Loaded Big Ten schedule includes an Ohio State-Indiana matchup of the last two national champions

Things to watch this weekend in the Big Ten:

Game of the week

No. 4 Ohio State (5-1, 3-0 Big Ten) at No. 5 Indiana (6-0, 3-0), Saturday, noon ET (Fox)

The first matchup ever between top-five teams at Indiana’s Memorial Stadium features the winners of the last two national championships. Defending national champion Indiana rallied from a 17-6, fourth-quarter deficit to win 20-17 at Nebraska last week.

This is a rematch of last year’s Big Ten championship game that Indiana won 13-10, snapping a 30-game skid in the series. Indiana has won its last 22 games, the longest such streak for any Bowl Subdivision team since Georgia won 29 straight from 2021-23.

Ohio State is a 3 ½-point favorite. The Buckeyes have beaten their last four opponents by an average of 31.3 points since losing 24-23 at then-No. 4 Texas.

The undercard

Wisconsin (4-1, 2-0) at No. 12 UCLA (5-0, 3-0), Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET (NBC)

UCLA tries to remain unbeaten in its first full game since losing quarterback Nico Iamaleava to a knee injury. The Bruins will face a stout defense from the Badgers, who have won four straight games since the season-opening loss to Notre Dame.

No. 25 Northwestern (4-1, 1-1) at Michigan State (2-4, 0-3), Saturday, noon ET (Peacock)

Michigan State coach Pat Fitzgerald returns to his alma mater. Fitzgerald coached Northwestern to a 110-101 record from 2006-22 before a bitter exit. This also marks a homecoming of sorts for former Michigan State quarterback Aidan Chiles, who has thrown nine touchdown passes without an interception at Northwestern this season.

Impact players

— UCLA RB Wayne Knight is the first Bruin to have at least one rushing touchdown in each of a season’s first five games since Maurice Jones-Drew in 2005. Knight ran for 103 yards and a touchdown against Oregon.

— Purdue RB Fame Ijeboi, who transferred from Minnesota, rushed for 195 yards and three touchdowns in the Boilermakers’ 41-13 blowout of his former team. According to Pro Football Focus, Ijeboi has forced 43 missed tackles to lead all FBS players.

— Indiana DL Tobi Osunsanmi has recorded a sack in five straight games.

— Penn State LB Tony Rojas is one of only nine Big Ten linebackers since 1956 to combine at least 22 career tackles for loss and six interceptions.

Inside the numbers

Indiana hasn’t posted a negative turnover margin in 30 straight games, the longest such streak for any FBS team since at least 1995. … The crowd of 114,419 for No. 19 Southern California’s 31-23 victory at Penn State was the fourth-largest attendance for any college football regular-season game in history. … Northwestern is in the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2020. … Ohio State enters Saturday’s game at Indiana owning a 29-4 road record since Ryan Day’s coaching tenure began in 2019. That matches Louisiana-Lafayette and Boise State for the highest total of road wins during that stretch. … No. 17 Iowa allowed limited Washington to minus-3 yards rushing in the Hawkeyes’ 41-24 triumph last week. It was the second time in coach Kirk Ferentz’s 28-year tenure that Iowa held an opponent to negative rushing yards. Kent State had minus-13 yards rushing in a 39-7 loss to Iowa in 2004.

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