Big Ten Football Roundup, Week 1: USC's Attendance Backlash, Michigan's New Pass Rusher, and the Big Ten's QBs
By Owain Jones
Week 0 gave us our first taste of Big Ten football. Now the real fun begins.
Week 1 brings the season opener for most Big Ten programs, but some of the conference’s most interesting conversations extend beyond predictions and the weekend’s slate of games.
USC has spent the week as one of college football’s biggest punchlines after a painfully empty-looking Coliseum greeted its season opener, while Michigan is preparing to unleash one of the offseason’s most intriguing transfers.
Elsewhere, two ambitious rebuilds collide when UCLA travels to Cal, Wisconsin gets an opportunity to show signs of life offensively against one of the best teams in the country, and a fascinating collection of quarterbacks begin seasons that could ultimately determine the Big Ten hierarchy.
Here are the five Big Ten storylines worth digging into ahead of Week 1.
Has the USC Attendance Backlash Gone Too Far?
The Coliseum at kickoff of USC’s season opener with San Jose State pic.twitter.com/4bOhMY487b
— Ryan Kartje (@RyanKartje) August 29, 2026
There is no escaping how bad the Coliseum looked on Saturday.
USC announced an attendance of 51,144 for its 42-26 victory over San José State, already the lowest of Lincoln Riley’s tenure. Yet inside a 77,500-seat stadium, the enormous sections of empty seats made it appear considerably worse. By the eye test, it certainly looked less than half full.
The optics are bad, and unsurprisingly, USC has spent the week as one of college football’s biggest jokes, providing rival fanbases with fresh ammunition for the familiar argument that Los Angeles sports fans are fickle.
But has the reaction gone too far?
This was a noon kickoff in LA against a team USC entered as roughly a 40-point favorite, played in temperatures approaching 100 degrees inside a stadium offering little escape from the sun. Former NFL player Will Blackmon, who attended, described the conditions as “outrageously hot and humid with zero shade.”
None of that makes 51,144 a good crowd. USC’s average attendance was 67,783 last season, and Saturday was its smallest announced attendance since 2018. But it does provide important context before treating one miserable turnout as evidence that Los Angeles suddenly doesn’t care about USC football.
Lincoln Riley called that a “false narrative” this week. He has a point, even if his claim that attendance has increased every year during his tenure is wrong; it fell from 71,571 in 2024 to 67,783 last season.
Friday provides a useful comparison. Fresno State comes to the Coliseum for a much more fan-friendly 6 p.m. local kickoff. If the stands fill up considerably, Saturday will look increasingly like an ugly outlier. If they don’t, USC might have a more uncomfortable attendance conversation on its hands, especially in a season when the Trojans are expected to contend for the Playoff.
Also Read: 2026 Big Ten Football Predictions: Projecting Every Team’s Record
John Henry Daley is Healthy. Now We Find Out What Michigan Has
Michigan knew it was taking one of the nation’s best pass rushers when it added John Henry Daley from Utah.
We ranked Daley as the No. 18 non-quarterback transfer of the offseason after he emerged as one of college football’s most disruptive defenders in 2025, recording 17.5 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks before a ruptured Achilles ended his season.
The injury created an obvious question about how quickly he could make an impact in Ann Arbor. Kyle Whittingham has always sounded confident about Daley’s recovery, and this week gave the clearest indication yet that he is ready.
“He’s 100%,” Whittingham said, confirming Daley is medically cleared to do everything.
If that translates to the field, Michigan will have added a game-changing piece to an already dangerous defensive front. Daley posted a 23% pass-rush win rate last season and is a versatile three-down edge defender Whittingham already knows how to use.
Yet being medically cleared and being the same explosive player who terrorised Big 12 offensive lines are different things. An Achilles injury is particularly significant for a player whose job relies upon burst, bend, and the ability to close on quarterbacks.
That makes Daley one of Michigan’s most fascinating players to watch this weekend. How explosive does he look? And perhaps more revealingly, how many snaps is Michigan willing to give him?
Now we find out whether Michigan has the Utah version of John Henry Daley.
UCLA and Cal's Recruiting Battle Reaches the Field
Saturday isn’t going to decide whether UCLA or Cal wins the recruiting battle for California. But it might give one of them some useful ammunition.
Bob Chesney and Tosh Lupoi have made recruiting their home state a priority since taking over their respective programs, and both have quickly generated momentum. UCLA’s 2027 class climbed into the top 15 nationally during the summer, roughly 50 places higher than its previous class. Lupoi has been even more explicit about Cal’s intentions, declaring that recruiting “all starts at home” as part of his ambition to “own The Bay.”
For local recruits, both are selling an exciting opportunity that allows them to stay home, become a major part of an emerging program, and help build something.
And the two staffs are already in competition.
Four-star safety Myles Baker originally committed to Lupoi at Cal before flipping to Chesney and UCLA in June, providing the clearest example yet of how much their recruiting boards can overlap.
One result won’t determine where a recruit spends the next three or four years. There is far more to a recruitment than that. But showing players that your program is actually heading somewhere certainly helps.
Beat the other emerging California program, look well coached and show tangible progress, and Saturday becomes another piece of evidence Chesney or Lupoi can use on the recruiting trail.
Both have spent the offseason selling what UCLA and Cal could become. This weekend offers the first direct comparison of what they’re actually building. And for the Big Ten, a competitive UCLA would be great for business, adding another credible program capable of strengthening schedules and résumés across the conference.
Wisconsin Doesn't Need to Beat Notre Dame But It Needs to Create Excitement
Expectations could hardly have been lower for Wisconsin’s offense in 2025. But will things change entering Sunday night?
BoyleSports makes the Badgers 20.5-point underdogs against No. 4 Notre Dame, while setting Wisconsin’s team total at just 10.5 points. Given that the Badgers scored fewer than 11 points seven times last season, including consecutive shutouts against Iowa and Ohio State, it’s easy to understand the lack of faith.
But this is also an opportunity to show that something has changed during an offseason that has seen the roster revamped.
Wisconsin averaged just 12.8 points and 253.1 yards per game in 2025. New quarterback Colton Joseph arrives after producing 2,624 passing yards, 1,007 rushing yards, and 34 total touchdowns at Old Dominion, giving the offense a genuine dual-threat dimension it simply didn’t possess last season, which is why we featured him in our Top 10 Transfer Portal QBs for 2026.
That doesn’t mean Joseph immediately fixes everything. The offensive line enters Week 1 with uncertainty, while Notre Dame brings one of the best defenses in the country to Lambeau Field.
No one expects a victory, but Wisconsin needs to show an offensive identity. Sustain drives, create some explosive plays and use Joseph’s legs to make Notre Dame defend something different.
If the Badgers can keep the game competitive and make one of the country’s best defenses uncomfortable, Wisconsin might leave Lambeau with excitement about its offense, something it desperately lacked last season.
A defeat can still provide momentum. It gives supporters a reason to believe things will look different in Week 2 against Western Illinois and, more importantly, when Big Ten play arrives.
Big Ten Quarterbacks Are Ready To Take the Next Step
The Big Ten has some of the nation’s top quarterback talent in 2026. The more interesting question is how that talent will develop.
Nowhere is that more intriguing than Michigan, where Bryce Underwood enters Year 2 with enormous physical ability and considerably greater expectations. Kyle Whittingham says the former five-star is “markedly better” than he was in the spring, particularly in how he operates the offense.
“How he’s operated and how he’s gone through his reads, just how he’s got command of the offense, is way further ahead,” Whittingham said.
That development could transform Michigan. Underwood completed only 60.3% of his passes with 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions as a freshman, but improved processing and decision-making, combined with how new offensive coordinator Jason Beck utilizes his quarterback’s athleticism, could unlock another level.
Julian Sayin and Dante Moore are already established stars chasing the Heisman and a national championship. Demond Williams Jr. needs to turn his dynamic play into greater consistency against the conference’s elite, while Nico Iamaleava must show progression in a new offense at UCLA.
Then there is Josh Hoover at Indiana, faced with replacing Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza and leading the defending national champions.
Even Iowa offers an interesting contrast. We highlighted its quarterback battle in last week’s Big Ten Roundup, and it remains unresolved entering Week 1. While much of the conference asks how good its quarterback can become, the Hawkeyes are still deciding between Hank Brown and Jeremy Hecklinski.
There isn’t one quarterback development story in the Big Ten this season. There are plenty, and how they unfold could go a long way towards determining the conference hierarchy.
Big Ten Football Roundup is published every week throughout the 2026 college football season, breaking down five of the biggest stories shaping the conference.
OWAIN JONES
COLLEGE FOOTBALL & NFL DRAFT ANALYST
OWAIN jones COVERS EVERYTHING college football & NFL DRAFT. COMING WITH PLENTY OF EXPERIENCE, OWAIN was PREVIOUSLY a writer for pfsn, and WAS THE NFL DRAFT EDITOR AT NINETY-NINE YARDS, WHERE HE CREATED DRAFT TALK. YOU CAN FOLLOW HIM ON TWITTER @OwainJonesCFB.
