The 2013 Big Ten Conference football season was the 118th season for the Big Ten. The conference began its season on Thursday, August 29, as Minnesota and Indiana began their 2013 season of NCAA Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) competition. Michigan State began their season the following day, and the rest of the conference began their season on September 1.
This was the league's final season as a 12-team conference before Maryland and Rutgers join the Big Ten Conference for the 2014 season. It was also the final season with the "Leaders" and "Legends" divisions; when Maryland and Rutgers join, the conference will reorganize its divisions on a pure geographic basis. The six schools in the Central Time Zone will be joined by Purdue in the new West Division, with the other schools making up the East Division. Under the new setup, the only protected cross-division rivalry game will be Indiana–Purdue.
Michigan State upset undefeated Ohio State to win the Big Ten Championship Game. The B1G put seven teams into bowl games, including two into the BCS with Michigan State going to the Rose Bowl and Ohio State to the Orange Bowl. The B1G went 2-5 in bowl games with the only wins coming from Michigan State in the Rose Bowl and Nebraska in the Gator Bowl.
Rankings
Spring games
April 6
Nebraska
April 12
Illinois
April 13
Indiana
Michigan
Northwestern
Ohio State * at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati
Purdue
April 20
Michigan State
Penn State
Wisconsin
April 27
Iowa
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Schedule
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
Week 14
Big Ten Championship Game
Bowl games
The Big Ten did not have enough teams available to fill the Heart of Dallas Bowl and Little Caesars Pizza Bowl due to landing two teams in the BCS and also a lack of bowl eligible teams.
Records against FBS conferences
2013 records against FBS conferences:
Through January 3, 2014
Players of the Week
Players of the Year
All-Conference Players
Coaches All-Conference Selections
HONORABLE MENTION: Illinois: Jonathan Brown, Steve Hull, Nathan Scheelhaase; Indiana: Ted Bolser, Tevin Coleman, Cody Latimer, Jason Spriggs; Iowa: Austin Blythe, Conor Boffeli, Christian Kirksey, B.J. Lowery, Tanner Miller, Louis Trinca-Pasat; Michigan: Jibreel Black, Michael Schofield; Michigan State: Jack Allen, Fou Fonoti, Dan France, Jeremy Langford, Marcus Rush, Trae Waynes; Minnesota: Caleb Bak, Aaron Hill, Peter Mortell, Eric Murray; Nebraska: Jason Ankrah, Kenny Bell, Corey Cooper, Andrew Rodriguez, Jeremiah Sirles; Northwestern: Ibraheim Campbell, Tyler Scott, Brandon Vitabile; Ohio State: C.J. Barnett, Drew Basil, Joey Bosa, Doran Grant, Marcus Hall, Jeff Heuerman, Cameron Johnston, Devin Smith; Penn State: Adrian Amos, Glenn Carson, Christian Hackenberg, Ty Howle, Jordan Lucas, C.J. Olaniyan, Donovan Smith; Purdue: Ricardo Allen; Wisconsin: Beau Allen, Rob Havenstein, Tyler Marz, Pat Muldoon, Jacob Pedersen, Dezmen Southward.
Coaches selected six players as First Team All-Conference defensive backs and two players as First Team punters which resulted in less second team selections