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The conference that’s produced the past 2 national champions has a really good shot to pull it off again in January, when the confetti sways down from the Hard Rock Stadium rafters on that special Monday night in Miami.
The Big Ten would like to keep the mini grip it has on the college football world, after Michigan won it all in 2023 and hated rival Ohio State kept the party going in 2024. The league’s proudest and bluest of blue-blood programs are to nobody’s surprise back in the mix in 2025 with a chance to bring the Big Ten its 3rd-straight national title.
But the Buckeyes and Wolverines aren’t the only Big Ten teams in prime position to go all the way after the whirlwind of the first 11 weeks. It doesn’t seem possible that we’re already in Week 12, but here we are in mid-November, with 3 weeks left in a rambunctious regular season and with 5 Big Ten teams still harboring national championship dreams.
Ohio State isn’t just the defending national champ. It’s the No. 1 team in the land this late into the following season, with repeat glory well within reach. Right behind the Buckeyes is No. 2 Indiana, which wants it all this time around after getting a taste of the College Football Playoff last year. Then there’s Oregon, which is seemingly always in the mix and is again this year, with USC hanging in there despite 2 losses and fellow 2-loss hopeful Michigan doing the same.
Five Big Ten teams remain with visions of magic in Miami a few months from now. Each of them has a long to-do list to get there, but here’s the 1 biggest key for all 5 hopefuls to make sure they’re at least in position to chase down the Big Ten’s 3rd straight crown:
1. Ohio State: Just make sure to beat Michigan this time
Sure, top-ranked Ohio State can lose to Michigan, yet again, and still win the national title, yet again. But not only would doing just that test the sanity of every living, breathing Buckeye fan. It would also tempt fate in the biggest way, because losing to an inferior Michigan team in late November and then winning it all a few months later is the kind of freakish dynamic that you would think could only happen once in a great while, like a lunar eclipse.
When that exact dynamic did happen last fall and winter for the national-champion Buckeyes, the shock factor was really high because Ohio State lost at home to the hated Wolverines, and Michigan arrived in Columbus with a 6-5 record. But it left 7-5 after the 13-10 stunner, and Buckeye faithful were calling for Ryan Day‘s job just a few weeks before he launched the program on a dominant run to glory.
It was like, well, nobody drew it up, including Day. And nobody would draw it up that way this time either, even though this Michigan team is still relevant in mid-November. These Wolverines are 7-2 and 18th in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, with everything still to play for as they take on Northwestern at Wrigley Field on Saturday. Should it win that game and prevail at Maryland the following week, a 9-2 Michigan team could seemingly be 1 upset of Ohio State away from being Playoff bound.
All of that still wouldn’t excuse Ohio State from doing the unthinkable yet again, even with the game being in Ann Arbor this year. That’s why the Buckeyes just can’t tempt fate for the 2nd season in a row, because lightning just doesn’t strike twice, right? Logic would say pretty loudly that if Ohio State wants to repeat, it must go to Ann Arbor on Nov. 29 and come back with a victory.
2. Indiana: Let that Penn State scare be a harsh lesson
Look, Indiana shouldn’t have to apologize for almost losing to Penn State last Saturday. The game was in State College, and you just knew that even these demoralized Nittany Lions of 2025 had 1 more gritty performance in them — you know, the kind of performance everybody expected from them throughout what was supposed to be a title-contending season.
Instead, the visitors from Bloomington were the only ones contending for anything this season, and IU almost got sucked into the upset web at Beaver Stadium. The way it played out was perfect for Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti. His team got the win it desperately needed, it showed great heart and resilience led by Fernando Mendoza, its Heisman Trophy-contending quarterback, and it also showed enough warts to give Cignetti plenty of fodder at this week’s film sessions.
Mendoza’s game-winning touchdown pass in the final minute of a 27-24 escape act might very well have been his Heisman moment. That’s great and all, but the bigger picture for a 2nd-ranked Indiana team with designs on winning a national championship is that it found out it’s beatable on the right day. Last Saturday was nearly that day and might have been if not for a 10-play, 80-yard drive that Mendoza led and finished off with a 7-yard TD pass with 36 seconds left.
Late heroics aside, Indiana was still outgained by a Penn State team that hasn’t won a game since Week 3. Mendoza was great late, but he was mostly held in check, throwing for just 218 yards even after that final drive with an interception to go with the winning TD pass. This was a grueling, 60-minute reality check for the 10-0 Hoosiers with a happy ending, and they would be wise to use it as a lesson for even bigger moments going forward.
3. Oregon: Offense needs to be much better to win anything
A program that’s always taken pride in having a high-octane offense has been running low on fuel lately. First-year starting quarterback Dante Moore was supposed to continue that high-flying tradition in Eugene, and early in the season he was doing just that. The Ducks put up 59, 69, 34 and 41 points in their first 4 games, mind you that 3 of those totals came against lightweight opponents.
The Week 5 double-overtime win at a then-undefeated Penn State was viewed as a gut check. But after a bye week, Oregon took a gut punch in a home loss to Indiana, with Moore tossing 2 interceptions and being outplayed by Hoosiers counterpart Fernando Mendoza. A 56-point explosion the following week against a bad Rutgers team masked the offensive struggles that have continued since in a 21-7 home win over Wisconsin and an 18-16 escape act last Saturday at Iowa.
In those past 2 games, Moore threw for a combined 198 yards, with 0 touchdown passes and 1 interception. His QB was 42.4 against Wisconsin and 39.6 against Iowa, and in the Indiana showdown it was just 31.5. That’s 3 poor performances in the past 4 games, and while Oregon is still firmly in the Playoff mix at No. 8 in the last CFP rankings, it’s a troubling trend that just can’t continue if the 8-1 Ducks expect to be a Playoff team.
Friday night’s home game against Minnesota continues a challenging season-ending stretch, with another big home contest against USC after that followed by the regular-season finale at rival Washington. It’s a brutal closing schedule, and Oregon needs to be much better offensively to survive it with its national title dreams intact.
4. USC: No wiggle room, no reason to look ahead to Oregon
The Trojans have hung around in the Playoff discussion for this long by dusting themselves off after that stinging loss at Notre Dame. Lincoln Riley‘s 7-2 team sits at No. 17 in the latest CFP rankings after a gritty road win over Nebraska and a comfortable home victory last week over Northwestern. Three more wins to end the regular season and, well, who knows?
But 1 more loss and we do know. It’ll be the end of USC’s Playoff hopes, and that’s why the Trojans can’t look ahead to that trip to Eugene on Nov. 22 to face Oregon. That could be the biggest USC football game in some time, or at least since the Notre Dame game last month, but it won’t be unless the Trojans take care of their business this Saturday at home against an angry Iowa team.
These Hawkeyes nearly beat those Ducks last week, but a 2-point loss handed Iowa its 3rd setback of the season, ending its Playoff hopes in Week 11. The Playoff committee showed it still believes in the Hawkeyes on Tuesday night, when it only dropped them 1 spot in the rankings to No. 21. That should also send a message to USC — don’t overlook Iowa if you want that Oregon game to mean anything and if you want those Playoff hopes to survive much longer.
5. Michigan: Don’t swing and miss before Ohio St. arrives
Michigan moved up 3 spots to No. 18 in the latest CFP rankings, without even playing a game last week. The Wolverines had a bye after that ugly home victory over Purdue, and now at 7-2 their tightrope walk to a possible Playoff spot continues this Saturday with a twist. Michigan will face a capable Northwestern team on the road in the Fox Big Noon spotlight slot, only it won’t be a true road game in Evanston.
Instead, it’ll be in Chicago, at venerable Wrigley Field, which has hosted plenty of football games in its long, storied history. Maybe the somewhat neutral-site showdown makes things a bit easier for the desperate Wolverines, who simply can’t afford to swing and miss (to borrow a baseball phrase) this Saturday or in any of their remaining 3 games. Michigan does have a true road game the following week against Maryland, and it’s made it too far in 2025 despite those primetime losses at Oklahoma and at USC to blow it before You Know Who comes to Ann Arbor.
Michigan is clearly last in the pecking order of remaining Big Ten teams with national title dreams, as its CFP ranking shows and as it should be, with that loss against USC. The Wolverines’ offense needs to pick it up, but their attention to detail overall the next 2 weeks is their biggest key because it’s so easy for Michigan to look ahead when the ultimate prize could be waiting at the end against the program it hates the most.
Keep your eye on the ball, Wolverines, and that huge opportunity will be yours on Nov. 29.