While Big 12, SEC and ACC requires 10 power opponents in 2026, Big Ten has no plans to do the same

Starting next season, the Big 12, SEC and ACC will require their respective schools to play a minimum of 10 power conference opponents. However, the Big Ten has no immediate plans to do the same, sources told On3.

For the past two seasons, Big 12 teams have been required to play a minimum of 10 games against power conference opponents – nine conference games and one non-conference game. The Big 12 will continue to do so next season.

In 2026, the SEC and ACC* will begin requiring their schools to play a minimum of 10 games against power conference opponents – nine league games and one non-conference game.

*It’s mathematically impossible for all 17 ACC teams to play nine ACC games, so 16 will play nine league games and one will play eight, but all ACC schools will play a minimum of 10 power conference opponents.

And then there’s the Big Ten.

The Big Ten will play nine conference games, as it has every season since 2016, but it isn’t requiring its members to play a non-conference power conference opponent.

“It hasn’t been discussed,” one Big Ten source said

Added another source: “There is nothing on the immediate horizon.”

And with nothing on the Big Ten’s immediate horizon regarding playing the same number of power conference opponents as the other three leagues, don’t expect any resolution on the 2026 College Football Playoff format, sources said.

Expect the 2026 playoff to be the same 12-team model as in 2024 and 2025, sources said. The league’s commissioners are meeting today in Chicago.

The perplexing thing about the Big Ten not requiring its league members to play a 10th power conference game is that at this summer’s Big Ten media days in Las Vegas, league officials and coaches literally pounded their chests about playing the toughest conference schedule.

For one reason: the Big Ten played nine league games, while “that other conference” (the SEC) only played eight.

“Everybody has to play the same number of conference games,” Penn State coach James Franklin said in July. “This ain’t that hard. Everybody should be playing eight or everybody should be playing nine.

“(If) everybody plays the same number of (conference) games and a conference championship … everything will take care of itself.”

If that’s the case, why won’t the Big Ten require its league members to play a non-conference power conference opponent? 

This year, six Big Ten teams – Penn State, Indiana, Washington, Rutgers, Northwestern and Maryland – do not play a non-conference power opponent. Next season, five Big Ten teams – Indiana (again), Nebraska, Penn State (again) and Washington (again) – are currently not scheduled to play a non-conference power opponent.

By comparison, independent Notre Dame will play 10 power conference opponents this season and is scheduled to play at least nine in 2026, with one opponent to be announced. 

“We need to standardize the schedule across the board if we want to have objective criteria for who should be in the playoffs and who shouldn’t,” said a Big Ten coach this summer.

That coach was none other than Indiana’s Curt Cignetti, whose Hoosiers played Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State out of conference this season. Next year they face Colorado State, Howard and Western Kentucky.

Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti also boasted about the Big Ten’s nine-game conference schedule this summer.

“Look, at the end of the day, it’s really simple math,” he said. “With 18 schools and nine conferences – we’re losing nine more games to start (compared to the SEC). At the end of the day, I think it’s really relevant.”

If so, then the Big Ten should require an additional non-conference power opponent. Like, the other three power leagues do.