The 2015 Big Ten Conference football season was the 120th season of

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

play for the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

and was a part of the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The conference began its season on Thursday, September 3, with

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

and

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

opening their seasons. The remainder of the teams in the conference began their seasons on September 4 and 5. This was the Big Ten's second season with 14 teams. The league was home to the defending national champion and inaugural winner of the

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level ...

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

. The Big Ten also welcomed four new head coaches for the 2015 season. Jim Harbaugh replaced

Brady Hoke Brady Patrick Hoke (; born November 3, 1958) is an American football coach in his second stint as the head coach at San Diego State University. He was previously the head coach at the University of Michigan from 2011 to 2014. Hoke grew up in O ...

as head coach at

, Mike Riley took over for Bo Pelini at

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

Paul Chryst Paul Joseph Chryst (born November 17, 1965) is a former American football head coach and former player. He was most recently the head football coach for the Wisconsin Badgers. Chryst was the head coach at the University of Pittsburgh from 2012 to ...

came in as the head man at

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, replacing

Gary Andersen Gary Lee Andersen (born February 19, 1964) is an American football coach who was most recently head football coach at Utah State University. Andersen has also been the head football coach of Southern Utah (2003), Wisconsin (2013–2014), and Or ...

, and

Bill Cubit William John Cubit (; born October 14, 1953) is an American football coach and former player. Cubit was the head football coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, first on an interim basis in the 2015 season and then promoted t ...

served as the interim head coach at

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

after

Tim Beckman Timothy David Beckman (born January 19, 1965) is a former American football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Toledo from 2009 to 2011 and at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 2012 to 2014, compi ...

was fired just one week before the beginning of the season. There were also two coaching changes made during the middle of the 2015 season. On October 13, Maryland dismissed coach Randy Edsall and named his offensive coordinator Mike Locksley as interim coach for the rest of the season. On October 28, Jerry Kill retired as Minnesota's head coach due to health concerns. His defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys was named as interim coach before being named the permanent replacement on November 11. In preseason polling, Ohio State was unanimously voted to repeat as the Big Ten champion by the media in the Big Ten Preseason poll, receiving all 40 first place votes. The Badgers were favorites to win the Big Ten West Division with 32 votes, followed by Nebraska with five and Minnesota with three. At the conclusion of the regular season, Iowa won the West Division championship with a perfect 12-0 (8-0) record. Michigan State and Ohio State finished tied atop the East Division standings, both at 11-1 (7-1), but Michigan State's head-to-head victory placed the Spartans into the Big Ten Championship Game opposite Iowa. Following the season, Illinois removed the interim tag from Bill Cubit's title and gave him a two-year contract as head coach, while Rutgers has decided to part ways with Kyle Flood. In the Big Ten Championship Game, Michigan State defeated Iowa 16-13 to win their second Big Ten championship in three years. With the win, the Spartans advance to the College Football Playoff. Iowa and Ohio State were both placed into New Year's Six Bowls, going to the Rose and Fiesta Bowls, respectively. A total of 10 Big Ten teams went to bowl games in 2015, including Nebraska and Minnesota, both with 5-7 records.

Rankings

Schedule

In 2015, Penn State will be the only Big Ten team that will not play a non-conference game against a

Power Five conference The Power Five conferences are the five most prominent and highest-earning athletic conferences in college football in the United States. They are part of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of NCAA Division I, the highest level of collegiate ...

team. All times Eastern time. † denotes Homecoming game

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

Big Ten Championship Game

Bowl games

Big Ten bowl games for the 2015 season are: Rankings are from AP Poll. All times Eastern Time Zone.

Records against FBS conferences

2015 records against FBS conferences (through January 2, 2016):

Players of the Week

Players of the Year

2015 Big Ten Player of the Year Awards

All-conference players

2015 Big Ten All-Conference Honors ''Unanimous selections in ALL CAPS'' Coaches Honorable Mention: ILLINOIS: Geronimo Allison, Taylor Barton, V'Angelo Bentley (return specialist), Clayton Fejedelem, Ted Karras, Mason Monheim, T.J. Neal, Austin Schmidt, Dawuane Smoot, Jihad Ward; INDIANA: Simmie Cobbs, Michael Cooper,

Darius Latham Darius Latham (born November 9, 1994) is an American football defensive tackle who is currently a free agent. He played for the Oakland Raiders for two seasons from 2016–2017. He played college football for the Indiana Hoosiers. Early years ...

, Nick Mangieri, Zack Shaw; IOWA: Cole Fisher,

Jaleel Johnson Jaleel Johnson (born July 12, 1994) is an American football defensive end for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Iowa. Johnson was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the fourth round, 109t ...

, Dillon Kidd, Desmond King (return specialist), Ben Niemann, Matt VandeBerg, Sean Welsh; MARYLAND:

Jermaine Carter Jermaine Carter Jr. (born January 14, 1995) is an American football linebacker for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Maryland, where he led the Terrapins with at least 90 tackles per year ...

, Michael Dunn, Quinton Jefferson; MICHIGAN: Kenny Allen, Joe Bolden,

Ben Braden Benjamin Alan Braden (born March 9, 1994) is an American football guard who is a free agent. He played college football at Michigan. Professional career New York Jets Braden signed with the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent on May 7, ...

Mason Cole Mason Cole (born March 28, 1996) is an American football center for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Michigan. He was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the third round of the 2018 NFL ...

Amara Darboh Amara Darboh (born February 1, 1994) is an Sierra Leonean-born American football wide receiver who is a free agent. He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the third round of the 2017 NFL draft. He played college football at Michigan. A native ...

, Graham Glasgow,

Ryan Glasgow Ryan James Glasgow (born September 30, 1993) is a former American football defensive tackle. He played college football at Michigan Wolverines football, Michigan. College career Glasgow played in 45 games at defensive tackle for the Wolverines, ...

, Willie Henry,

Kyle Kalis Kyle Brockton Kalis (born December 21, 1993) is an American football guard and center who is currently a free agent. He was selected as a first-team All-American by ''Sports Illustrated'' and ''Parade'' magazine during his senior year in high sc ...

, Desmond Morgan, Blake O'Neil, Jake Rudock,

De'Veon Smith De'Veon Le'trell Smith (born November 8, 1994) is an American football running back for the Arlington Renegades of the XFL. He played college football at Michigan, and was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Miami Dolphins in 2017. He play ...

, Jarrod Wilson; MICHIGAN STATE: Jon Reschke, R.J. Shelton, Lawrence Thomas; MINNESOTA:

Briean Boddy-Calhoun Briean Boddy-Calhoun (born January 21, 1993) is an American football cornerback who is a free agent. He played college football at Minnesota, and was originally signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars as an undrafted free agent in 2016. He has also p ...

, Shannon Brooks, De'Vondre Campbell, Theiren Cockran, Brandon Lingen, KJ Maye,

Jalen Myrick Jalen Myrick (born February 27, 1995) is a former American football cornerback. He played college football at Minnesota Golden Gophers football, Minnesota, and was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the seventh round of the 2017 NFL Draft. E ...

, Jonah Pirsig, Steven Richardson; NEBRASKA: Drew Brown, Nate Gerry, Andy Janovich,

Joshua Kalu Joshua Elekwachi Kalu (born August 28, 1995) is an American football strong safety for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL). He was signed by the Tennessee Titans as an undrafted free agent in 2018. He played college footba ...

; NORTHWESTERN: Deonte Gibson, Solomon Vault (return specialist); OHIO STATE:

Tyquan Lewis Tyquan Lewis (born January 30, 1995) is an American football defensive end for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Ohio State, and high school football at Tarboro High School. High scho ...

, Jalin Marshall (return specialist), Braxton Miller, Tyvis Powell, Nick Vannett; PENN STATE: Marcus Allen, Jason Cabinda, Trevor Williams; PURDUE: Anthony Brown, Markell Jones, Robert Kugler, Jake Replogle, Frankie Williams; RUTGERS: Leonte Caroo, Steve Longa, Keith Lumpkin; WISCONSIN: T.J. Edwards,

Troy Fumagalli Troy Fumagalli (born February 17, 1995) is an American football tight end who is a free agent. He played college football at Wisconsin. Early years Fumagalli was born with amniotic band constriction, which forced doctors to amputate part of hi ...

, Darius Hillary, Tanner McEvoy. Media Honorable Mention: ILLINOIS: Geronimo Allison, Taylor Barton, V'Angelo Bentley (return specialist), Mason Monheim, T.J. Neal, Austin Schmidt, Dawuane Smoot, Jihad Ward; INDIANA: Simmie Cobbs, Michael Cooper, Nick Mangieri, Marcus Oliver, Mitchell Paige (return specialist); IOWA: Cole Fisher, Jaleel Johnson, Dillon Kidd, Jordan Lomax, Desmond King (return specialist), Marshall Koehn, Matt VandeBerg, Sean Welsh; MARYLAND: Jermaine Carter, Sean Davis, Brandon Ross; MICHIGAN: Joe Bolden, Ben Braden, Jehu Chesson, Mason Cole, Amara Darboh, Graham Glasgow, Ryan Glasgow, Willie Henry, Royce Jenkins-Stone, Jourdan Lewis (return specialist), Desmond Morgan, Blake O'Neil, Jabrill Peppers (return specialist), Jake Rudock, Chris Wormley; MICHIGAN STATE: Donavan Clark, Demetrious Cox, Darien Harris, Joel Heath, Jon Reschke; MINNESOTA: Shannon Brooks, De'Vondre Campbell, Theiren Cockran, Brandon Lingen, Jack Lynn, KJ Maye, Jonah Pirsig, Cody Poock, Steven Richardson, Ryan Santoso; NEBRASKA: Cethan Carter; OHIO STATE: Eli Apple,

Gareon Conley Gareon Conley (born June 29, 1995) is a former American football cornerback. He played college football at Ohio State and was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft. Early years Conley attended Massillon Washing ...

, Tyquan Lewis, Jalin Marshall (wide receiver/return specialist), Braxton Miller, Billy Price, Tyvis Powell, Nick Vannett; PENN STATE: Marcus Allen, Jason Cabinda, Grant Haley,

DaeSean Hamilton DaeSean Kameron Hamilton (born March 10, 1995) is an American football wide receiver who is a free agent. He played college football at Penn State. He was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the 4th round of the 2018 NFL Draft. High school car ...

; PURDUE: Anthony Brown, Markell Jones, Robert Kugler, Jake Replogle, Frankie Williams; RUTGERS: Quentin Gause, Keith Lumpkin, Chris Muller; WISCONSIN: Michael Dieter, Tanner McEvoy, Troy Fumagalli, Chikwe Obasih, Sojourn Shelton.

All-Americans

The 2015 College Football All-America Team is composed of the following

College Football All-American The College Football All-America Team is an honor given annually to the best college football players in the United States at their respective positions. The original use of the term ''All-America'' seems to have been to the 1889 College Football ...

first teams chosen by the following selector organizations:

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

(AP), Football Writers Association of America (FWAA),

American Football Coaches Association The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) is an association of over 11,000 American football coaches and staff on all levels. According to its constitution, some of the main goals of the American Football Coaches Association are to "mainta ...

(AFCA),

Walter Camp Foundation The Walter Camp Football Foundation (WCFF) is one of the organizations whose College Football All-America Team is recognized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The organization also presents various awards. It is named in honor of foo ...

(WCFF), ''

The Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

'' (''TSN''), ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'' (''SI''), ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' (USAT)

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W 5 ...

(CBS), ''

College Football News ''College Football News'' (''CFN'') is a magazine and website published by College Football News, Inc., headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. News coverage includes scores, statistics, rankings, and reports on college football games. Analysis includ ...

'' (''CFN''),

Scout.com Scout Media is an integrated sports publishing company that produces Internet content covering hundreds of professional and college teams across America. The company was founded in 2001 and was acquired by Fox Sports in 2005. In 2013, Fox Sports ...

, and

Yahoo! Sports Yahoo! Sports is a sports news website launched by Yahoo! on December 8, 1997. It receives a majority of its information from STATS, Inc. It employs numerous writers, and has team pages for teams in almost every North American major sport. B ...

(Yahoo!). Currently, the NCAA compiles consensus all-America teams in the sports of Division I-FBS football and Division I men's basketball using a point system computed from All-America teams named by coaches associations or media sources. The system consists of three points for a first-team honor, two points for second-team honor, and one point for third-team honor. Honorable mention and fourth team or lower recognitions are not accorded any points. Football consensus teams are compiled by position and the player accumulating the most points at each position is named first team consensus all-American. Currently, the NCAA recognizes All-Americans selected by the AP, AFCA, FWAA, ''TSN'', and the WCFF to determine Consensus and Unanimous All-Americans. Any player named to the First Team by all five of the NCAA-recognized selectors is deemed a Unanimous All-American. AFCA All-America Team
/small>
USA Today All-America Team
/small>
CBS Sports All-America Team
/small>
Sports Illustrated All-America Team
/small>
Walter Camp Football Foundation All-America Team
/small>
Associated Press All-America Team
/small>
ESPN.com All-America Team
/small>

/small>
Fox Sports All-America Team
/small>
Sporting News All-America Team
/small>
Athlon Sports All-America Team
/small>

/small>

Academic All-Americans

2015 CoSIDA Academic-All Americans

National award winners

Jim Thorpe Award
Desmond King, Iowa Lombardi Award
Carl Nassib, Penn State Lott IMPACT Trophy
Carl Nassib, Penn State Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year
Kirk Ferentz, Iowa NCAA List of National Award Winners
/small>

Attendance

2016 Big Ten NFL Draft Selections

2016 NFL Draft

47 Big Ten athletes were selected in the 2016 NFL Draft. In the explanations below, (PD) indicates trades completed prior to the start of the draft (i.e. Pre-Draft), while (D) denotes trades that took place during the 2016 draft. ;Round one ;Round two ;Round three ;Round four ;Round five ;Round six ;Round seven

Head coaches

, Illinois (interim) *

Kevin R. Wilson Kevin Reece Wilson (born October 23, 1961) is an American football coach and former player who currently serves as the head coach at the University of Tulsa. He will continue to serve as the offensive coordinator at Ohio State Buckeyes football, ...

, Indiana *

Kirk Ferentz Kirk James Ferentz (born August 1, 1955) is an American football coach. He is the current head football coach at the University of Iowa, a position he has held since the 1999 season. From 1990 to 1992, Ferentz was the head football coach at the ...

, Iowa *

Randy Edsall Randy Douglas Edsall (born August 27, 1958) is a retired American football coach, formerly the head football coach at the University of Connecticut from 1999 to 2010 and again from 2017 until his abrupt retirement in 2021. He also served as the h ...

Mike Locksley Michael Anthony Locksley (born December 25, 1969) is an American football coach. Locksley is currently the head coach at the Maryland Terrapins football, University of Maryland. After serving as an assistant coach for several college football ...

(interim)*, Maryland * Jim Harbaugh, Michigan * Mark Dantonio, Michigan State *

Jerry Kill Gerald R. Kill (born August 24, 1961) is an American football coach. He is currently the head coach at New Mexico State University. He played college football at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas from 1979 to 1982. Kill served as the head ...

Tracy Claeys Tracy Lee Claeys (born December 25, 1968) is a former American football coach. Claeys served as the head football coach at University of Minnesota from midway into the 2015 season through the end of the 2016 season. He was an assistant coach under ...

*, Minnesota * Mike Riley, Nebraska *

Pat Fitzgerald Patrick William Fitzgerald Jr. (born December 2, 1974) is the current head coach of the Northwestern University Wildcats football team. He was selected after the unexpected death of Randy Walker and announced at a press conference on July 7, 2 ...

, Northwestern *

Urban Meyer Urban Frank Meyer III (born July 10, 1964) is a college football TV commentator and former American football coach. He spent most of his coaching career at the collegiate level, having served as the head coach of the Bowling Green Falcons fro ...

, Ohio State * James Franklin, Penn State *

Darrell Hazell Darrell Ivan Hazell (born April 14, 1964) is a former American football college and National Football League (NFL) coach. Hazell has been a head coach twice, with Kent State from 2011 to 2012, and Purdue from 2013 to 2016. A native of Cinnam ...

, Purdue *

Kyle Flood Kyle J. Flood (born January 20, 1971) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach for the Texas Longhorns football team. He is also the former head football coach of the Ru ...

, Rutgers *

, Wisconsin ''*Maryland fired Randy Edsall six games into the season. Offensive coordinator Mike Locksley was named interim coach for the remainder of the season'' ''*Jerry Kill stepped down as Minnesota's coach on October 28, 2015 due to health reasons. Defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys was named interim coach for a couple of weeks and then named the permanent replacement on November 11.Tracy Claeys hired on a permanent basis
/ref>''

References

;Source {{2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season navbox