3 Big Ten Football sleeper teams for the 2026 season
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After three consecutive national titles, the power balance has shifted in college football. Once the perpetual bridesmaid, the Big Ten has moved into the spotlight as the conference in the sport. Michigan, Ohio State and Indiana have all reached the summit, with a handful of other schools knocking on the door to be next.
Teams such as Oregon, USC and Penn State are established contenders, but what about the next tier? Or maybe even a tier below that in terms of general awareness; the group of teams on the fringes of elite who could push through and play spoiler this year. The sleepers.
Now, defining a sleeper can be tricky. For those of us who avoid social media, it’s a little easier, but for the perpetually online and hyper aware, it’s more difficult to pin down a traditionalsleeper. Last year, no under-the-radar team quite broke through the noise, but Indiana and Illinois from 2024 would both exemplify a modern day sleeper. Both teams began the year unranked, and by the end, the Hoosiers had reached the College Football Playoff in the first year under Curt Cignetti, while the Rib God, Bret Bielema, guided his team to its first 10-win season since 2001.
Looking at the field this year, here are three Big Ten teams who could reach similar heights in 2026.
Iowa
Is Iowa perpetually underrated, overrated or properly rated? Or somehow all three? Excluding 2020 (still a 6-2 shortened season), this is a program that has won between eight and 12 games every year since 2015, and somehow still feels like an afterthought behind the elite teams in the conference. Even last season, the Hawkeyes’ four losses were all by five points or less, and three of them — including against Oregon and Indiana — swung inside the final two minutes, and still felt like they received more publicity for punting the ball than being on the precipice of perfection.
This isn’t the same team as last year and the personnel losses are substantial on both sides of the ball with only six starters returning. However, one of those is All-American candidate Kade Pieper. After starring at guard for the Joe Moore Award-winning unit last, Pieper is kicking inside to center to bolster another strong front five. Also, Kirk Ferentz is back for Year 27, Phil Parker for Year 15, and Tim Lester for Year 3, the latter who elevated Iowa’s offense from Stone Age flaccidity to pleasantly surprising mediocrity. With that stability in place, this program is built to withstand heavy turnover.
Iowa will not be as talented as last year, but it does face a far less daunting schedule. Aside from a three-game stretch of Michigan, Ohio State and Washington, the Hawkeyes should be favored in every other game, save for maybe at Minnesota. As sure as gravity, Iowa will somehow win more games than it should, lose more than it should and find itself a play or two away from double-digit wins.
Minnesota
The Fightin’ Flecks have been a relative model of consistency under their idiosyncratic head coach. Since P.J. Fleck took over in 2017 (how has it been that long?), Minnesota has averaged just under eight wins per season, excluding 2020. Following back-to-back eight-win campaigns, the Gophers and Fleck are poised to break through the nine-win glass ceiling this season.
Minnesota returns the seventh-most production in the FBS and has burgeoning stars on both sides of the ball. Running back Darius Taylor is one of the best in the Big Ten when healthy, and second-year starting quarterback Drake Lindsay could be one of the most improved passers in the country — he threw eight touchdowns and zero interceptions in his final four games. Moreover, helping both Taylor and Lindsay will be a veteran offensive line, which returns three starters from 2025.
On defense, yes, Koi Perich headed west to lose in big games alongside Dan Lanning at Oregon, but this defense is not devoid of talent. The Gophers return defensive end Anthony Smith, who led the Big Ten with 12.5 sacks last year, and cornerback John Nestor, who led the conference with six interceptions. In the middle of the defense, leading tackler Maverick Baranowski returns after a 100-tackle season, giving Minnesota a star at every level. If the Gophers can fill in the gaps around these stars or develop more, this team could find itself in the College Football Playoff hunt in November.
UCLA
I could vamp about the untapped potential of quarterback Nico Iahblahblah or gush about running back transfer Wayne Knight being a dark horse to lead the Big Ten in rushing. But this boils down to one point…I believe in head coach Bob Chesney. In addition to having great hair, Chesney has been a winner everywhere he’s coached, and UCLA will be no different.
In three years with Salve Regina in Rhode Island between 2010-12, Chesney took the Seahawks from six wins in Year 1 to their first nine-win season since 1998. At his next stop, he spent five years in Massachusetts at Assumption and elevated the Greyhounds from six wins to 11 wins each in two of his final three seasons. Continuing his obscure college coaching bingo, Chesney next took over lowly Holy Cross in 2018 and worked nothing short of a miracle for the Crusaders.
Since dropping to the FCS ranks in 1982, Holy Cross has only reached the playoffs six times; four of which came during Chesney’s six-year run, including the school-record 12-win season in 2022. After leading the Crusaders to the promised land, Chesney took on the unenviable challenge of replacing Curt Cignetti — and the entire roster — at James Madison in 2024. After completely rebuilding through the portal, the Dukes won nine games in 2024 and 12 en route to a College Football Playoff berth for an encore last season.
Although he now faces his toughest coaching challenge — beyond getting Semaj Morgan to catch the ball — this type of pedigree always translates; it’s just a matter of time for Chesney to do the same at UCLA.
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