Everything changed the second Oregon and Washington stepped onto a Big Ten field. If you were expecting the same old "three yards and a cloud of dust" Big Ten football stats, you haven't been paying attention to the 2025 season. It was supposed to be the year of the Buckeyes. Instead, we got a Bloomington revolution and a statistical leaderboard that looks nothing like it did five years ago.
Indiana. 15-0. Let that sink in for a second.
The Hoosiers didn't just win; they broke the conference's internal math. For decades, Big Ten football was a predictable hierarchy, but the 2025 campaign turned into a wild West—literally and figuratively. With the addition of USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington, the conference expanded to 18 teams and ditched the divisions. No more hiding in the West. No more guaranteed paths to Indianapolis.
The Indiana Anomaly and the 2025 Championship
Honestly, nobody saw the Hoosiers coming, at least not like this. Under Curt Cignetti, Indiana produced a statistical profile that felt more like a video game than reality. They finished the regular season with a perfect 12-0 record and then walked into Lucas Oil Stadium as the underdog against a terrifyingly talented Ohio State squad.
The Big Ten Championship Game on December 6, 2025, was a masterclass in efficiency. Indiana won 13-10. It wasn't a shootout, but the numbers tell the story of a defense that finally learned how to suffocate high-octane offenses. Fernando Mendoza, the Indiana quarterback and game MVP, didn't need 400 yards. He threw for 222 yards and a crucial 17-yard touchdown to Elijah Sarratt in the third quarter. That was enough.
Ohio State’s Julian Sayin threw for 258 yards, but he also tossed a costly interception to Louis Moore. That’s the thing about big ten football stats in 2025—the margin for error vanished. One pick, one stalled drive, and suddenly the "most talented roster in history" is watching the confetti fall for someone else.
The Aerial Assault: Passing Leaders
If you grew up watching Iowa versus Wisconsin, look away. The passing numbers in this conference are getting ridiculous. USC's Jayden Maiava led the way with 3,711 passing yards over 13 games. That’s nearly 286 yards per outing.
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Ohio State's Julian Sayin wasn't far behind. He put up 3,610 yards and 32 touchdowns against just 8 interceptions. The kid is 19. He completes 77% of his passes. Those are Joe Burrow numbers.
Here is how the top of the passing leaderboard shook out:
- Jayden Maiava (USC): 3,711 Yards, 24 TDs
- Julian Sayin (OSU): 3,610 Yards, 32 TDs
- Dante Moore (ORE): 3,565 Yards, 30 TDs
- Fernando Mendoza (IND): 3,349 Yards, 41 TDs (Conference leader in Passing TDs)
- Athan Kaliakmanis (RUTG): 3,124 Yards, 20 TDs
Mendoza’s 41 touchdowns are the real eye-opener. Indiana was basically a touchdown machine in the red zone. They didn't just move the ball; they finished.
Can Anyone Still Run the Ball?
Despite the air raids in Los Angeles and Eugene, the Midwest still produces some absolute bruisers. Nebraska’s Emmett Johnson emerged as a workhorse, racking up 1,451 rushing yards. He was the focal point of a Cornhusker offense that’s slowly starting to resemble the nightmares of the 90s.
Michigan also stayed true to its identity. Justice Haynes and Jordan Marshall combined for nearly 1,800 rushing yards and 20 scores. When Haynes was healthy, he was arguably the best back in the country, leading the conference in yards per game (130.8) early in the year.
It’s a weird split. You have teams like USC and Oregon trying to beat you with 40 passes, while Michigan and Iowa are still trying to cave your chest in with a pulling guard. Iowa’s Mark Gronowski actually led all quarterbacks in rushing touchdowns with 16. That’s a classic Hawkeye stat if I’ve ever seen one.
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Defensive Dominance and "The Smith Factor"
Defense wins championships, right? Indiana’s Louis Moore proved it with 6 interceptions, leading a secondary that turned the tide in the title game. But if you want to talk about raw production, Oregon’s Bryce Boettcher was everywhere. 129 tackles. He was the heartbeat of a Ducks defense that had to adjust to the physical toll of a Big Ten schedule.
Up front, Minnesota's Anthony Smith was a nightmare for offensive tackles. 12.5 sacks. He didn’t care who was blocking him. Whether it was a freshman or a future NFL first-rounder, Smith was living in the backfield.
The Jeremiah Smith Reality Check
We have to talk about Jeremiah Smith. The Ohio State receiver entered the season with more hype than most NFL veterans. And he lived up to it. 1,243 receiving yards as a sophomore. He had 144 yards in the championship game alone.
When you look at big ten football stats, you usually see a balanced distribution. Not with Smith. He was the primary target on almost every "gotta have it" third down for the Buckeyes. He’s the reason Julian Sayin’s completion percentage was so high—Smith catches anything within three miles of his wingspan.
What Most People Get Wrong About the New Schedule
People thought the travel would kill the West Coast teams. They thought flying to Rutgers or Penn State in November would lead to a statistical collapse for Oregon and USC.
It didn't happen.
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Oregon finished 13-2. USC was 9-4. The "travel fatigue" narrative might have some truth to it, but the talent gap often overrode the jet lag. However, look at the scoring defense numbers. The top four defenses in the conference still came from the traditional Big Ten/Big 12 archetypes. Texas Tech (who joined the Big 12 expansion) and Utah are playing a similar brand, but within the Big Ten specifically, the Indiana/Ohio State/Michigan trio held the line.
Takeaways for the 2026 Season
If you’re looking at these big ten football stats to predict next year, keep a few things in mind.
First, efficiency is trumping volume. Indiana didn't have the most yards, but they had the most points per trip inside the 40-yard line. Second, the "freshman" label doesn't mean what it used to. Julian Sayin and Bryce Underwood (Michigan) are playing like fifth-year seniors.
Next steps for fans and analysts:
- Watch the transfer portal for defensive linemen. The Big Ten is still a line-of-scrimmage league, and teams like USC are desperate for more bulk.
- Keep an eye on Nebraska’s rushing trends. If Emmett Johnson continues this trajectory, the Huskers are a dark horse for the 2026 title.
- Track the "distance traveled" stat. While it didn't tank Oregon this year, the cumulative effect over multiple seasons is something coaches are privately terrified of.
The 2025 season was a fever dream. Indiana is on top, Ohio State is searching for answers, and the West Coast has officially arrived. If these stats tell us anything, it's that the old Big Ten is dead—and the new one is much more fun to watch.