Big Ten Reveals Future Schedule, Unveils UCLA Football's Opponents
With their conference transition now just a year away, the Bruins have the roadmap to their first two seasons in their new stomping grounds.
The Big Ten revealed the conference pairings for the 2024 and 2025 college football seasons on Thursday, including some policies for future scheduling. There will not be divisions for the 16-school conference once UCLA and USC arrive, but there will be a structure to how opponents are picked year-to-year.
Teams will play every conference opponent at least twice in a four-year span – once at home, once on the road – while certain rivalries will be protected. UCLA, for instance, will continue to play USC every season.
The Big Ten Administrators Council has officially approved the 2024 and 2025 schedules, including which matchups will take place at home and which will be away games.
In 2024, UCLA will host Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State and USC. The Bruins will make road trips to Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Rutgers that fall as well.
As for 2025, UCLA will face Maryland, Purdue, Rutgers and Wisconsin at home, compared to its road showdowns with Illinois, Michigan State, Nebraska, Penn State and USC.
Besides USC, the only conference foes that UCLA will face in each of its first two seasons in the Big Ten are Nebraska and Rutgers. The Bruins will have faced every Big Ten team by the end of its second season in the conference, though.
The order of those matchups has yet to be determined, as the game dates for the 2024 matchups will be announced later this year, according to the conference's press release.
UCLA will open up its 2024 campaign with nonconference matchups at Hawaii, versus Fresno State and at LSU, before arriving at its inaugural Big Ten season. In 2025, the Bruins will kick things off by hosting Georgia, then face UNLV on the road and play New Mexico at home.
The 2024 and 2025 seasons will be critical for UCLA as the program attempts to establish itself in the Big Ten, a challenge that will be heightened even more considering coach Chip Kelly's contract situation.
Kelly earned an extension for the second offseason in a row this past winter, thanks in large part to his 17-8 record over the last two seasons.
However, Kelly's current $8.5 million buyout drops to just $4.27 million if the school fires him before December 2024 – the end of his first regular season in the Big Ten. Kelly's buyout drops to zero in December 2025, per the Los Angeles Times.
With a 2024 slate that includes LSU, Ohio State, Michigan, USC, Nebraska and Iowa, the stakes will be high for Kelly and the Bruins to succeed right away.
Here is a complete picture of UCLA's 2024 and 2025 schedules:
2024
at Hawaii
vs. Fresno State
at LSU
at Indiana
at Iowa
at Michigan
vs. Minnesota
vs. Nebraska
vs. Northwestern
vs. Ohio State
at Rutgers
vs. USC
2025
vs. Georgia
at UNLV
vs. New Mexico
at Illinois
vs. Maryland
at Michigan State
at Nebraska
at Penn State
vs. Purdue
vs. Rutgers
at USC
vs. Wisconsin
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