| Big Ten Football Championship Game | |
| Sport: | Football |
| Conference: | Big Ten Conference |
| Current Stadium: | Lucas Oil Stadium |
| Current Location: | Indianapolis, Indiana |
| Years: | 2011–present |
| Most Recent: | 2023 |
| Current Champion: | Michigan |
| Most Championships: | Ohio State (5) |
| Television: | Fox (2011–2023, 2025, 2027, 2029) CBS (2024, 2028) NBC (2026) |
| Sponsors: | Dr Pepper (2011–2016) Discover (2017–current) |
The Big Ten Football Championship Game is a college football game held by the Big Ten Conference each year to determine the conference's season champion. The game, held after the regular season has been completed, currently matches the top two teams in the conference standings. It is typically held the first Saturday of December, although in 2020 it was played on the third Saturday of December due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis has been the site of the championship game since its inception in 2011 and is scheduled to host through 2028.[1] Since 2017, the game's official title has been the Big Ten College Football Championship Game Presented by Discover following a sponsorship deal with Discover Financial.[2]
The winner of this game is the Big Ten Champion. The winning team also receives the Stagg Championship Trophy, while the most valuable player of the game receives the Grange–Griffin Championship Game Most Valuable Player Trophy. Through the 2023 game, Wisconsin and Ohio State have the most appearances in the game with six, while Ohio State has the most wins with five.
See also: 2010–2014 Big Ten Conference realignment. Prior to the 2011 college football season, the Big Ten Conference determined its conference representative through regular season play, and, as there were only 11 member schools, there was no possibility for a conference championship game because, at the time, the NCAA required that a conference have 12 teams with two divisions in order to hold a conference championship game.
In 2010, the Big Ten Conference added the University of Nebraska, bringing the membership total to 12 teams. Thus, the conference was able to meet NCAA requirements. On August 5, 2010, Big Ten Conference Commissioner James Delany announced that Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis had been chosen as the possible site for the inaugural championship game. The league office began a 30-day period to negotiate a one-year agreement with Indiana Sports Corp and Lucas Oil Stadium to host the game. Delany also announced that once the 2011 agreement was in place, the conference office would conduct a thorough process over the next year to determine the location of the Big Ten Football Championship Game in 2012 and beyond.[3]
On November 17, 2010, the Big Ten Conference announced a media agreement with Fox Sports to serve as the official broadcast partner for the 2011–2016 Big Ten Football Championship Games. A source at the time stated that the six-year agreement with Fox Sports would be worth between $20–$25 million per season, making it one of the most valuable conference championship games in college football.[4] In the league's press release, it was confirmed that the 2011 event would take place at Lucas Oil Stadium in prime time. Because Fox is a majority partner in the Big Ten Network,[5] this may allow for the possibility of more involvement by the Big Ten Network in the event, including the use of Big Ten Network staff in the game coverage.[6] Commissioner Delany also stated at that time that the Big Ten would strongly consider rotating the site of the game, mentioning other possible host cities such as Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, Green Bay, and Cleveland.[4]
On June 5, 2014, the Big Ten Conference announced via press release that the Big Ten Football Championship game would continue to be held at Lucas Oil Stadium through the 2021 season. [7] [8]
The Big Ten expanded to 11 schools by adding Penn State in 1990,[9] but this did not yet meet the NCAA's requirements for holding a conference championship game (that the conference have 12 teams with two divisions). A few other times during that period, there were talks between the Big Ten and other schools (namely, Kansas, Missouri, and Rutgers,[10] and later Notre Dame[11]) which might have led to the possibility of a conference with two divisions of at least six teams and a conference championship, but for various reasons, nothing came to fruition.
It was not until December 2009, when Commissioner Delany announced that the league would explore the possibility of adding one or more institutions, that the wheels were set in motion that would lead to the Big Ten adding a school for the first time in 20 years. Less than a year later, on June 11, 2010, Nebraska applied for membership and was unanimously accepted by the conference's 11 member schools. Its membership became effective on July 1, 2011.[12]
In November 2012, the Big Ten announced that Maryland[13] and Rutgers[14] would join the conference in 2014, which brought conference membership up to 14 schools.
The Big Ten will expand further in 2024, first announcing in 2022 that UCLA and USC would join in 2024[15] and then announcing the next year that Oregon and Washington would join alongside UCLA and USC.[16]
Through the 2023 edition, the participating teams in the game were the first place teams from each of the conference's two divisions. Starting in 2024, the game will feature the top two teams in the conference standings.
After the addition of Nebraska to the conference, there was much debate over what would be the best division of the 12 schools. Some felt that it would be best to maintain geographical divisions. Others felt that geography should only be a factor insofar as there was competitive balance between the two divisions. Another very important factor for Big Ten schools was the maintenance of long-standing rivalries that the schools held with each other.
On September 1, 2010, Commissioner Delany revealed how the teams would be placed into the two divisions.[17] On December 13, Commissioner Delany announced that the two divisions would be called Legends and Leaders.[18] The scheduling arrangement for the schools was that they would face each of the other schools in their division, plus three crossover opponents, one of which would be permanent. The permanent crossover opponent would be used to ensure that long standing historical rivalries would continue.
On August 4, 2011, the Big Ten Conference announced that there would be a nine-game conference schedule beginning in 2017, allowing schools to play four crossover opponents.[19] However, the Big Ten and Pac-12 later announced a multi-sport scheduling agreement that provides for each member school to play one non-conference football game per year against an opponent from the other conference, and with this announcement, the Big Ten backed away from the nine-game conference schedule proposal.
Following the 2014 entry of Maryland and Rutgers, the "Leaders" and "Legends" divisions were set aside and replaced by geographic divisions, with the schools in the Central Time Zone plus Purdue forming the new West Division, and the remaining members forming the East Division. In addition, the conference adopted a nine-game schedule beginning in 2016.[20]
In December 2020, the Big Ten Conference waived the six-game minimum requirement for a team to participate in the championship game; Ohio State, which had a 5–0 record after playing a limited schedule impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, would otherwise have been ineligible to participate. The Big Ten stated, "The decision was based on a competitive analysis which determined that Ohio State would have advanced to the Big Ten Football Championship Game based on its undefeated record and head-to-head victory over Indiana regardless of a win or loss against Michigan."[21]
With the conference expanding to 18 teams in 2024 with the arrival of Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington, the divisions were eliminated effective at that time.[22]
| Year | Legends Division | Leaders Division | Site | Attendance | Network | Viewers (millions) | TV rating | MVP | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 39 | style= | 15 | 42 | Lucas Oil Stadium Indianapolis, IN | 64,152 | Fox | 7.8 | 4.6 | QB Russell Wilson, Wisconsin | |
| 2012 | 31 | style= | 70 | 41,260[23] | 4.9 | 3.0 | RB Montee Ball, Wisconsin | ||||
| 2013 | style= | 34 | 24 | 66,002 | 13.9 | 7.9 | QB Connor Cook, Michigan State | ||||
| Year | East Division | West Division | Attendance | Network | Viewers (millions) | TV rating | MVP | ||||
| 2014 | style= | 5 | 59 | 0 | 60,229 | Fox | 6.1 | 3.5 | QB Cardale Jones, Ohio State | ||
| 2015 | style= | 5 | 16 | 13 | 66,985 | 9.8 | 5.7 | QB Connor Cook, Michigan State | |||
| 2016 | style= | 7 | 38 | 31 | 65,018 | 9.2 | 5.2 | QB Trace McSorley, Penn State | |||
| 2017 | style= | 8 | 27 | 4 Wisconsin Badgers | 21 | 65,886 | 12.9 | 7.3 | RB J. K. Dobbins, Ohio State | ||
| 2018 | style= | 6 | 45 | 24 | 66,375 | 8.7 | 5.0 | QB Dwayne Haskins, Ohio State | |||
| 2019 | style= | 1 | 34 | 8 Wisconsin Badgers | 21 | 66,649 | 13.6 | 3.6 | QB Justin Fields, Ohio State | ||
| 2020 | style= | 4 | 22 | 14 Northwestern Wildcats | 10 | 3,178 | 8.0 | 4.7 | RB Trey Sermon, Ohio State | ||
| 2021 | style= | 2 | 42 | 13 Iowa Hawkeyes | 3 | 67,183 | 11.7 | 6.2 | DE Aidan Hutchinson, Michigan | ||
| 2022 | style= | 2 | 43 | Purdue Boilermakers | 22 | 67,107 | 10.7 | 5.5 | RB Donovan Edwards, Michigan | ||
| 2023 | style= | 2 | 26 | 16 Iowa Hawkeyes | 0 | 67,842 | 10.0 | 5.1 | DB Mike Sainristil, Michigan | ||
2020 game attendance capped due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Matchups that have occurred more than once in the division era:
| East Division | West Division | Record | Years Played |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Ohio State | Wisconsin | Ohio State, 3–0 | 2014, 2017, 2019 |
| 2 | Ohio State | Northwestern | Ohio State, 2–0 | 2018, 2020 |
| 2 | Michigan | Iowa | Michigan, 2–0 | 2021, 2023 |
| Appearances | School | Wins | Losses | Year(s) won | Year(s) lost | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Ohio State | 5 | 1 | 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 | 2013 | |
| 6 | Wisconsin | 2 | 4 | 2011, 2012 | 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019 | |
| 3 | Iowa | 0 | 3 | 2015, 2021, 2023 | ||
| 3 | Michigan | 3 | 0 | 2021, 2022, 2023 | ||
| 3 | Michigan State | 2 | 1 | 2013, 2015 | 2011 | |
| 2 | Northwestern | 0 | 2 | 2018, 2020 | ||
| 1 | Penn State | 1 | 0 | 2016 | ||
| 1 | Nebraska | 0 | 1 | 2012 | ||
| 1 | Purdue | 0 | 1 | 2022 |
| Year | Network | Play-by-play | Color commentator(s) | Sideline reporter(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Tim Brewster and Dhani Jones | |||
| 2012 | Julie Alexandria | |||
| 2013 | Erin Andrews and Kristina Pink | |||
| 2014 | Molly McGrath | |||
| 2015 | ||||
| 2016 | Shannon Spake | |||
| 2017 | ||||
| 2018 | ||||
| 2019 | ||||
| 2020 | ||||
| 2021 | ||||
| 2022 | Allison Williams | |||
| 2023 | Jenny Taft |
| Year | Network | Play-by-play | Color commentator(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Gregg Daniels | ||
| 2014 | |||
| 2015 | |||
| 2016 | |||
| 2017 | |||
| 2018 | |||
| 2019 | |||
| 2020 | |||
| 2021 | |||
| 2022 |
| Team | Record, Team vs. Opponent | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Most points scored (one team) | 70, Wisconsin vs. Nebraska | 2012 |
| Most points scored (losing team) | 39, Michigan State vs. Wisconsin | 2011 |
| Fewest points scored (winning team) | 16, Michigan State vs. Iowa | 2015 |
| Fewest points scored | 0, Wisconsin vs. Ohio State Iowa vs. Michigan | 2014 2023 |
| Most points scored (both teams) | 101, Wisconsin (70) vs. Nebraska (31) | 2012 |
| Fewest points scored (both teams) | 26, Michigan (26) vs. Iowa (0) | 2023 |
| Most points scored in a half | 42, Wisconsin (1st half) vs. Nebraska | 2012 |
| Most points scored in a half (both teams) | 52, Wisconsin vs. Nebraska (1st half) | 2012 |
| Largest margin of victory | 59, Ohio State (59) vs. Wisconsin (0) | 2014 |
| Smallest margin of victory | 3, Wisconsin (42) vs. Michigan State (39) Michigan State (16) vs. Iowa (13) | 2011 2015 |
| Total yards | 640, Wisconsin (101 passing, 539 rushing) vs. Nebraska | 2012 |
| Rushing yards | 539, Wisconsin vs. Nebraska | 2012 |
| Passing yards | 499, Ohio State vs. Northwestern | 2018 |
| First downs | 31, Ohio State vs. Northwestern | 2018 |
| Fewest yards allowed | 155, Iowa vs. Michigan (120 passing, 35 rushing) | 2023 |
| Fewest rushing yards allowed | 35, Iowa vs. Michigan | 2023 |
| Fewest passing yards allowed | 101, Nebraska vs. Wisconsin Michigan State vs. Ohio State | 2012 2013 |
| Individual | Record, Player, Team vs. Opponent | Year |
| All-purpose yards | 494, Dwayne Haskins, Ohio State vs. Northwestern | 2018 |
| Touchdowns (all-purpose) | 5, shared by: James White, Wisconsin vs. Nebraska Dwayne Haskins, Ohio State vs. Northwestern | 2012 2018 |
| Rushing yards | 331, Trey Sermon, Ohio State vs. Northwestern | 2020 |
| Rushing touchdowns | 4, James White, Wisconsin vs. Nebraska | 2012 |
| Passing yards | 499, Dwayne Haskins, Ohio State vs. Northwestern | 2018 |
| Passing touchdowns | 5, Dwayne Haskins, Ohio State vs. Northwestern | 2018 |
| Receiving yards | 162, Charlie Jones, Purdue vs. Michigan | 2022 |
| Receiving touchdowns | 3, shared by: B.J. Cunningham, Michigan State vs. Wisconsin Devin Smith, Ohio State vs. Wisconsin | 2011 2014 |
| Tackles | 16, Jerome Baker, Ohio State vs. Wisconsin | 2017 |
| Sacks | 3, shared by: Denicos Allen, Michigan State vs. Wisconsin Chase Young, Ohio State vs. Northwestern | 2011 2018 |
| Interceptions | 2, shared by: Doran Grant, Ohio State vs. Wisconsin Will Johnson, Michigan vs. Purdue | 2014 2022 |
| Field Goals Made | 5, (5 att.) Mitchell Fineran, Purdue vs. Michigan | 2022 |
| Long Plays | Record, Player, Team vs. Opponent | Year |
| Touchdown run | 81, Ezekiel Elliott, Ohio State vs. Wisconsin | 2014 |
| Touchdown pass | 85, Tevaun Smith from C. J. Beathard, Iowa vs. Michigan State | 2015 |
| Kickoff return | 44, Jared Abbrederis, Wisconsin vs. Michigan State | 2011 |
| Punt return | 87, Semaj Morgan, Michigan vs. Iowa | 2023 |
| Interception return | 37, Doran Grant, Ohio State vs. Wisconsin | 2014 |
| Fumble return | 17, Travis Willock, Northwestern vs. Ohio State | 2018 |
| Punt | 73, Cameron Johnston, Ohio State vs. Wisconsin | 2014 |
| Field goal | 50, James Turner, Michigan vs. Iowa | 2023 |
| Miscellaneous | Record, Team vs. Team | Year |
| Game attendance | 67,842, Iowa vs. Michigan | 2023 |
On September 1, 2011, the Big Ten Conference announced the divisional tiebreaker procedures that will be used to determine the representatives in the championship game.[25] Division standings are based on each team's overall conference record, excluding teams ineligible for postseason because of sanctions. In the event that two teams are tied, the head-to-head results between those two teams determines the tiebreaker. Unlike the Southeastern Conference, whose rules were established before NCAA overtime and has provisions in case the two tied teams' game is either canceled or tied because of inclement weather (NCAA rules permit drawn games if, after three periods have been played, a game is tied when the game is called off because of inclement weather, including reaching curfew), the Big Ten does not have a policy in case the head-to-head result is a tie because of inclement weather.
If only two teams remain after any of the following steps, the tiebreaker will revert to the two-team tiebreaker above.