The 2020 Big Ten conference football season is the 125th season of college football play for the Big Ten Conference and part of the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. This was the Big Ten's seventh season with 14 teams. The defending league champion was Ohio State.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the conference voted on August 11, 2020, to indefinitely postpone all fall athletics, including football, citing the worsening trends of the pandemic in the country. On September 16, the conference approved a shortened, eight-game football season beginning October 24, with the final week featuring the Big Ten championship game on December 19.
The Big Ten had two new coaches for the 2020 season. Rutgers hired former coach Greg Schiano to serve as head coach, replacing Chris Ash who was fired during the 2019 season. Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio announced on February 4, 2020, that he was retiring from his position. The Spartans announced the hiring of Mel Tucker as the new head coach on February 12, 2020.Michigan State twitter account announcing the hiring of Mel Tucker On December 13, Illinois fired its head coach Lovie Smith, and on December 19 announced the hiring of Bret Bielema as its new head coach.
Delay of season On July 9, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the Big Ten announced that all competition in fall sports, including football, would be played exclusively in-conference, in order to "have the greatest flexibility to adjust its own operations throughout the season and make quick decisions in real-time". An updated 10-game conference-only schedule was released on August 5, 2020.
On August 11, in the wake of multiple Group of Five conferences deciding to do so, the council of the Big Ten voted 11–3 to postpone fall athletics for the 2020–21 season (with all but Iowa, Nebraska, and Ohio State voting in favor). Commissioner Kevin Warren cited negative trends and uncertainties surrounding COVID-19 as a factor in the decision. The conference stated that it would evaluate options, including possibly playing in spring 2021 instead. After the decision to postpone the season, the Big Ten formed a taskforce to investigate options for a return to play. President Donald Trump criticized the Big Ten's decision to postpone fall football, as part of his general criticism of U.S. colleges and universities that have not resumed on-campus activities. All other Power Five conferences besides the Pac-12 (which also postponed its season shortly after the Big Ten's decision) were still planning to play in the fall.
On September 14, it was reported that the Big Ten was considering the possibility of reversing its decision and playing a shortened conference football season as early as mid-to-late October. On September 16, the Big Ten approved an eight-game conference season that would begin October 24, and conclude on December 19 with the Big Ten Championship Game. The conference originally planned to hold a slate of cross-division matchups between seeds alongside the championship game.
The conference instituted a daily antigen testing protocol from September 30; PCR tests are used to confirm positives found via antigen testing. Players who test positive on both tests are removed from play for at least 21 days and undergo cardiac tests during this period, and will have to be cleared by a cardiologist before they can return to play. Positivity rates among participating teams and the local population will also be a factor: teams with a positivity rate above 5% or a population positivity rate above 7% will be required to halt all activity for seven days.
Preseason
2020 Big Ten Spring Football and number of signees on signing day:
Recruiting classes
+ Rankings Team ESPN Rivals Scout & 24/7SigneesIllinois 63 90 88 14Indiana 55 48 58 20Iowa 32 35 35 21Maryland 33 32 31 28Michigan 11 11 14 23Michigan State 46 36 44 22Minnesota 36 38 38 24Nebraska 24 17 20 24Northwestern 40 53 47 17Ohio State 5 5 5 25Penn State 12 15 15 27Purdue 28 30 32 20Rutgers 60 67 61 23Wisconsin 26 28 26 20
Big Ten Media Days
Preseason media polls Below are the results of the media poll with total points received next to each school and first-place votes in parentheses. For the 2020 poll, Ohio State was voted as the favorite to win both the East Division and the Big Ten Championship Game. This is the 10th iteration of the preseason media poll conducted by Cleveland.com, which polls at least one credentialed media member for each Big Ten team. Only twice in the last ten years has the media accurately predicted the Big Ten champion. +East 1 Ohio State 237 (33) 2 Penn State 204 (1) 3 Michigan 169 4 Indiana 134 5 Michigan State 94 6 Maryland 76 7 Rutgers 38 +West 1 Wisconsin 221 (19) 2 Minnesota 209.5 (14) 3 Iowa 157 4 Nebraska 117 5 Purdue 105 6 Northwestern 87.5 (1) 7 Illinois 55 Media poll (Big Ten Championship) 1 Ohio State over Wisconsin 19 2 Ohio State over Minnesota 13 3 Ohio State over Northwestern 1 4 Penn State over Minnesota 1
Preseason awards
Preseason All-Big Ten
Rankings
The AP and Coaches Polls ranked Big Ten teams in the preseason, but then removed those teams after the league suspended play.
The Coaches Poll returned to ranking Big Ten teams with the Sept. 20 poll. The AP Poll returned Big Ten teams to the rankings with the Sept. 27 poll.
Pre Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 Final Illinois AP C CFP Not released Indiana AP RV RV RV 17 13 10 9 1210 8 7 7 12C RV RV 19 13 10 10 1211 9 7 8 13 CFP Not released 12 12 12 11 11 Iowa AP 24 RV RV RV RV RV RV 24 19 18 17 16C 23 RV RV RV RV RV RV RV 24 18 17 16 15 CFP Not released 24 19 16 16 15 Maryland AP RVC RV RV RV CFP Not released Michigan AP 15 23 20 19 18 13 23C 15 19 21 19 19 17 14 25 RV CFP Not released Michigan State AP RVC RV CFP Not released Minnesota AP 19 RV 25 2421 RVC 18 22 RV RV 25 21 RV CFP Not released Nebraska APC RV RV RV RV RV RV CFP Not released Northwestern AP RV RV RV 23 19 1116 15 15 15 10C RV RV 23 20 13 17 14 14 13 10 CFP Not released 8 14 14 14 14 Ohio State AP 2 (16) 6 (4) 6 (2) 6 5 3 3 3 (1) 3 (1) 3 3 3 3 3 2C 2 (17) 10 (2) 6 (2) 6 (2) 5 (2) 5 (2) 3 (2) 3 (2) 3 (3) 3 (2) 3 (1) 4 (1) 4 (1) 4 3 2 CFP Not released 4 4 4 4 3 Penn State AP 9 10 9 9 8 18 RVC 7 13 10 8 8 7 17 RV CFP Not released Purdue AP RV RV RV C RV RV RV RV RV CFP Not released Rutgers AP C CFP Not released Wisconsin AP 12 19 16 16 14T 9 10 13 10 1818 25 RVC 12 17 18 14 15 14 11 11 14 12 20 19 25 RV RV RV CFP Not released 16 16
+ 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 formattingBig Ten member wonBig Ten member lostBig Ten teams in bold All times Eastern time.
† denotes Homecoming game
Regular season schedule The Regular season was scheduled to begin on September 3 and end on November 28. The Big Ten Championship Game was scheduled to be held on December 5, 2020.
On July 9, 2020, the Big Ten Conference announced that all non-conference contests in all fall sports, including football, would be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The league then moved to institute a 10-game, conference-only schedule in football, which would include multiple open weeks for teams in order to introduce flexibility into the schedule. On August 5, the Big Ten released the new reconfigured 10-game conference-only schedule. On August 11, 2020, the conference decided to postpone all fall sports and evaluate option to restart competition in spring 2021.
On September 16, 2020, the Big Ten announced that the football season would start on the weekend of October 24. There will be an eight-game regular season taking place over eight weeks. Each team will play all the other teams in its division, plus two crossover games with teams in the other division. Then the league championship game will be played on December 19. Also on the weekend of December 19, there will be crossover divisional games featuring the 2nd place teams from each division facing off, the 3rd places teams meeting each other, etc. The new schedule was released on September 19.
On December 9, the Big Ten waived its rule of requiring teams to play a minimum of six league games to be eligible for the Big Ten Championship Game, allowing Ohio State (5-0) to represent the East Division.Ohio State Will Advance to Big Ten Football Championship Game
Week #1
Week #2
The Wisconsin at Nebraska game was canceled due to a COVID-19 outbreak at Wisconsin.
Week #3
The Purdue at Wisconsin game was canceled due to a COVID-19 outbreak at Wisconsin.
Week #4
The Ohio State at Maryland game was canceled due to a COVID-19 outbreak at Maryland.
Week #5
Michigan State at Maryland was canceled due to COVID-19 cases at Maryland.
Week #6
Ohio State at Illinois was canceled after positive COVID-19 at Ohio State.
Minnesota at Wisconsin was canceled after positive COVID-19 tests at Minnesota.
Week #7
Northwestern at Minnesota was canceled after COVID issues at Minnesota.
Maryland at Michigan was canceled after COVID issues at Michigan.
Week #8
Michigan at Ohio State game was canceled after COVID-19 issues at Michigan.
Purdue at Indiana was canceled by mutual agreement after increased COVID-19 issues at both schools.
Week #9: Big Ten Championship Game and Champions Week games
|colspan="8" style="text-align:center;"|Big Ten Championship Game
|colspan="8" style="text-align:center;"|Champions Week Games
Note: The additional games were originally planned to be cross-divisional matchups of the teams with the same standings – second place vs. second place, third place vs. third place, and so on. The schedule was changed to preserve rivalry games that were canceled during the regular season, and to avoid rematches.
Indiana-Purdue game canceled due to COVID-19 issues at both schools.
Nebraska-Rutgers game adjusted from a 3:00 p.m. to a 6:30 p.m. kickoff time on Friday, December 18 after the cancellation of the Indiana-Purdue game.
Michigan-Iowa game canceled due to COVID-19 issues at Michigan.
Maryland-Michigan State game canceled due to COVID-19 issues at Maryland.
Canceled regular season games The following non-conference games were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic:
Sept. 3 Florida Atlantic at Minnesota
Sept. 4 Illinois State at Illinois
Sept. 5
Bowling Green at Ohio State Kent State at Penn State
Michigan at Washington Monmouth at Rutgers
Northern Iowa at Iowa
Towson at Maryland
Sept. 12
Ball State at Michigan Central Michigan at Nebraska Connecticut at Illinois Iowa State at Iowa
Memphis at Purdue Michigan State at BYU Northern Illinois at Maryland Ohio State at Oregon
Penn State at Virginia Tech Southern Illinois at Wisconsin Syracuse at Rutgers
Tennessee Tech at Minnesota Tulane at Northwestern Western Kentucky at Indiana
Sept. 19
Air Force at Purdue Appalachian State at Wisconsin Arkansas State at Michigan
Ball State at Indiana Bowling Green at Illinois Buffalo at Ohio State
Central Michigan at Northwestern Maryland at West Virginia Rutgers at Temple
San Jose State at Penn State South Dakota State at Nebraska Toledo at Michigan State
Sept. 26
BYU at Minnesota Cincinnati at Nebraska
Indiana at Connecticut Miami (FL) at Michigan State
Northern Illinois at Iowa
Purdue at Boston College
Oct. 3 Wisconsin vs. Notre Dame (at Green Bay, WI)
Nov. 14 Morgan State at Northwestern
Postseason
Bowl games Games below do not include bowl games that Big Ten teams may be selected for in the College Football Playoff semifinals (the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl on January 1, 2021) or potential At-Large bids in New Year's Six Bowls (the Cotton Bowl on December 30, 2020, and Peach Bowl on January 1, 2021).