The Indiana Hoosiers are set to host the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Saturday afternoon in Bloomington. Indiana already has a conference loss to Ohio State, and suffering another one before the end of October would be detrimental to their Big Ten title hopes.
With that being said, the Big Ten is still a wide open race at this point of the season. Only Ohio State and UCLA are unbeaten in conference play, and they both have some tricky matchups remaining on the schedule.
Week 9 could be a big one in regard to the Big Ten leaderboard. As Indiana hosts Minnesota, here are three other Big Ten games that IU fans need to keep an eye on.
No. 25 Wisconsin at Iowa
Luke Fickell finally has things rolling in Madison. The Badgers are 5-2 on the season with a 3-1 mark in Big Ten play, and have been one of the pleasant surprises of the 2026 college football season. Wisconsin's only two losses have come against then-No. 4 Notre Dame and current No. 7 UCLA. Looking to keep the momentum rolling, a key rivalry matchup awaits the Badgers this Saturday against Iowa.
The Hawkeyes are in bounce-back mode after falling 13-10 to Minnesota in Week 8. Iowa dropped from No. 16 to out of the AP Poll, and now have two Big Ten losses on the year. Kirk Ferentz's squad is still a legit Big Ten title contender––but only if they pickup a big home win this weekend against Wisconson. Kick-off between the Badgers and Hawkeyes is set for Noon ET on FOX.
No. 20 Northwestern at Oregon
The Northwestern Wildcats find themselves ranked as the No. 20 team in the AP Poll heading into Week 9. Northwestern's only loss came to Indiana by six points in a game in which the Wildcats gave the Hoosiers all they could handle. Since then they've reeled off four wins in a row, with three coming by 20+ points. But now the schedule sees an uptick in competition. Northwestern's next three games are at Oregon, vs Iowa, and at No. 2 Ohio State. Those contests will tell us a lot about how legit this Wildcat team is in regard to competiting for a Big Ten title.
The Oregon Ducks are enduring a lost season in Eugene. Dan Lanning's team is just 4-3 on the season and 2-2 in Big Ten play. Dante Moore is out for the season, and neither Dylan Raiola or Brock Thomas have been able to find a groove. Coming off a deflating 21-10 loss at Illinois last week, beating Northwestern would give the Ducks some much-needed positivity. Kick-off between the Wildcats and Ducks is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET on Peacock.
No. 2 Ohio State at USC
Ohio State is coming off a bye, and it came at the right time. Julian Sayin is likely out for the season, and the bye week gave backup QB Luke Fahey some time to get acclimated with his new role leading the Buckeye offense. He faces a tough test in his first career start, as OSU travels to USC on Saturday.
The Trojans are in desperation mode after suffering their second loss of the season last week against Wisconsin. Lincoln Riley's seat may be getting hot, but a huge win over the 2nd-ranked Buckeyes would do him wonders. Kick-off between Ohio State and USC is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC on Saturday night.
Add us as a preferred source on Google