Big Ten Conference football champions
Yearly Big Ten Conference football champions
[change | change source]| 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
[change | change source]| 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.