This Illinois-Indiana matchup features more intrigue than most of their previous meetings

By Canadian Press on September 18, 2025.

Things to watch this week in the Big Ten:

Game of the week

No. 9 Illinois (3-0) at No. 19 Indiana (3-0), Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET (NBC)

Although this will be the 75th matchup between these two border rivals, it’s only the second time both teams were in the Top 25 at the time they faced off. The other instance came in 1950, when No. 12 Illinois beat No. 19 Indiana 20-0.

Illinois has won seven straight games to match defending national champion Ohio State and Memphis for the longest active winning streaks of any Bowl Subdivision team.

BetMGM Sportsbook has Indiana as a 5 1/2-point favorite.

The undercard

No. 21 Michigan (2-1) at Nebraska (3-0), Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET (CBS)

Nebraska seeks to beat a Top 25 team for the first time in nine years when it puts its unbeaten record at stake against Michigan. The Cornhuskers have lost 27 straight games against Top 25 teams since beating No. 22 Oregon 35-32 on Sept. 17, 2016.

BetMGM has Michigan as a 2 1/2-point favorite.

Impact players

— UCLA LB Isaiah Chisom has 37 tackles, tying him for the most of any Bowl Subdivision player.

— Indiana WR Omar Cooper had 10 catches for 207 yards and four touchdowns in a 73-0 blowout of Indiana State.

— Michigan RB Justice Haynes is averaging 7.9 yards per carry and has rushed for over 100 yards in each of the first three games. His 388 yards rushing this season rank him fifth among all Bowl Subdivision players.

— Oregon LB Jerry Mixon had a 36-yard interception return to set up a touchdown in the sixth-ranked Ducks’ 34-14 victory at Northwestern. Mixon has picked off a pass in back-to-back games.

— Iowa WR Kaden Wetjen tied a Big Ten record by scoring on a 95-yard punt return in a 47-7 rout of UMass. The other 95-yard punt returns in Big Ten history came rom Michigan State’s Al Brenner in 1966 and Iowa’s Bill Happel in 1984. Wetjen had 216 total return yards (182 on punts and 34 on kickoffs).

Inside the numbers

Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz earned his 206th career win with the Hawkeyes on Saturday, enabling him to set the Big Ten record for coaching victories. Woody Hayes won 205 games with Ohio State from 1951-78. … Jamaal Jarrett’s 70-yard interception return in a 33-17 victory over Purdue made the 6-foot-45, 360-pound defensive tackle the largest Southern California player ever to score a touchdown. … The Big Ten has five of the top nine scoring offenses and five of the top seven scoring defenses. No. 25 USC ranks second nationally in scoring with 55 points per game. Oregon and Washington are tied for third with 54 points per game. Indiana (52.0) is seventh and Nebraska (49.0) is ninth. No. 1 Ohio State is allowing 5.3 points per game to rank second in scoring defense. No. 2 Penn State (5.7) is third. Illinois (7.3) ranks fifth, Indiana (7.7) is sixth and Nebraska (8.0) is seventh. … Rutgers already has blocked three punts this season. That’s the highest total for any FBS team.

Get to know him

Tim Skipper is UCLA’s interim head coach following the firing of DeShaun Foster. Skipper, who had been a special assistant on Foster’s staff, takes over a winless team that’s coming off a lopsided loss to New Mexico. This isn’t Skipper’s first stint as an interim head coach. When health concerns caused Jeff Tedford to step down as Fresno State’s coach in the summer of 2024, Skipper took over and went 6-7. Skipper announced Wednesday that UCLA has parted ways with defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe.

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Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

Steve Megargee, The Associated Press

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