Preview: How many Big Ten teams will make College Football Playoff?

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The Big Ten has set the gold standard in college football over the past three seasons. The Big Ten has won three straight national championships. The conference had a semifinal last season with two teams, Oregon and Indiana. The league had two semifinalists in 2024 with Penn State joining Ohio State. USC fans want to get in on the Big Ten's playoff party this year, but how many Big Ten teams will make this season's CFP?

The floor for the Big Ten would seem to be three teams, with Ohio State, Oregon and Indiana all more likely than not to make the College Football Playoff in 2026. Those teams are deep, seasoned, and all have coaches who have coached in a playoff semifinal before. Two have won the national title. The real question surrounding the Big Ten and the CFP this year is whether the conference can get at least four teams and make a run at putting five in the Big Dance. USC would absolutely love it if the Big Ten got five teams in the playoff, because it's hard to imagine five teams getting in if USC isn't one of them.

Being realistic, though, the likely tally of Big Ten playoff teams this year is four. The top three are probable participants, but it's that fourth spot which is hard to predict. What's going to happen in the SEC? The league got only three teams in the playoff in 2024 but had five in 2025. USC's fate, if the Trojans are in a bubble discussion for one of the final spots (and the Big Ten's fourth in the playoff), might depend on whether the SEC has five teams in the hunt or only three. The ACC and Big 12 having only one team apiece would help a lot. Notre Dame making the playoff would take away one at-large berth.

We come back to this basic point, though: USC plays a ferociously tough Big Ten schedule. A 10-2 record is likely to put USC in. A 9-3 record is likely to leave USC out. That conventional wisdom has not changed. The Trojans better win 10 games, and if they don't, they're simply not in a good position to argue about whatever happens to them.

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This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Preview: How many Big Ten teams will make College Football Playoff?

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