The Big Ten opened its 2026 media days in Chicago with three straight College Football Playoff trophies sitting beside the podium, a reminder of how much the conference has owned the sport lately. Michigan, Ohio State and Indiana each brought one home in the last three seasons, and now the league enters a new year with a fresh set of questions hanging over all 18 programs.
The first one is simple enough: who actually belongs at the top? Media voters split their first-place votes only three ways, giving Ohio State 15, Oregon 11 and Indiana five.
USC landed fourth, Michigan fifth and Penn State sixth. That ranking raised eyebrows because Indiana is the defending national champion after beating Miami in January, even though the Hoosiers lost Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza, the No. 1 overall NFL draft pick.
Curt Cignetti answered that by bringing in TCU transfer Josh Hoover and signing the top-ranked transfer class in the country. Ohio State, meanwhile, returns quarterback Julian Sayin and receiver Jeremiah Smith, while Oregon brings back Dante Moore after he turned down the draft and added Nebraska transfer Dylan Raiola.
Indiana’s October 17 trip to Ohio State, a rematch of last year’s conference title game, now looks like the kind of date that will settle more than the preseason poll did.
Commissioner Tony Petitti used his session to push a bigger playoff picture, arguing for a 24-team College Football Playoff by 2027 and making clear what it would cost. In his vision, the Big Ten would give up the championship game it has played in Indianapolis since 2011.
"Yeah, I think it's pretty much we won't be playing a championship game if we go to 24," Petitti said.
The ACC, Big 12 and Notre Dame are on board. The SEC is not.
Petitti’s case is straightforward: for an 18-team league, eight first-round byes and home playoff games matter more than a December title game that only two teams usually reach. He also addressed the Protect College Sports Act, which Congress sent back to college leaders on Tuesday before the August 8 recess.
Illinois coach Bret Bielema supplied the day’s sharpest quote when he took the main podium first. He aimed at the SEC and, by extension, at the old way of thinking about conference power.
"I know (Sankey has) got to protect the SEC and they kind of want to live in 2005 forever," Bielema said. Asked to clarify it a few minutes later, he added, "I think I just made the headline, right?"
Bielema knows both sides of the argument well after coaching Wisconsin from 2006 to 2012 and Arkansas from 2013 to 2017. His point, though, was less about slogans and more about how roster building has changed. He said the transfer portal and revenue sharing now let Illinois sign quarterback Katin Houser, a player the program could not have landed five years ago.
The coaching carousel also loomed over the day. Kyle Whittingham took over at Michigan after Sherrone Moore was fired in December.
Pat Fitzgerald returned to the conference at Michigan State. Bob Chesney left James Madison for UCLA.
Matt Campbell replaced James Franklin at Penn State, and he was the only one of those four to speak Tuesday.
"I've always believed when you put the right culture and the right people, that's what truly breeds success in college football," Campbell said.
Penn State’s new-look roster reflects the urgency of the moment. The Nittany Lions added 40 transfers, including Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht, and they avoid Ohio State, Oregon and Indiana in the regular season. Michigan’s fifth-place finish in the poll with a first-year staff only added to the sense that the brand still buys a lot of patience.
USC is trying to turn that patience into results. Lincoln Riley is entering his fifth season without a playoff appearance since the Trojans joined the conference, but he sounded confident about where the program stands now.
"I do believe we're more equipped than at any point in the previous few years. That's not a hope or a wish, there's a lot of facts to back that up," Riley said.
Quarterback Jayden Maiava is back after leading the Big Ten with 3,711 passing yards and ranking first nationally with a 91.2 QBR. Wisconsin, on the other hand, has gone 5-7 and 4-8 over the last two seasons, and Luke Fickell didn’t try to soften that reality.
"The last two years for us have not been up to the standard, and I'm not shying away from that," Fickell said.
The pressure doesn’t stop there. Maryland coach Mike Locksley is 37-49 entering Year 9, and Nebraska’s Matt Rhule is facing a similar kind of urgency. With four coaches in the league needing wins this fall, the Big Ten’s next hiring cycle could be shaped as much by those results as by whatever happens at the top of the standings.
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