The Ohio State Buckeyes, and two opponents on their 2026 College Football schedule, the defending champion Indiana Hoosiers and the Oregon Ducks, are the three Big Ten teams capable of running the table this fall.
That's what Bleacher Report's Brad Shepard believes, anyway. Shepard made the case for 10 teams across the Power 4 landscape, including the Georgia Bulldogs, LSU Tigers, Miami Hurricanes, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Texas Longhorns, Texas Tech Red Raiders, and Utah Utes.
While acknowledging Ohio State's slate will be among the toughest in the country, Shepard made the claim that the talent, led by returning Heisman candidate quarterback Julian Sayin, and the most talented player in the game, WR1 Jeremiah Smith, could carry the Buckeyes to glory.
"At Texas on September 12 will be an early-season litmus test, and showdowns at Iowa, Indiana, USC, and home games against Oregon and Michigan give the Buckeyes arguably the nation's toughest schedule on paper," Shepard prefaced before saying, "Still, you can't do this list without the Buckeyes. Heisman Trophy finalist Julian Sayin returns under center, and the best player in the nation – receiver Jeremiah Smith – is back, too. Weapons all over the field on both sides of the ball make Ryan Day's squad a contender every year. OSU is just a year removed from a title, and it has the horses to do it again."
On Indiana, Shepard said, "There are great players on offense and defense. Cignetti is going to get them all to play together and gel. But going undefeated again? That's a tall task, especially with regular-season games against Ohio State, Michigan, USC, and Washington. The best news, though, is that the toughies are on the back-end of the schedule. Watch out. By then, IU will be a cohesive unit."
And finally, on Oregon, Shepard said, "There are a lot of people out there wondering, with all the talent he's stockpiled, just when coach Dan Lanning is going to break through at Oregon. The answer may very well be 2026. The Ducks were dealt a major curveball when they had to replace both coordinators after they left to be head coaches (defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi to Cal and offensive coordinator Will Stein to Kentucky), but this group of players has explosive potential."
Ohio State, Indiana, and Oregon all have something to prove
In their own unique ways, OSU, IU, and UO each have something to prove to the College Football world in 2026.
Obviously, the Hoosiers have to prove they're not a one-hit wonder. Winning it all is fine and dandy, but no sport sees more short-term amnesia than CFB. If Indiana seriously regresses, now all of a sudden, Curt Cignetti's contract is an albatross.
The Ducks have to make sure they win it all before NIKE founder Phil Knight's NIL donations are a thing of the past. It's unclear if Oregon will have the same organizational support when Knight is gone, so there's urgency to end one of the sport's most egregious championship-less runs.
Finally, Ryan Day must prove that Chip Kelly was the real brains behind his lone title. Winning it with Arthur Smith would be a massive feather in his cap, and seeing the Ohio State machine churn out another great defense after so many losses to the first round of the NFL draft would prove this thing is sustainable over the long haul.
We'll see if the B1G has a four-peat in it. If the conference has another championship winner waiting in the wings, it's probably one of these three teams.