Big Ten Championship Futures: Who Will Win the Big Ten?
Updated September 29, 2026
Updated September 29, 2026
The Big Ten has emerged as the most dominant force in college football in recent years. Teams from the Big Ten have won the last three College Football Playoff national championship games and they will try to make it four in a row this season. But before they can do that, they must first run the gauntlet of the Big Ten season. Here, I break down the Big Ten championship futures market as this league looks to continue to crush the competition in college football.
The Ohio State Buckeyes entered the 2026 college football season as the top-ranked team in college football and as one of the favorites to win the Big Ten title, according to the Polymarket prediction marketplace. They have an elite passing offense, with Julian Sayin throwing to Jeremiah Smith, making them hard to stop on offense on a consistent basis.
Ohio State also has one of the top defenses in college football year in and year out and they will be a national title contender barring a total catastrophe this year. The question in this market will be whether or not the Buckeyes can avoid losses to teams like Oregon and Michigan that could keep them out of the Big Ten championship game. Ohio State has rebounded nicely from its early non-conference loss to Texas, but will have to be better in future big games.
Oregon lost just one game during the regular season last year and that was enough to keep them out of the Big Ten title game. That speaks to just how good the Big Ten is as a conference and how slim the margin for error is for the teams trying to win this league.
This year, Oregon will try to put together a flawless Big Ten campaign to give themselves a shot at the conference title. But this season has not gone according to plan early on. The Ducks struggled in non-conference play, including an upset loss to Oklahoma State. And with Dante Moore suffering a concussion against USC, there will be skeptics about Oregon's ability to challenge for the Big Ten crown.
Last season, the Indiana Hoosiers destroyed their competition en route to finishing on top of the college football national championship futures markets. Head coach Curt Cignetti and quarterback Fernando Mendoza led IU to their first CFP title and the Hoosiers are expected to contend for the national title again this year.
With Mendoza going first in the last NFL Draft, the Hoosiers have turned to former TCU quarterback Josh Hoover to lead their offense. Hoover has had a productive last three seasons with the Horned Frogs, throwing for over 9,000 yards. But moving from the Big 12 to the Big Ten is a big test for any quarterback and it will be interesting to see how Hoover handles that challenge.
So far, Hoover and the Hoosiers are off to an unbeaten start. But a close game against Northwestern has made it clear that this team has some improving to do if they want to be a national championship threat again in 2026.
The Big Ten is a deep conference in football, as there are several other teams that could contend for a conference title in 2026. Michigan is one of those teams, as they have made a habit of completely stifling their competition with their defense in recent years. While the early portion of the season has been ugly for the Wolverines, Michigan is still a couple of upset wins away from a conference title game appearance of their own.
Teams like Iowa and Wisconsin pulled some upsets early in conference play, with the Badgers taking down Penn State and the Hawkeyes defeating Michigan. But traders are not expecting those results to be sustainable and their pricing still implies that expectations aren't high.
For now, we will take the Indiana Hoosiers to win the Big Ten title. While their offense has taken a step back without Mendoza leading them this year, Cignetti has proven that he is one of the brightest minds in college football today. He should keep Indiana in the national title picture, and they certainly have a good shot at repeating in the Big Ten.
