The Big Ten Conference took to the airwaves Tuesday evening and officially announced its teams’ 2026 football schedules. The Ohio State Buckeyes already knew that the first three weeks of their slate would be composed of non-conference opponents – Ball State (9/5), at Texas (9/12), and Kent State (9/19).

What fans learned Tuesday were the dates for their conference opponents, nine teams whose combined record last season was 51-30 (.629). Five of the Big Ten games will be played at Ohio Stadium, the remaining four contests on the road.

Sept. 5 – Ball State
Sept. 12 – at Texas
Sept. 19 – Kent State
Sept. 26 – Illinois
Oct. 3 – at Iowa
Oct. 10 – Maryland
Oct. 17 – at Indiana
Oct. 24 – Off
Oct. 31 – at USC
Nov. 7 – Oregon
Nov. 14 – Northwestern
Nov. 21 – at Nebraska
Nov. 28 – Michigan
Dec. 5 – Big Ten Championship Game (Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis)

Two of the conference games will be against teams that played each other in the College Football Playoff semifinals – Indiana and Oregon – with the Hoosiers going on to win the National Championship.

Nine of Ohio State’s 12 regular season opponents either played in the CFP or a bowl game this season and seven of them had nine or more wins in 2025. 

The 18 conference teams will be competing to play in the 2026 Big Ten championship game Dec. 5 at Lucas Oil Stadium. The winner will automatically qualify for the College Football Playoffs.

The Big Ten schedules are arranged so that each of their 18 teams will play nine conference games per season. Teams will play every other conference opponent at least twice, and not more than three times, in a five-year period.

Some rivalry matchups, like Ohio State and Michigan, however, are allowed to play more than three times in a five-year period under the Big Ten’s “Flex Protect” scheduling model.