The Big Ten unveiled its 2023 football schedule Wednesday, with three league games on the opening weekend—including Nebraska’s new coach facing a road challenge in his debut.
The Cornhuskers open at Minnesota on Sept. 2. Nebraska’s first two games are both on the road, with the second contest a trip to Colorado.
Other league lid-lifters: Ohio State at Indiana and Northwestern at Rutgers. There are no conference games in Week 2 and only one in Week 3—Penn State at Illinois. That will mark the Nittany Lions’ eighth straight season playing their Big Ten opener on the road, something coach James Franklin complained about at conference media day in July. That complaint apparently went unheard by the league office.
Click here to view the full 2023 schedule
The Big Ten will maintain its current divisional structure through the 2023 season, and the nine-game conference format remains in place as well. USC and UCLA join the conference in ’24, which will necessitate structural change.
The likely toughest crossover schedules for 2023 belong to Minnesota and Purdue. The Gophers face Michigan (at home), Michigan State (home) and Ohio State (road), while the Boilermakers take on Ohio State (home), Michigan (road) and Indiana (home) in the annual rivalry game. Among East Division teams, the potential most difficult crossover schedule belongs to Ohio State, which plays Purdue (road), Wisconsin (road) and Minnesota (home).
The conference’s traditional rivalry games will be played in their usual spots at the end of the regular season: Ohio State at Michigan; Wisconsin at Minnesota; Iowa at Nebraska; Indiana at Purdue.
In terms of nonconference play, there are few marquee games. The opening week features no games against Power 5 competition outside of the three conference matchups. Michigan again plays a non-league slate bereft of Power 5 opponents (East Carolina, UNLV, Bowling Green). The most appealing game will be Ohio State at Notre Dame on Sept. 23.
Other Power 5 non-league matchups: West Virginia at Penn State, Illinois at Kansas, Iowa at Iowa State, Nebraska at Colorado, Purdue at Virginia Tech, Wisconsin at Washington State, Indiana vs. Louisville, Virginia at Maryland, Washington at Michigan State and Virginia Tech at Rutgers.
