Illinois football will open Big Ten Conference play at Ohio State in 2026. The dates for the 2026 Big Ten Conference season were released Tuesday with Illinois having four home games and five road contests. The Fighting Illini welcome Purdue (Oct. 3), Oregon (Oct. 24), Nebraska (Nov. 7) and Iowa (Nov. 21) to Gies Memorial Stadium.

With seven Big Ten teams ranked in CBS Sports' way-too-early top 25, these key matchups will shape the postseason picture for the conference in 2026

The last three national champions all play one another, while Oregon faces both Ohio State and Michigan. How does the schedule stack up?

The ancient rivals’ haggling over future matchups, and the eventual decision to cancel the 2026 game, forced the Trojans to find a 12th opponent. That, in turn, prompted a delay in the Big Ten’s schedule rollout by more than a month, to Tuesday — well after the SEC schedule was revealed in early December.

Even with those caveats, though, Wisconsin fans will surely take this schedule over the daunting 2025 schedule. The Badgers' nine 2025 Big Ten foes that averaged 5.67 conference wins in 2024, and they ended up playing even better than that with 6.11 conference wins per team in 2025.

It's time to think about the 2026 season. Here's a list of all 18 Big Ten schedules.

Rutgers has accrued a deficit of over half a billion dollars after joining the prestigious Big Ten Conference in 2014.

The USC Trojans' 2026 Big Ten schedule was officially released on Tuesday. With USC coach Lincoln Riley entering a pivotal 2026 season, what is one big takeaway from the Trojans' Big Ten schedule release?

Initial thoughts on Penn State’s 2026 Big Ten schedule? Glad you asked. October and November set up pretty well for Matt Campbell’s Nittany Lions. PSU still must get through training camp and August practices,

The Big Ten released Michigan’s full 2026 schedule, featuring four straight home games, a midseason bye, and a road finale at Ohio State.

The Big Ten football schedule makers did USC and UCLA one small favor. Neither team will make back-to-back conference trips in 2026 without a bye week in between as part of the schedules released Tuesday.

The 2026 college football season just wrapped up last week, but the countdown to the 2026 season is already on! On Tuesday, the Big Ten officially announced its 2026 conference schedule. Who and when will USC play? Let’s take a look at the Trojans ’ slate for next season: