2021 Big Ten Conference football season

2021 Big Ten Conference football standings
	East Division
	West Division
	Championship: December 4, 2021
	$ – Conference champion; x – Division champion/co-champions; y – Championship game participant; As of February 9, 2021; Rankings from CFP Rankings.

2021 Big Ten Conference football season
League	NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision
Sport	Football
Duration	August 28, 2021—January 13, 2022
Number of teams	14
TV partner(s)	Fox Sports (Fox/FS1, Big Ten Network), ESPN (ESPN, ESPN2, ABC)
2022 NFL Draft
Regular season
Championship Game

The 2021 Big Ten conference football season is the 126th season of college football play for the Big Ten Conference and part of the 2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season. This will be the Big Ten's eighth season with 14 teams. The defending league champion is Ohio State.

The Big Ten has one new coach for the 2021 season. Illinois hired former Arkansas and Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema to serve as head coach, replacing Lovie Smith who was fired during the 2020 season.[1]

Previous season

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a delayed start of the season for the Big Ten, where the league ultimately canceled all non-conference games and settled on an eight-game conference-only regular season, beginning on October 23, along with a ninth cross-over week of contests the week of the conference championship game.

On the field of play last season, Ohio State won the East Division title and made their sixth appearance in the Big Ten Championship Game and fourth consecutive appearance. In the West Division, Northwestern won the division title. In that championship game, Ohio State defeated Northwestern 22–10 to win their fourth consecutive Big Ten championship. With that win, the Buckeyes landed a spot in the 2020–21 College Football Playoff as the #3 seed. The Buckeyes defeated #2 Clemson in the CFP semifinals before losing to top-seeded Alabama in the national championship game in Miami.

Five teams qualified for bowl games in the 2020 season, however Iowa's Music City Bowl matchup with Missouri was canceled due to COVID. The Big Ten went 3–2 in its postseason games.

Preseason

Rankings

		Pre
Illinois	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Indiana	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Iowa	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Maryland	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Michigan	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Michigan State	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Minnesota	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Nebraska	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Northwestern	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Ohio State	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Penn State	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Purdue	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Rutgers	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Wisconsin	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released

**Legend**
		Improvement in ranking
		Drop in ranking
		Not ranked previous week
		No change in ranking from previous week
RV		Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll
т		Tied with team above or below also with this symbol

Schedule

Index to colors and formatting
Big Ten member won
Big Ten member lost
Big Ten teams in bold

All times Eastern time.

† denotes Homecoming game

Week 0

Date	Time	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 28		Nebraska	Illinois	Aviva Stadium • Dublin, Ireland (Aer Lingus College Football Classic)
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Week 1

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site
September 2	Ohio State	Minnesota	TCF Bank Stadium • Minneapolis, MN
September 4	UTSA	Illinois	Memorial Stadium • Champaign, IL
September 4	Indiana	Iowa	Kinnick Stadium • Iowa City, IA
September 4	West Virginia	Maryland	Maryland Stadium • College Park, MD (MD-WVU Rivalry)
September 4	Western Michigan	Michigan	Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI
September 4	Michigan State	Northwestern	Ryan Field • Evanston, IL
September 4	Penn State	Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium • Madison, WI
September 4	Oregon State	Purdue	Ross-Ade Stadium • West Lafayette, IN
September 4	Temple	Rutgers	SHI Stadium • Piscataway, NJ
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Date	Bye Week
September 4	Nebraska

Week 2

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site
September 11	Illinois	Virginia	Scott Stadium • Charlottesville, VA
September 11	Idaho	Indiana	Memorial Stadium • Bloomington, IN
September 11	Iowa	Iowa State	Jack Trice Stadium • Ames, IA (Cy-Hawk Trophy)
September 11	Washington	Michigan	Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI
September 11	Youngstown State	Michigan State	Spartan Stadium • East Lansing, MI
September 11	Miami (OH)	Minnesota	TCF Bank Stadium • Minneapolis, MN
September 11	Buffalo	Nebraska	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE
September 11	Indiana State	Northwestern	Ryan Field • Evanston, IL
September 11	Oregon	Ohio State	Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH
September 11	Ball State	Penn State	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA
September 11	Purdue	Connecticut	Rentschler Field • East Hartford, CT
September 11	Rutgers	Syracuse	Carrier Dome • Syracuse, NY
September 11	Eastern Michigan	Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium • Madison, WI
September 11	Howard	Maryland	Maryland Stadium • College Park, MD
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Week 3

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site
September 18	Maryland	Illinois	Memorial Stadium • Champaign, IL
September 18	Cincinnati	Indiana	Memorial Stadium • Bloomington, IN
September 18	Kent State	Iowa	Kinnick Stadium • Iowa City, IA
September 18	Northern Illinois	Michigan	Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI
September 18	Michigan State	Miami (FL)	Hard Rock Stadium • Miami Gardens, FL
September 18	Minnesota	Colorado	Folsom Field • Boulder, CO
September 18	Nebraska	Oklahoma	Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium • Norman, OK (NU-OU Rivalry)
September 18	Northwestern	Duke	Wallace Wade Stadium • Durham, NC
September 18	Tulsa	Ohio State	Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH
September 18	Auburn	Penn State	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA
September 18	Purdue	Notre Dame	Notre Dame Stadium • South Bend, IN (Shillelagh Trophy)
September 18	Delaware	Rutgers	SHI Stadium • Piscataway, NJ
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Date	Bye Week
September 18	Wisconsin

Week 4

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site
September 25	Illinois	Purdue	Ross-Ade Stadium • West Lafayette, IN (Purdue Cannon)
September 25	Indiana	Western Kentucky	Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium • Bowling Green, KY
September 25	Colorado State	Iowa	Kinnick Stadium • Iowa City, IA
September 25	Kent State	Maryland	Maryland Stadium • College Park, MD
September 25	Rutgers	Michigan	Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI
September 25	Nebraska	Michigan State	Spartan Stadium • East Lansing, MI
September 25	Bowling Green	Minnesota	TCF Bank Stadium • Minneapolis, MN
September 25	Ohio	Northwestern	Ryan Field • Evanston, IL
September 25	Akron	Ohio State	Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH
September 25	Villanova	Penn State	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA
September 25	Wisconsin	Notre Dame	Soldier Field • Chicago, IL
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Week 5

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site
October 2	Charlotte	Illinois	Memorial Stadium • Champaign, IL
October 2	Indiana	Penn State	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA
October 2	Iowa	Maryland	Maryland Stadium • College Park, MD
October 2	Michigan	Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium • Madison, WI
October 2†	Western Kentucky	Michigan State	Spartan Stadium • East Lansing, MI
October 2†	Minnesota	Purdue	Ross-Ade Stadium • West Lafayette, IN
October 2	Northwestern	Nebraska	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE
October 2	Ohio State	Rutgers	SHI Stadium • Piscataway, NJ
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Week 6

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site
October 9	Penn State	Iowa	Kinnick Stadium • Iowa City, IA
October 9	Maryland	Ohio State	Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH
October 9	Wisconsin	Illinois	Memorial Stadium • Champaign, IL
October 9	Michigan	Nebraska	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE
October 9	Michigan State	Rutgers	SHI Stadium • Piscataway, NJ
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Date	Bye Week
October 9	Indiana	Minnesota	Northwestern	Purdue

Week 7

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site
October 16	Nebraska	Minnesota	TCF Bank Stadium • Minneapolis, MN ($5 Bits of Broken Chair Trophy)
October 16	Rutgers	Northwestern	Ryan Field • Evanston, IL
October 16	Michigan State	Indiana	Memorial Stadium • Bloomington, IN (Old Brass Spittoon)
October 16	Purdue	Iowa	Kinnick Stadium • Iowa City, IA
October 16	Army	Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium • Madison, WI
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Date	Bye Week
October 16	Illinois	Maryland	Michigan	Ohio State	Penn State

Week 8

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site
October 23	Illinois	Penn State	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA
October 23	Maryland	Minnesota	TCF Bank Stadium • Minneapolis, MN
October 23	Ohio State	Indiana	Memorial Stadium • Bloomington, IN
October 23	Northwestern	Michigan	Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI
October 23	Wisconsin	Purdue	Ross-Ade Stadium • West Lafayette, IN
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Date	Bye Week
October 23	Iowa	Michigan State	Nebraska	Rutgers

Week 9

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site
October 30	Rutgers	Illinois	Memorial Stadium • Champaign, IL
October 30	Indiana	Maryland	Maryland Stadium • College Park, MD
October 30	Iowa	Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium • Madison, WI (Heartland Trophy)
October 30	Minnesota	Northwestern	Ryan Field • Evanston, IL
October 30	Purdue	Nebraska	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE
October 30	Michigan	Michigan State	Spartan Stadium • East Lansing, MI (Paul Bunyan Trophy)
October 30	Penn State	Ohio State	Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH (OSU-PSU Rivalry)
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Week 10

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site
November 6	Illinois	Minnesota	TCF Bank Stadium • Minneapolis, MN
November 6	Ohio State	Nebraska	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE
November 6	Iowa	Northwestern	Ryan Field • Evanston, IL
November 6	Penn State	Maryland	Maryland Stadium • College Park, MD (MD-PSU Rivalry)
November 6	Indiana	Michigan	Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI
November 6	Michigan State	Purdue	Ross-Ade Stadium • West Lafayette, IN
November 6	Wisconsin	Rutgers	SHI Stadium • Piscataway, NJ
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Week 11

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site
November 13	Maryland	Michigan State	Spartan Stadium • East Lansing, MI
November 13	Minnesota	Iowa	Kinnick Stadium • Iowa City, IA (Floyd of Rosedale)
November 13	Purdue	Ohio State	Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH
November 13	Michigan	Penn State	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA
November 13	Southeastern Louisiana	Nebraska	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE
November 13	Rutgers	Indiana	Memorial Stadium • Bloomington, IN
November 13	Northwestern	Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium • Madison, WI
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Date	Bye Week
November 13	Illinois

Week 12

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site
November 20	Illinois	Iowa	Kinnick Stadium • Iowa City, IA
November 20	Minnesota	Indiana	Memorial Stadium • Bloomington, IN
November 20	Michigan	Maryland	Maryland Stadium • College Park, MD
November 20	Michigan State	Ohio State	Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH
November 20	Nebraska	Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium • Madison, WI (Freedom Trophy)
November 20	Purdue	Northwestern	Ryan Field • Evanston, IL
November 20	Rutgers	Penn State	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Week 13

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site
November 26	Iowa	Nebraska	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE (Heroes Trophy)
November 27	Northwestern	Illinois	Memorial Stadium • Champaign, IL (Land of Lincoln Trophy)
November 27	Indiana	Purdue	Ross-Ade Stadium • West Lafayette, IN (Old Oaken Bucket)
November 27	Maryland	Rutgers	SHI Stadium • Piscataway, NJ
November 27	Ohio State	Michigan	Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI (The Game)
November 27	Wisconsin	Minnesota	TCF Bank Stadium • Minneapolis, MN (Paul Bunyan's Axe)
November 27	Penn State	Michigan State	Spartan Stadium • East Lansing, MI (Land Grant Trophy)
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Big Ten Championship Game

Date	Time	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
December 4		East Division Champion	West Division Champion	Lucas Oil Stadium • Indianapolis, IN
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Postseason

Big Ten records vs other conferences

2021–2022 records against non-conference foes:

Power Conferences 5	Record
ACC	0-0
Big 12	0-0
Pac-12	0-0
BYU/Notre Dame	0-0
SEC	0-0
Power 5 Total	0-0

Other FBS Conferences	Record
American	0-0
C–USA	0-0
Independents (Excluding Notre Dame)	0-0
MAC	0-0
Mountain West	0-0
Sun Belt	0-0

Other FBS Total	0-0
Total Bowl Record	0-0

Awards and honors

All-Americans

Home attendance

Due to COVID-19, the Big Ten is not allowing fans into stadiums for the 2020 season. Family members and limited staff are permitted. Some schools count and track those numbers and some do not.

Team	Stadium	Capacity
Illinois	Memorial Stadium	60,670
Indiana	Memorial Stadium	52,656
Iowa	Kinnick Stadium	69,250
Maryland	Maryland Stadium	51,802
Michigan	Michigan Stadium	107,601
Michigan State	Spartan Stadium	75,005
Minnesota	TCF Bank Stadium	50,805
Nebraska	Memorial Stadium	85,458
Northwestern	Ryan Field	47,130
Ohio State	Ohio Stadium	102,780
Penn State	Beaver Stadium	106,572
Purdue	Ross–Ade Stadium	57,236
Rutgers	SHI Stadium	52,454
Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium	80,321

2022 NFL Draft

The following list includes all Big Ten players who were drafted in the 2022 NFL Draft

Player	Position	School	Draft Round	Round Pick	Overall Pick	Team

Head coaches

Current through January 11, 2021

Team	Head coach	Years at school	Overall record	Record at school	B1G record
Illinois	Bret Bielema*	1	97–58 (.626)	0–0 (–)	37–19 (.661)
Indiana	Tom Allen*	5	24–22 (.522)	24–22 (.522)	15–19 (.441)
Iowa	Kirk Ferentz	23	180–127 (.586)	168–106 (.613)	103–77 (.572)
Maryland	Mike Locksley*	3	8–43 (.157)	6–17 (.261)	4–16 (.200)
Michigan	Jim Harbaugh	7	107–49 (.686)	49–22 (.690)	34–16 (.680)
Michigan State	Mel Tucker	2	7–12 (.368)	2–5 (.286)	2–5 (.286)
Minnesota	P.J. Fleck	5	56–41 (.577)	26–19 (.578)	15–19 (.441)
Nebraska	Scott Frost	4	31–27 (.534)	12–20 (.375)	9–17 (.346)
Northwestern	Pat Fitzgerald	16	106–81 (.567)	106–81 (.567)	63–60 (.512)
Ohio State	Ryan Day*	3	23–2 (.920)	23–2 (.920)	15–0 (1.000)
Penn State	James Franklin	8	84–43 (.661)	60–28 (.682)	38–23 (.623)
Purdue	Jeff Brohm	5	49–35 (.583)	19–25 (.432)	14–19 (.424)
Rutgers	Greg Schiano*	13	71–73 (.493)	71–73 (.493)	3–6 (.333)
Wisconsin	Paul Chryst	7	75–38 (.664)	56–19 (.747)	37–13 (.740)

* Bret Bielema coached in the Big Ten from 2006 through 2012 at Wisconsin, going 37-19 in Big Ten play and winning three Big Ten championships.

* Tom Allen was hired to replace Kevin Wilson in December 2016 at Indiana and coached the Hoosiers in their 2016 bowl game, going 0–1.

* Mike Locksley served as interim head coach at Maryland in 2015 and coached for six games, going 1–5.[2]

* Ryan Day served as interim head coach at Ohio State for the first three games of the 2018 season while Urban Meyer served a three-game suspension and went 3–0.[3]

* Greg Schiano served as head coach at Rutgers from 2001 through 2011 then left for the NFL. Following the conclusion of the 2019 season, Schiano returned to Rutgers for his second stint as head coach. The Scarlet Knights competed in the Big East Conference in his previous stay at the school.

References

"Bret Bielema Takes Reins of Fighting Illini Football". Univiersy of Illinois Athletics.
"OC Mike Locksley named interim head coach at Maryland". RSN.
Allen, Paul Myerberg and Kevin. "Ohio State suspends football coach Urban Meyer three games: 'I want to apologize'". USA TODAY.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] "Bret Bielema Takes Reins of Fighting Illini Football". Univiersy of Illinois Athletics.

[2] "OC Mike Locksley named interim head coach at Maryland". RSN.

[3] Allen, Paul Myerberg and Kevin. "Ohio State suspends football coach Urban Meyer three games: 'I want to apologize'". USA TODAY.

Big Ten Conference football
East Division	Indiana Hoosiers Maryland Terrapins Michigan Wolverines Michigan State Spartans Ohio State Buckeyes Penn State Nittany Lions Rutgers Scarlet Knights
West Division	Illinois Fighting Illini Iowa Hawkeyes Minnesota Golden Gophers Nebraska Cornhuskers Northwestern Wildcats Purdue Boilermakers Wisconsin Badgers
Championships & awards	Conference champions All-time standings (1896–1958), (1959–present) Championship Game Individual awards Chicago Tribune Silver Football
Seasons	1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season
Conference seasons	American ACC Big 12 Big Ten C-USA MAC Mountain West Pac-12 SEC Sun Belt
Inter-conference	Bowl games Rankings
All–Americans	2021 College Football All-America Team