Big Ten Conference football champions

Yearly Big Ten Conference football champions

Year Champions Notes
1896 Wisconsin Chicago, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin begin conference play
1897 Wisconsin
1898 Michigan
1899 Chicago Indiana and Iowa join conference
1900 Iowa and Minnesota Indiana and Iowa begin conference play
1901 Michigan* and Wisconsin
1902 Michigan*
1903 Michigan, Minnesota and Northwestern
1904 Michigan and Minnesota
1905 Chicago*
1906 Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin Northwestern does not play football during this season
Michigan leaves the conference after this season
1907 Chicago Northwestern does not play football during this season
1908 Chicago
1909 Minnesota
1910 Illinois and Minnesota
1911 Minnesota
1912 Wisconsin Ohio State begins conference play
1913 Chicago
1914 Illinois
1915 Illinois and Minnesota
1916 Ohio State
1917 Ohio State Michigan rejoins conference play
1918 Illinois, Michigan and Purdue
1919 Illinois
1920 Ohio State
1921 Iowa
1922 Chicago, Iowa and Michigan
1923 Illinois* and Michigan
1924 Chicago
1925 Michigan
1926 Michigan and Northwestern
1927 Illinois* and Minnesota
1928 Illinois
1929 Purdue
1930 Michigan and Northwestern
1931 Michigan, Northwestern and Purdue
1932 Michigan* and Purdue
1933 Michigan* and Minnesota
1934 Minnesota*
1935 Minnesota* and Ohio State
1936 Northwestern Minnesota*
1937 Minnesota
1938 Minnesota
1939 Ohio State Chicago's last football season
1940 Minnesota*
1941 Minnesota*
1942 Ohio State* Co-National Champions with Wisconsin
1943 Michigan and Purdue
1944 Ohio State*
1945 Indiana
1946 Illinois Chicago leaves the conference, Ties games count as half wins in standings, Big Ten agrees with the Pacific Coast Conference to have champions meet in the Rose Bowl Game
1947 Michigan*
1948 Michigan*
1949 Michigan and Ohio State
1950 Michigan Michigan State joins
1951 Illinois Michigan State*
1952 Purdue and Wisconsin Michigan State*
1953 Illinois and Michigan State Michigan State begins conference play
1954 Ohio State*
1955 Ohio State
1956 Iowa
1957 Ohio State*
1958 Iowa*
1959 Wisconsin
1960 Iowa and Minnesota*
1961 Ohio State*
1962 Wisconsin
1963 Illinois
1964 Michigan
1965 Michigan State*
1966 Michigan State
1967 Indiana, Minnesota and Purdue
1968 Ohio State*
1969 Michigan and Ohio State
1970 Ohio State
1971 Michigan
1972 Michigan and Ohio State
1973 Michigan and Ohio State
1974 Michigan and Ohio State
1975 Ohio State
1976 Michigan and Ohio State
1977 Michigan and Ohio State
1978 Michigan and Michigan State
1979 Ohio State
1980 Michigan
1981 Iowa and Ohio State
1982 Michigan Penn State*
1983 Illinois
1984 Ohio State
1985 Iowa
1986 Michigan and Ohio State Penn State*
1987 Michigan State
1988 Michigan
1989 Michigan
1990 Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Michigan State Penn State joins
1991 Michigan
1992 Michigan
1993 Ohio State and Wisconsin Penn State begins conference play
1994 Penn State
1995 Northwestern
1996 Northwestern and Ohio State
1997 Michigan*
1998 Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin
1999 Wisconsin
2000 Michigan, Northwestern and Purdue
2001 Illinois
2002 Iowa and Ohio State*
2003 Michigan
2004 Iowa and Michigan
2005 Ohio State and Penn State
2006 Ohio State
2007 Ohio State
2008 Ohio State and Penn State
2009 Ohio State
2010 Ohio State, Michigan State, and Wisconsin Nebraska joins and begins conference play
2013 Michigan State Michigan State** (Rose Bowl vs. Stanford)
2014 Ohio State* Rutgers University and Maryland will/have joined
2015 Michigan State
2016 Penn State
2017 Ohio State
2018 Ohio State Made Ohio State back to back Big Ten Conference Champions.
2019 Ohio State Makes Ohio State the back to back to back Big Ten Conference Champions.
2020 Ohio State Makes Ohio State the back to back to back Big Ten Conference Champions.
2021 Michigan
  • A school name with an asterisk (*) after it means they won a major national championship for that season. National Championships are from the NCAA Division I-A national football championship page. Like that page writes, the posted information is under much debate. See here Archived 2008-03-25 at the Wayback Machine for what minor polls selected as national champions in past years.
  • A school name with two asterisks (**) after means they clinched a BCS Bowl game berth.

Championships by school

School Big Ten
Championships
Last
Big Ten
Championship
Chicago* 7 1924
Illinois 15 2001
Indiana 2 1967
Iowa 11 2004
Michigan 43 2021
Michigan State 7 2015
Minnesota 18 1967
Northwestern 8 2000
Ohio State 39 2020
PennState 4 2016
Purdue 8 2000
Wisconsin 11 1999

* Chicago stopped its football program in 1939 and withdrew from the conference in 1946.