Kirk Herbstreit Has No Doubts When Naming the Two Best Teams in the Big Ten

After three seasons of coming out on top of college football, the Big Ten has a convoluted situation in the 2026 college football season. But ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit has no problem sorting out the top of the conference-- it's everybody else that leaves Herbstreit scratching his head.

Herbstreit Recognizes Big Ten's Big Two

"The Big Ten is wild this year outside of Ohio State and Indiana," said Herbstreit. "I don't want to give up on USC, but you think of the bluebloods of the Big Ten... you think of Michigan and Penn State and again, you would throw USC into that mix and you're just kind of waiting to see."

But Who Comes Next?

Herbstreit on the other hand noted UCLA's No. 12 ranking and unbeaten start and a few other teams, like Iowa and Northwestern.

"This converation keeps shifting for us because we had this last week and now Oregon loses and it just turns into a two-team race and then who's next?" asked Herbstreit.

ESPN's FPI definitely has Indiana and Ohio State above the rest of the league fray, with the two holding an 87.4% and a 76.9% chance of making the College Football Playoff, respectively. From there, UCLA is their third team in the B1G race with a 27.5% chance at making the Playoff. Nebraska and Iowa are the two next suspects, with them claiming a 20.6% and a 20.4% shot at earning a Playoff berth.

Oregon began the season in the top five, but after losing to Oklahoma State and UCLA, the Ducks are outside the top 25 and have just a 9.8% chance at the Playoff. Michigan is limping through a 3-2 season after a loss to Minnesota and Penn State reached the top 15 in the AP poll, but have fallen back to a 3-3 mark. Michigan has an 0.5% chance at reaching the Playoff, and Penn State has no chance at all, at least per FPI's reckoning.

B1G's Stumble and the College Football Playoff

The Big Ten's stumble may well have opened up the Playoff race to a few unexpected spots. Miami seems likely to remain the ACC's lone representative, with Wake Forest a distant second with a 29.8% chance at reaching the Playoff. But Texas Tech, Utah, and BYU all have over 40% chances to reach the Playoff. A second Big 12 team seems like beside three SEC teams, the two Big Ten giants, Miami (or the ACC winner), Notre Dame, and a Power Six team. That leaves two remaining spots to be determined in the season to come, but as Herbstreit notes, the Big Ten isn't exactly laying claim to either of those spots.

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