Big Ten announces 2024, 2025 football schedules as USC, UCLA join conference

ROSEMONT, Ill. (WIFR) - With USC and UCLA set to join the Big Ten in 2024, the conference announced conference opponents for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.

Starting in 2024, the Big Ten will eliminate the current east-west divisions and will have the top two teams face each other in the conference championship.

The conference also announced “protected opponents” which are rivalry games that will be played every year, schools can have up to three protected opponents. For those that don’t have three protected opponents, they will instead have “two-play opponents”. Two-play matchups will have schools face off in a home-and-away series for 2024 and 2025 and will be swapped every two years.

The protected rivalries are:

Illinois-Northwestern

Illinois-Purdue

Indiana-Purdue

Wisconsin-Iowa

Wisconsin-Minnesota

Iowa-Minnesota

Iowa-Nebraska

Maryland-Rutgers

Michigan-Michigan State

Michigan-Ohio State

USC-UCLA

*-two-play opponents

Illinois 2024 B1G opponents, Home: Iowa, Maryland, Purdue, Michigan

Away: Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State*, Rutgers, USC

Illinois 2025, Home: Indiana, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State*, UCLA

Away: Nebraska, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin

Wisconsin 2024 B1G opponents, Home: Indiana, Minnesota, Penn State, Purdue

Away: Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, *USC

Wisconsin 2025, Home: Illinois, Iowa, Michigan State, Ohio State, *USC

Away: Minnesota, Northwestern, Rutgers, UCLA

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