If you had told me a year ago that we’d be sitting here in January 2026 talking about Indiana as the undisputed king of the Midwest, I would’ve probably laughed in your face. Honestly. It sounds like a fever dream or a glitch in a video game simulation. But the big ten fb scores from this past season don't lie, and they’ve painted a picture that looks nothing like the preseason magazines predicted.
The Hoosiers didn't just win; they steamrolled. 15-0.
Most people still think the Big Ten is a two-horse race between Ohio State and Michigan, with maybe a little Oregon flavor sprinkled in for the new era. They’re wrong. This season proved that the middle of the pack has teeth, and the top of the mountain is no longer reserved for the usual suspects in Columbus and Ann Arbor.
That 13-10 Score Everyone is Still Reliving
We have to talk about the Big Ten Championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium. It was ugly. It was gritty. It was exactly what Big Ten football is supposed to be, even if the names on the jerseys felt a bit "wrong" to the traditionalists.
Indiana 13, Ohio State 10.
That score is going to be burned into the brains of Buckeye fans for a decade. Ohio State entered that game as the No. 1 team in the country, looking to cement a back-to-back national title run. Instead, they ran into a buzzsaw led by a quarterback, Fernando Mendoza, who played through an injury on the very first drive.
Mendoza wasn't even the highest-rated guy in the room. He just kept making plays. His 17-yard strike to Elijah Sarratt in the third quarter was the only touchdown the Hoosiers needed. The real story, though, was the defense. They sacked Julian Sayin five times. Five! Sayin is a future first-round pick, and he looked completely rattled by a defensive scheme that Curt Cignetti has perfected.
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Why the Buckeyes Faltered
- Red Zone Woes: They went 12 plays for 70 yards and got stuffed on 4th-and-1. That’s a death sentence in a low-scoring game.
- Kicking Nightmares: Jayden Fielding had a chance to tie it with 2:48 left. 29 yards. A chip shot. He hooked it wide left.
- Pressure: The Indiana front seven lived in the backfield. Isaiah Jones had two of the sacks himself.
It’s easy to look at a 13-10 score and think the offenses were bad. Kinda true, but the defenses were just that elite. When you look at the big ten fb scores from the 2025-2026 cycle, you see a trend of dominant defensive units finally catching up to the high-flying portal offenses.
The Oregon "Adjustment" Period
Oregon came into this league and everyone thought they’d just track meet their way to a title. They did well—don't get me wrong. A 13-2 record is nothing to sneeze at. But look at their road scores.
They beat Wisconsin 16-13. They struggled at times with the travel, something Dan Lanning was pretty vocal about by mid-October. The "time zone trouble" is a real thing. Since 2024, teams traveling across two or more time zones in this conference have a losing record straight up. Oregon is the exception because they’re loaded with talent, but even they felt the squeeze.
They did manage to hammer James Madison 51-34 in the CFP First Round, but then they ran back into Indiana in the Peach Bowl.
The score? Indiana 56, Oregon 22.
Total annihilation. It wasn't even close. Indiana put up over 500 yards of offense. That game basically served as a "Welcome to the real Big Ten" moment for the Ducks, even though they’d been in the league for two years. It showed that Indiana’s depth was, surprisingly, better than Oregon’s track stars when the stakes were highest.
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The Chaos in the Standings
If you look at the final standings, the bottom half of the league is a graveyard of "what ifs."
Purdue went 0-9 in the conference. 0-9! That’s a tough pill to swallow for a program that usually plays spoiler. Meanwhile, Penn State, who everyone thought was a lock for the playoffs, finished 3-6 in the conference. They did beat Clemson in the Pinstripe Bowl (22-10), which I guess is a nice consolation prize, but it doesn't make up for losing to teams they should've handled in October.
Nebraska finally looks like they’re turning a corner, though. 7-6 overall. They lost to Utah 44-22 in the Las Vegas Bowl, but the fact that they're even making bowl games again is a win for Matt Rhule. Dylan Raiola had his "sophomore slump" moments, but he also threw for 68 points against Akron.
A Glance at the Middle Tier
The scores for the mid-level teams were all over the place. Iowa went 9-4, doing exactly what Iowa does—winning 34-27 games where you wonder how they scored 34 points in the first place. Their ReliaQuest Bowl win over Vanderbilt was a classic Hawkeye performance. Mark Gronowski finally gave them a pulse at quarterback, which was sort of the missing piece for them for the last three years.
Michigan also ended up 9-4. They lost to Texas 41-27 in the Citrus Bowl. It’s a weird time for the Wolverines. They’ve got the money and the recruiting (No. 3 class), but they couldn't find the consistency this year. Losing 24-13 to Oklahoma early in the season set a tone they never really fully shook off.
Realities of the Big Ten Travel
We have to acknowledge the travel logistics. It's basically a pro schedule now. When USC has to go to Purdue or Maryland, they’re basically flying across a continent. USC beat Purdue 33-17 in mid-September, but they looked exhausted by the time they hit the fourth quarter.
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The Trojans finished 9-4. They lost a heartbreaker in the Alamo Bowl to TCU (30-27 in OT). Lincoln Riley is still facing the same questions about his defense. They can score 73 points on Missouri State, but can they stop a Big Ten run game in November? The scores suggest "sorta, but not really."
Actionable Insights for Next Season
If you're looking at these big ten fb scores to try and figure out what happens in 2026, keep a few things in mind. First, don't overvalue preseason polls. Indiana was picked 6th in the media poll. They finished 1st and went to the National Championship.
Second, watch the transfer portal specifically for quarterbacks moving into the "traditional" Big Ten schools. The teams that succeeded this year (Indiana with Mendoza, Iowa with Gronowski) were the ones who found veteran stability.
Lastly, pay attention to the schedule. If a West Coast team has two road games in the Eastern Time Zone in a three-week span, bet against them. The data from 2025 shows they almost always underperform the spread in those spots.
To stay ahead of the curve for the upcoming spring ball and transfer window:
- Track the "Relative Scoring Offense" stats. Indiana led the nation here, and it was the best indicator of their breakout.
- Monitor defensive line depth. The Big Ten is won in the trenches, as Ohio State learned the hard way in the championship game.
- Ignore the helmet stickers. Names like Indiana and Illinois are the new power players.
The 2025 season was a total shift in the landscape. Whether it stays this way or the blue bloods reclaim their throne is the only question left for 2026.