How Big Ten College Football Has Turned Into Must-See Television This Season

CBS, FOX and NBC all banked on Big Ten football driving enough viewership to warrant a combined $7 billion in broadcasting rights. The networks’ ROI may still be determined, but Week 7 underscored that for sheer entertainment value, the Big Ten is surpassing expectations.

Underdog stories, thrillers and feel-good buddy adventures make up just a portion of the must-see B1G lineup on a given Saturday. Here’s what aired in Week 7 on the coast-to-coast conference.

“Unhappy Halley”

College football has no soap opera more packed with jaw-dropping twists than the drama at Penn State. The Nittany Lions are at a crossroads after Week 7 with an injured quarterback and increasingly embattled head coach.

For every marquee game Penn State lost under James Franklin, there was an assurance that came from the program’s consistency. A loss to a top 10-ranked opponent like Oregon, which the Nittany Lions endured on Sept. 27 in overtime, may be predictable but no less of a heartbreaker.

Two weeks later, it looks more like a backbreaker.

An utterly confounding loss on Oct. 4 at previously winless UCLA could realistically have been deemed the nadir of the Franklin era, but lasted only one week. In dropping a third straight, and to struggling Northwestern, the season’s become an unmitigated disaster made all the worse with the loss of quarterback Drew Allar.

From preseason Big Ten favorite and a popular national championship pick to staring down a potential losing season, the future is uncertain for Penn State and Franklin.

“Skipper and Jerry”

A modern-day spin on the classic buddy-action vehicle like Starsky & Hutch, UCLA interim head coach Tim Skipper and offensive coordinator Jerry Neuheisel burst onto the scene in Los Angeles with an understated flashiness.

Skipper left a subtle message for the Bruins after their 42-37 upset of Penn State, as shared by Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times. They answered emphatically no in a 38-13 rout of Michigan State.

With Skipper at the helm and the young, fresh-faced Neuheisel calling an offense that went from moribund to prolific virtually overnight, UCLA is playing its most inspired football in its two seasons of Big Ten membership.

“I don't like boring, so if I don't feel the juice, then we're going to start the day over,” Skipper said following the Week 7 romp. “We haven't had to do that or anything, but energy and passion is how you're supposed to play football. That's the way we're going to practice, that's the way we meet, that's the way we play.”

Not only is Skipper and Jerry the most entertaining midseason replacement in college football, it’s also a feel-good comeback story. Co-star and quarterback Nico Iamaleava has flipped the script on his own narrative with five touchdown passes and eight scores total over the two wins.

“Making Lemonade with Lemon”

If you miss a second of USC football, there’s a possibility you’ll miss wide receiver Makai Lemon doing something incredible.

Lemon’s proven himself the most exciting pass-catcher in the game this season, adding more to his sizzle reel in the Trojans’ 31-13 win over No. 15 Michigan.

First, he walked the tight rope to bring in a key reception as USC was driving late in the second quarter in a 7-7 tie. Then, quarterback Jayden Maiava finished the drive with just 18 seconds before intermission finding Lemon again.

With three white and blue-and-maize-trimmed jerseys nearby, Maiava fired a pass into a tight window. Lemon laid out for the grab, hauling in a pivotal touchdown that ignited a 17-0 run. The win was a huge bounce-back for USC after its final-second loss two weeks prior at Illinois — a game in which Lemon caught two fourth-quarter touchdowns — and also the most significant Trojans victory of their brief time in the Big Ten.

“Hoosier Champion?”

No matter how much college football changes at the impetus of the TV network, fans keep coming back with the promise of seeing something they’d never witnessed before.

And quite literally no one had ever seen an Indiana team beat a top five-ranked opponent on the road before Saturday’s 30-20 defeat of Oregon. Just when you think football can’t possibly do something new…

The Hoosiers reached last season’s College Football Playoff without winning any regular-season games of much consequence. That cannot be said of the 2025 squad, which has now absolutely blasted a then-top 10-ranked opponent in Illinois and came through in the clutch at one of the most hostile environments in the sport, Autzen Stadium.

Fernando Mendoza coming back from a game-tying pick-six to lead the Indiana offense on a pair of crucial, late-game scores is the kind of subplot that just didn’t happen for Hoosiers of the past.

Then again, there’s never been a character quite like Curt Cignetti at the helm.

Cignetti could be described as college football’s Rodney Dangerfield, and not just for the one-liners that have become his trademark in TV interviews. At 64 years old and after a coaching journey through Div. II Indiana (Pa.), FCS program Elon and leading James Madison in its transition to FBS, Cignetti’s reaching his career peak late in the game like Dangerfield.

And, like Dangerfield once famously quipped, Indiana got no respect. That’s the case no longer after Week 7.