The Big Ten is prepping for one last go at the bowl season before the entire landscape of the college football world transforms in 2024. And the Big Ten will have one last chance to see one of its own crowned as a national champion. Michigan received the no. 1 ranking in the College Football Playoff and was rewarded with a trip to the Rose Bowl to face SEC champion Alabama in the College Football Playoff semifinal. Of course, the Big Ten will be well-represented throughout the bowl season this year in addition to the Wolverines (and future Big Ten member Washington) getting a national championship opportunity.
Five of the Big Ten’s 14 members will not be participating in a postseason bowl game this year. They are listed below and include Nebraska, who saw its once unthinkable bowl drought extended for a seventh straight season. Other teams not going to a bowl game include Indiana and Michigan State, who have just undergone a coaching change with higher hopes for success in 2024. It also includes Illinois and Purdue, two teams who did go to a bowl game last season.
While Minnesota only won five games this season, the Gophers have been given an NCAA exemption to play in a bowl game that is unable to fill its spot due to a lack of bowl-eligible teams around the country. Minnesota joins James Madison and Jacksonville State in receiving a pass from the NCAA to play in the bowl season, although James Madison and Jacksonville State needed the exemption due to being in a transition phase from the FCS to the FBS.
INELIGIBLE
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Michigan State
- Nebraska
- Purdue
Below is a look at each Big Ten team that will be playing in the bowl season, each school’s 2023 regular season record, and each school’s all-time bowl record.