During its 15 years, the Big Ten Championship Game has never had a meeting of the No. 1 and No. 2-ranked teams in the country. That all changes on Saturday night, when No. 1 Ohio State takes on No. 2 Indiana at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. It's a historic matchup.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — We'll be witnessing history on Saturday when No. 1-ranked and unbeaten Ohio State takes No. 2 and unbeaten Indiana in the Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis. It's the first time in the 15 years of the game that we've had a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup.
It's only happened twice EVER in any conference. In 2008 and 2009, Alabama and Florida were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 both season. In what might be a good sign for Indiana this week, the No. 3 ranked won both games, Florida in 2008 and Alabama in 2009.
Ohio State is just the third team to be ranked No. 1 heading into the conference title game. The 2019 Buckeyes were ranked No. 1, and Oregon was ranked No. 1 last year. The Ducks beat No. 3 Penn State a year ago in the highest ranked matchup in Big Ten history.
Ohio State has won five title games, the most ever. Michigan is next with three. This is Ohio State's seventh championship game, and Wisconsin is next with six.
The matchups were set in different ways since the game started in 2011. For three years, there were Legends and Leaders divisions to weren't set by geography. That changed to an East Division vs. West Division se-up in 2014. That went on for 10 years, and the East won every game. Last year, the league went with no divisions, and the top-two teams in the 18-league game made it to the championship.
This is also the first time the game has featured two undefeated teams. Both are 12-0 overall and 9-0 in the league. This is Indiana's first trip to the big game. They are the 11th Big Ten team to qualify for the game. Rutgers, Maryland, Minnesota, Illinois, USC, UCLA and Washington never have played in the game.
The game starts at 8 p.m. ET at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The game will be televised on CBS.
Here are all the results through the years, with Associated Press poll rankings:
Legends champion vs. Leaders champions
2011 — No. 15 Wisconsin Badgers 42, No. 11 Michigan State Spartans 39
2012 — Wisconsin Badgers 70, No. 14 Nebraska Cornhuskers 31
2013 — No. 10 Michigan State Spartans 34, No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes 24
East champion vs. West champion
2014 — No. 5 Ohio State Buckeyes 59, No. 13 Wisconsin Badgers 0
2015 — No. 5 Michigan State Spartans 16, No. 4 Iowa Hawkeyes 13
2016 — No. 7 Penn State Nittany Lions 38, No. 6 Wisconsin Badgers 31
2017 — No. 8 Ohio State Buckeyes 27, No. 4 Wisconsin Badgers 21
2018 — No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes 45, No. 21 Northwestern Wildcats 24
2019 — No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes 34, No. 8 Wisconsin Badgers 21
2020 — No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes 22, No. 14 Northwestern Wildcats 10
2021 — No. 2 Michigan Wolverines 42, No. 13 Iowa Hawkeyes 3
2022 — No. 2 Michigan Wolverines 43, Purdue Boilermakers 22
2023 — No. 2 Michigan Wolverines 26, No. 16 Iowa Hawkeyes 0
No. 1 and No. 2 teams in Big Ten regular season
2024 — No. 1 Oregon Ducks 45, No. 3 Penn State Nittany Lions 37
MOST BIG TEN TITLES: Ohio State (5), Michigan (3), Wisconsin (2), Michigan State (2), Penn State (1), Oregon (1).
MOST TITLE GAME APPEARANCES: Ohio State (7), Wisconsin (6), Michigan (3), Michigan State (3), Iowa (3), Penn State (2), Northwestern (2), Nebraska (1), Oregon (1), Indiana (1), Purdue (1).