Big Ten football in 2024: 10 key topics for beginning of conference’s new era

Michigan held its championship celebration on Saturday in Ann Arbor, capping a 15-0 season and its first College Football Playoff title. For many schools, including Michigan, classes either have begun or will start today. Related to football, the new era provides the perfect opportunity to look forward to the football offseason.

The Wolverines face several challengers nationally and within the Big Ten to their supremacy as a 12-team Playoff takes flight. A combination of returnees and portal additions has Ohio State poised to regain its perch atop the Big Ten. Penn State loses some valuable defensive pieces but brings back its offensive core, while Iowa returns almost its entire defense. Newcomers Washington, Oregon, USC and UCLA all have championship aspirations while Wisconsin and Nebraska eye major strides by their second-year coaches.

To kick off the offseason discussion, here are 10 topics for 2024 ranging from expansion to television to the transfer portal. As always, it’s a snapshot and not a film strip; much of this can change by the hour, let alone the day.

Expansion

During the past 75 years, the Big Ten dabbled in expansion by adding a single school three times (Michigan State in 1953, Penn State in 1993, Nebraska in 2011) and once adding two schools (Rutgers and Maryland in 2014). All of them were full of intrigue and difficulties, but each included flagship institutions in contiguous states.

This fall, the Big Ten figuratively becomes the Big Tent. West Coast schools USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon become members on Aug. 2, which immediately elevates the league’s football roster. There are obvious logistical hurdles associated with travel in all sports, but adding four respected programs — three of which have played for football national titles in the last two decades — bolsters the conference’s lineup and football reputation.

To alleviate some travel concerns, the four West Coast newcomers picked up a bye or a home game following a trip to the Eastern or Central time zones. Of the 14 teams located in the Eastern and Central time zones, eight have a bye and six have home games.

No divisions

The decade-long split between the East and West divisions ended with a thud when Michigan shut out Iowa 26-0 in the Big Ten Championship Game. The East won all 10 title games and finished 103-86 against the West in cross-divisional matchups. Iowa (17-10) and Wisconsin (15-12) were the only West teams to have winning records against their East foes.

The top two teams will qualify for the Big Ten Championship Game this fall. Only 12 rivalries were preserved annually, and every team will face the other 17 at least twice every five years. The league’s traditional regionality will fade, which will cause some lament among fan bases. The championship tiebreaker could get messy. But the opportunity for must-see regular-season games overrides cycling through second-tier rivalries a little more often.

Michigan and Washington will face off as Big Ten foes in October. (Mark J. Rebilas / USA Today)

Grand slam games

My apologies for mixing metaphors, but the Big Ten hit a home run, flipped the bat and is still circling the bases when it comes to the 2024 schedule. As always, Michigan-Ohio State provides the backbone as the rivalry renews in Columbus on Nov. 30. But there’s so much more than “The Game.” There is a Playoff championship rematch on Oct. 5 with the Wolverines traveling to Washington. USC’s first Big Ten game is set for Sept. 21 at Michigan, then the Trojans’ first home Big Ten contest is against Wisconsin one week later.

UCLA’s inaugural Big Ten game is Sept. 14 against Indiana, which will make its first trip to the Rose Bowl since Jan. 1, 1968. Washington plays host to Northwestern on Sept. 21, while Oregon travels to UCLA then faces Michigan State in Eugene on Oct. 5.

Two weekends stand out as eye-poppers. The first is Oct. 12 in a trio of cross-country matchups. Ohio State travels to Oregon in a clash of programs that competed in New Year’s Six bowls a few weeks ago. Then Penn State heads to the L.A. Memorial Coliseum to face USC. In addition, Playoff runner-up Washington flies to Kinnick Stadium to battle 10-win Iowa.

No weekend has as much brand power as Nov. 2 with Oregon traveling to Michigan and UCLA playing at Nebraska. Then in traditional rivalries, Ohio State plays at Penn State, Wisconsin rides the bus to Iowa and USC flies north to Washington. The networks will buzz for that weekend.

As a cap tip to the Big Ten’s past, Michigan travels to Illinois on Oct. 19, which makes a century plus one day from Red Grange’s legendary performance. The Galloping Ghost scored four touchdowns in the game’s first 12 minutes and six overall on Oct. 18, 1924 — the day the Illinois formally dedicated Memorial Stadium.

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Nonconference power games

It’s not just the new series and rivalry matchups that will garner excitement. Most league schools are invested in some powerhouse national and regional games that will be the talk of the nation.

On Sept. 7, Playoff semifinalist Texas travels to Michigan in what nearly was a championship clash. The following week, Playoff semifinalist Alabama, which Michigan beat in overtime, heads to Wisconsin. USC opens against LSU in Las Vegas, and UCLA faces the Tigers in Death Valley on Sept. 21. Minnesota kicks off the season in Dinkytown against North Carolina on Aug. 31 — if it’s not moved up to Aug. 29.

Longtime rivalries renew on Sept. 14 between Oregon-Oregon State (Corvallis, Ore.), Washington-Washington State (Seattle), Notre Dame-Purdue (West Lafayette, Ind.) and Maryland-Virginia (Charlottesville, Va.). In bitter feuds, Iowa State plays at Iowa and Colorado travels to Nebraska on Sept. 7. The season concludes in the historic cross-country rivalry with USC hosting Notre Dame.

TV and the Big Ten

The Big Ten’s television slate becomes consistent this fall with the SEC leaving CBS. The Saturday slate opens with Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff, then CBS airing a 3:30 p.m. ET game and NBC broadcasting a 7:30 p.m. ET matchup. The only shift will come on days when NBC airs two Notre Dame home games in prime time. At first blush, those could come on Sept. 28 (Louisville) and Nov. 9 (Florida State). Fox likely will shift its Big Ten games to prime time on those dates and NBC will move its contests to noon ET.

In a spring draft among the three networks — and also involving BTN, FS1 and Peacock — Fox has the first selection, but then it becomes convoluted. CBS and NBC will have top choices on some weekends. CBS and NBC are on the books for 15 games, while Peacock will stream nine games. Fox, FS1 and BTN will combine for about 90 games.

Fridays and holidays

The Big Ten’s additions of Washington and Oregon last summer led Fox to pick up much of the payment for those schools and opened up multiple viewing windows. Big Ten games will air on a Fox-owned network on at least nine Friday nights. The games and dates for those matchups are not revealed, and it’s a major change from the two league games that aired on FS1 in late September and October.

A few schools with logistical hurdles like Michigan and Penn State won’t host a Friday night game. But it will become a weekly occurrence involving nearly every school this fall. There will be a few late Saturday night kickoffs, too, on a Fox platform.

The Big Ten plans for an expansive presence on Labor Day weekend with prime-time kickoffs on Thursday, Friday and Sunday to go along with a full Saturday slate. Like last year, there will be two games on Black Friday but an additional prime-time Saturday game.

Rivalry returns

The Big Ten formed at Chicago’s famed Palmer House in 1896, and rivalries are deeply embedded in the league’s culture. For more than a year, league and school administrators debated the scheduling patterns with some schools (Iowa) wanting three permanent rivals while others (Penn State) wanting a true rotation. Ultimately, both got what they wanted.

Iowa was the only program to secure three annual foes while Penn State was the only school to become officially unrivaled. In a plan the league office called “Flex Protect Plus,” 12 rivalries were considered important enough to remain annual: Michigan-Ohio State, Michigan-Michigan State, Indiana-Purdue, Purdue-Illinois, Illinois-Northwestern, Wisconsin-Minnesota, Minnesota-Iowa, Iowa-Wisconsin, Iowa-Nebraska, Maryland-Rutgers, Washington-Oregon and USC-UCLA.

New coaches

While the college football universe awaits Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh future between the Wolverines and the NFL, the Big Ten will have at least four new head coaches entering the offseason.

Northwestern named David Braun as permanent coach following a successful campaign in an interim role. Michigan State landed Oregon State’s Jonathan Smith, and Indiana inked James Madison’s Curt Cignetti as their leaders following the season. This weekend, Washington hired Arizona’s Jedd Fisch to replace Kalen DeBoer, who left for Alabama.

Nearly as interesting are the coordinator moves throughout the conference. After he was fired at Indiana, Tom Allen replaced new Duke head coach Manny Diaz as Penn State’s defensive coordinator. The Nittany Lions hired Kansas offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki to replace Mike Yurcich, who was fired. Michigan State snagged successful Minnesota defensive coordinator Joe Rossi, and the Gophers replaced him with Rutgers linebackers coach Corey Hetherman.

Braun landed up-and-coming offensive coordinator Zach Lujan from two-time FCS champion South Dakota State and elevated longtime Northwestern assistant Tim McGarigle to defensive coordinator. Cignetti brought offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan and defensive coordinator Bryant Haines from James Madison, while Smith brought offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren from Oregon State.

In a rivalry move, USC’s Lincoln Riley replaced Alex Grinch as defensive coordinator with UCLA’s D’Anton Lynn. UCLA elevated Ikaika Malloe, who served as Lynn’s replacement during bowl preparation.

Finally, Iowa is nearly three months removed from school officials announcing offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz would not return. Although there have been discussions between head coach Kirk Ferentz and former Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst for that job, nothing has been decided.

Jonathan Smith left his alma mater (Oregon State) to take over at Michigan State. (Dale Young / USA Today)

Key departures, returnees

At least 10 first-team All-Big Ten performers return, including six on defense. Iowa linebacker Jay Higgins, Michigan cornerback Will Johnson and Ohio State defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau are back after earning first-team honors from both the media and coaches. Michigan defensive lineman Mason Graham, Penn State linebacker Abdul Carter and Ohio State cornerback Denzel Burke were coaches’ first-team selection and return.

On offense, a pair of unanimous first-team selections from Ohio State return — running back TreVeyon Henderson and offensive lineman Donovan Jackson. Ohio State tackle Josh Fryar (media) and Michigan tight end Colston Loveland (coaches) return. The other impact returnees include Michigan running back Donovan Edwards, Michigan defensive lineman Kenneth Grant, Ohio State defensive linemen Jack Sawyer and Tyleik Williams, Ohio State receiver Emeka Egbuka, Wisconsin defensive backs Hunter Wohler and Ricardo Hallman, Rutgers running back Kyle Monangai, Penn State running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen and Iowa defenders Sebastian Castro (defensive back) and Nick Jackson (linebacker).

Among the four new schools, quarterbacks Caleb Williams (USC), Bo Nix (Oregon) and Michael Penix Jr. (Washington) all are likely top-100 draft picks with Williams a heavy favorite to go No. 1 overall. Oregon loses top offensive threats Troy Franklin and Bucky Irving but brings back tight end Terrance Ferguson and receiver Tez Johnson. USC brings back leading pass rusher Jamil Muhammed while UCLA and Washington have plenty of revisions to make.

Portal pirates

As of Monday afternoon, 259 players from the 18 programs entered the portal during this cycle, according to On3. Of those players, 139 have found new homes and 19 withdrew from the portal.

According to On3, Big Ten programs added 130 players from the portal while 25 were from within the conference.

Among the most interesting trends, five Big Ten programs had more than 20 players enter the portal — Michigan State (30), Indiana (28), Purdue (26), Ohio State (21) and USC (21). Ten former Spartans withdrew from the portal while 13 have found new homes. Indiana had 28 enter the portal with five withdrawing, and it added 21 players, including 10 from James Madison. Purdue had 26 enter the portal and has added 15 players.

Penn State (six), Iowa (seven) and Michigan (seven) had the fewest players enter the portal. The Hawkeyes and Northwestern were the only teams to not sign a player from the transfer portal.

The most interesting moves involve former UCLA five-star quarterback Dante Moore leaving for Oregon to battle with Oklahoma transfer Dillon Gabriel and former Ole Miss running back Quinshon Judkins joining Henderson at Ohio State to form the most incredible backfield combination in recent memory. Other key additions include Ohio State quarterback Will Howard (Kansas State), Michigan State quarterback Aidan Chiles (Oregon State), USC defensive back Kamari Ramsey (UCLA) and Wisconsin quarterback Tyler Van Dyke (Miami).

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(Top photo of Jim Harbaugh: Joe Robbins / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)