The 2015 Big Ten Conference football season was the 120th season of college football play for the Big Ten Conference and was a part of the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The conference began its season on Thursday, September 3, with Michigan and Minnesota 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 in Ohio State.
The Big Ten also welcomed four new head coaches for the 2015 season. Jim Harbaugh replaced Brady Hoke as head coach at Michigan, Mike Riley took over for Bo Pelini at Nebraska, Paul Chryst came in as the head man at Wisconsin, replacing Gary Andersen, and Bill Cubit served as the interim head coach at Illinois after Tim Beckman was fired just one week before the beginning of the season.[2] 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.[3] 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.[4][5]
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.[6] The Badgers were favorites to win the Big Ten West Division with 32 votes, followed by Nebraska with five and Minnesota with three.[7]
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,[8] while Rutgers has decided to part ways with Kyle Flood.[9]
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.
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.[26]
Position
Player
School
Selector
Unanimous
Consensus
First Team All-Americans
TE
Jake Butt
Michigan
CBS, SI
OL
Jack Allen
Michigan State
AP, CBS, SI, FOX
OL
Jack Conklin
Michigan State
TSN, USA Today, CBS, Athlon
OL
Taylor Decker
Ohio State
AFCA, AP, WCFF, CBS, SI, FOX
*
OL
Dan Feeney
Indiana
ESPN
OL
Jason Spriggs
Indiana
FWAA, Phil Steele
OL
Jordan Walsh
Iowa
FOX
DL
Joey Bosa
Ohio State
AFCA, WCFF, USA Today, CBS, SI, ESPN, Athlon, Phil Steele
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.
↑ No. 43: multiple trades: No. 43: Philadelphia → Los Angeles (PD).Philadelphia traded its second-round selection in this year's draft, a 2015 fourth-round selection and quarterback Nick Foles to Los Angeles in exchange for Los Angeles's 2015 fifth-round selection and quarterback Sam Bradford. The trade also included a possible conditional fourth-round selection in this year's draft that Philadelphia would have received if Bradford took less than 50 percent of the snaps in 2015. Bradford took the majority of snaps for Philadelphia in 2015, so the fourth-round pick was returned to Los Angeles.[source 4] No. 43: Los Angeles → Tennessee (PD). see No. 1: Tennessee → Los Angeles.[source 5]
↑ No. 48: Indianapolis → Green Bay (D).Indianapolis traded its second-round selection (48th) to Green Bay in exchange for Green Bay's second-, fourth- and seventh-round selections (57th, 125th, and 248th).[source 6]
↑ No. 86: Minnesota → Miami (D).Minnesota traded this selection to Miami in exchange for Miami's sixth-round selection (186th) and Miami's third- and fourth-round selections in 2017.[source 9]
↑ No. 187: New Orleans → Washington (PD).New Orleans traded this selection along with its sixth-round selection in the 2015 NFL draft (187th) to Washington in exchange for Washington's fifth-round selection.[source 3]
*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.[31][32]
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