Indiana's title defense will feature back-to-back matchups with Ohio State and Michigan

ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) — Indiana's national title defense will include back-to-back matchups with the schools that won the championship each of the previous two seasons.

The Big Ten released its 2026 league schedule on Tuesday. Indiana will host Ohio State on Oct. 17 and visit Michigan on Oct. 24.

Michigan won the national title in the 2023 season. Ohio State's 2024 team also won it all.

That Oct. 17 Indiana-Ohio State clash will be a rematch of this season’s Big Ten championship game, which the Hoosiers won 13-10. Indiana then went on to win the College Football Playoff, defeating Miami 27-21 in the final.

There’s another intriguing Big Ten matchup on Oct. 17, as Michigan State coach Pat Fitzgerald faces his former team when the Spartans host Northwestern. Fitzgerald posted a 110-101 record at Northwestern from 2006-22.

The first two conference games of the season are scheduled to take place the week of Sept. 19, when UCLA hosts Purdue and Southern California visits Rutgers. The Big Ten championship game is Dec. 5 at Indianapolis.

Some games that currently are scheduled to take place on Saturdays could end up getting shifted to Fridays or other days, including the Sunday before Labor Day or Black Friday, to accommodate television schedules.

Kickoff times will be announced later.

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