CBS Sports ranks Big Ten Football schedules from hardest to easiest for 2025

A big subject in the offseason was the relative merits of schedules across conferences. The Big Ten plays nine conference games and has pointed to that as evidence the league has a beefier slate than most other leagues.

But how do the individual Big Ten schedules rank? That’s a subject that CBS Sports attempted to tackle recently.

CBS Sports ranked the Big Ten schedules from strongest to weakest, and there’s a pretty clear difference from the top to the bottom. Let’s break down some of the toughest schedules below.

1. Wisconsin Badgers

Any time you’ve got a non-conference road game against Alabama you’re going to have one of the tougher schedules out there. Now throw in road games against Michigan and Oregon, two other playoff hopefuls, and you’re really cooking.

Wisconsin manages to avoid Penn State but still faces Ohio State in addition to those other three juggernauts. The rest of the non-conference schedule (Miami [OH] and MTSU) is manageable, but the Big Ten slate is tough, tough, tough.

2. Purdue Boilermakers

Like Wisconsin, Purdue has a non-conference game on the road against a strong playoff contender, Notre Dame. Big Ten road trips to Michigan and Washington figure to be pretty tough, and a road trip to Minnesota is no gimme either.

The non-conference slate outside of Notre Dame includes Southern Illinois and Ball State. But even the home slate in conference is daunting: USC, Illinois, Rutgers and Indiana.

3. Ohio State Buckeyes

Start off the season against Texas and you’ve got a difficult schedule. Add road games at Michigan, Illinois, Washington and Wisconsin and you’re starting to layer on the difficulty.

Grambling and Ohio make up the rest of the non-conference slate, but Ohio State must also face Penn State at home this season. A four-week stretch from late September to mid-October will see the Buckeyes play at home only once.

4. Rutgers Scarlet Knights

It’s not so much the non-conference slate that really makes this hard on Rutgers this fall. The Knights get Ohio, Miami (OH) and Norfolk State to lead off the season. Some challenging games, but certainly manageable.

But the Big Ten slate will put Rutgers to the test. The team plays back-to-back games against Ohio State and Penn State to close the year. It also faces Oregon. There are a couple of back-to-back road trips on the docket, too.

5. UCLA Bruins

Look no further than the non-conference slate for the reason why UCLA’s schedule ranks this difficult among the Big Ten peers. A season opener against Utah is followed by a road trip to a UNLV squad now coached by Dan Mullen, then a home date with New Mexico. All three of those games could be dogfights.

The conference schedule is also daunting. UCLA goes on the road to Ohio State and USC, as well as Indiana. There’s also a home game against Penn State. UCLA could easily be higher up this list.

6. USC Trojans

The rivalry game against Notre Dame will always keep USC’s schedule among the more challenging ones, and that game comes on the road this season. The rest of the non-conference slate (Missouri State and Georgia Southern) isn’t necessarily anything to write home about.

The other road games on the schedule all range from dangerous to downright difficult. In Big Ten play it’s Oregon, Illinois, Nebraska and Purdue on the road. Then a home date against Michigan adds another likely toss-up game. Lincoln Riley will have his work cut out for him.

7. Oregon Ducks

The non-conference slate for Oregon includes a pair of traditionally power conference teams in Oklahoma State and Oregon State. While Oregon will be favored in both, both are more considerable tests than your run-of-the-mill cupcake non-conference opponent.

Oregon does avoid Ohio State this year, which is a big plus for the Ducks after splitting last year’s games. But a road game at Penn State, a home game against Indiana and a road trip to Iowa will be among the more difficult outs on the Oregon schedule.

8. Michigan State Spartans

Michigan State takes on Boston College in the non-conference slate, albeit at home. The rest of the non-conference shouldn’t be much of a problem — Western Michigan and Youngstown State.

There’s no Ohio State or Oregon on the Big Ten schedule, which is a huge plus for Michigan State and Jonathan Smith. But home games against Michigan and Penn State will be challenging enough, to say nothing of road trips to Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska and USC.

9. Northwestern Wildcats

The season opener will be a real test for Northwestern this fall, taking on a Tulane team that has been quite successful. On the road, no less. Get through that and games against Western Illinois and UL Monroe are more manageable.

The Big Ten slate is stacked, though, and there’s no real reprieve anywhere on the calendar. Home games against Michigan and Oregon are going to be a huge uphill climb, while road games against Penn State, Illinois, USC and Nebraska will also be tough slogs.

10. Nebraska Cornhuskers

Matt Rhule‘s squad starts off with a tricky non-conference game against Cincinnati before what should be relative walks in the park against Akron and Houston Christian. But there’s no ramp-up into conference play. Michigan is up first (at home, fortunately enough).

If Nebraska can manage October well, it could put itself in position to make some noise going into a much more challenging final month. That final month? At home vs. USC, at UCLA and Penn State, then home against Iowa.

Rest of the Big Ten, 11-18

11. Iowa Hawkeyes
12. Michigan Wolverines
13. Illinois Fighting Illini
14. Washington Huskies
15. Minnesota Golden Gophers
16. Penn State Nittany Lions
17. Indiana Hoosiers
18. Maryland Terrapins