chasing glory with their jobs likely on the line, like USC’s Lincoln Riley, who got that offseason mandate from his athletic director about being in the Playoff and contending for a national title this year. Riley and the word “pressure” might as well be joined at the hip in 2026. His success — or failure — in fulfilling those expectations at USC this fall will generate massive attention every Saturday.
You don’t think Kyle Whittingham has a real, genuine honeymoon at Michigan, do you? He really doesn’t. The sting of the Sherrone Moore scandal cut deep in Ann Arbor, and Whittingham was an ideal candidate who happened to be available at the perfect time. He’s not piling up wins out there in Salt Lake City anymore. Whittingham will be thrust into the Big Ten pressure-cooker, very similar to Matt Campbell, who has gone from laid-back Ames, where he won plenty, to State College, where he’s being counted on to win plenty right away.
There’s enormous pressure on all of those coaches, and then there’s the special pressure coaching cases of Dan Lanning and Luke Fickell. While Lanning seems to finally have a roster that can finish the job and capture Oregon’s first national title (Ducks fans are counting on it), Fickell has undertaken a massive roster overhaul that’s reportedly worth $25 million as he tries to reinvent Wisconsin and save his own job (Badgers fans probably aren’t counting on it).
There is literally pressure on head coaches at every possible turn in the Big Ten, like in Lincoln, where a Nebraska fandom who remembers the great Tom Osborne probably isn’t taking too kindly to Matt Rhule being 19-19 after 3 seasons. His coaching seat is as hot as the August heat in Lincoln, and with any luck he’ll still be around for the first snowfall. Rhule’s plight amid that pressure-cooker provides the perfect Big Ten summation for its head coaches.
3. The bravado … can those talking tough back it up?
We’re focusing on 2 coaches in particular here who shoot straight from the hip and probably fired up their fan bases something fierce. That would be Curt Cignetti and Bret Bielema, who run the programs at Indiana and Illinois, respectively, and don’t particularly care about toeing the line when it comes to the never-ending Big Ten-SEC tug-of-war.
Cignetti, with a national championship freshly in his grasp, called out the SEC during Big Ten Media Days, saying “we believe everything is earned, not given.”
Bielema, the former Arkansas head coach with a point to prove about the Big Ten’s depth beyond its elite teams, made sure to remind everyone in the SEC that his Fighting Illini took down South Carolina and Tennessee in its past 2 bowl games. He also criticized the SEC for wanting to “live in 2005 forever.”
Both coaches are colorful, yes, but both also wanted to prove a point to the SEC specifically about the current state of affairs in college football. Now it’s up to them and their programs to go out and keep hammering those points home — on the football field, where the loudest talking is done.
4. The 4-peat chase … can the Big Ten win it all yet again?
This one will bring maximum attention from Big Ten fans and fans of other conferences who suddenly want to see the Big Ten fail. When you continuously win at the highest level, there brings a level of hate from outside, and that’s what the Big Ten has brought to itself. It’s what the SEC used to have not too long ago before the Big Ten suddenly took the national championship baton.
The Big Ten’s Big 3 of Indiana, Ohio State and Oregon give the conference a really good chance to capture that 4-peat in January. Throw in Playoff contenders USC, Michigan and Penn State, and the conference should be well-represented when the 12-team field is revealed.
Big Ten fans, from those who cheer for the league’s elite to those who follow the league’s also-rans, would love nothing better than to be able to throw another national title in the faces of those who still doubt the Big Ten’s recent dominance.
The 4-peat possibility will provide must-see football, from September through December (and probably January).
5. Jeremiah Smith … can the star elevate to Heisman level?
He was an all-time freshman phenom in 2024, with 76 catches for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns, leading Ohio State to a national championship.
He was one of the best players in college football in 2025, with 87 catches for 1,243 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Now, everyone who bleeds scarlet and gray, every Big Ten fan who cheers against Ohio State (isn’t that the other 17 fan bases?) as well as college football fans across the country will be glued to the Buckeyes from Week 1 to whenever Smith’s junior season in Columbus comes to a stop.
Will Smith have a Heisman in his grasp to go with all those footballs he’ll be hauling in? Smith all by himself will make Big Ten football must-watch football in 2026.
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