Stock up, stock down on the Big Ten’s football offseason

This past college football offseason was chaotic. This is nothing new in the current landscape of college athletics. However, some programs handle the ups and downs of the offseason better than others. Today we present to you the Big Ten programs with their stock heading in the right direction as well as those who may be trending badly moving forward.

Stock Up

Oregon Ducks

Oregon lost just twice last season, both times to the same team: the Indiana Hoosiers. Outside of their two matchups with Curt Cignetti and company, Dan Lanning’s team went 13-0 and made it to the CFP Semifinal. The Ducks followed that up with an incredibly successful offseason.

Dante Moore elected not to enter the NFL Draft due to the quality of the teams drafting in the first few slots. They then convinced Dylan Raiola to transfer to Eugene just to be a backup. On top of that, they return 66 percent of their productivity from last year, good for 12th in the country according to ESPN’s Bill Connelly. Oregon is one of the preemptive favorites to win the National Championship in 2026. Not a bad offseason.

Penn State Nittany Lions

Penn State bottomed out last year due to a six-game losing streak that spelled the end of the James Franklin era. For the Nittany Lions, there was nowhere to go but up. Matt Campbell appears to be a solid-if-not-spectacular hire in Happy Valley. On top of that, he was able to bring what felt like his entire Iowa State roster with him, including quarterback Rocco Becht.

Somehow, Penn State has one of the easiest schedules in the Power Four this season. While I don’t think they will be some juggernaut in year one of the Campbell era, there’s a world where they could sneak into the CFP with 10 wins over a bad schedule. That would be a major, major improvement over the disaster that was the 2025 season for Penn State.

Northwestern Wildcats

Northwestern may not win a ton of football games on the field this fall, but they have certainly won the PR battle this offseason. The Wildcats are set to open up the new Ryan Field in early October of this year against Penn State. By all accounts, this is one of the cooler new stadiums built in America.

Notably, the stadium features a standing-only student section in which there are no seats, only standing rails. This is a concept widely seen at soccer stadiums in Europe but rarely utilized in the United States.

Additionally, Northwestern just received a $35 million gift from donors focused specifically on the football program. This type of investment has been unheard of in Evanston. While we may not see the results of this immediately, it’s certainly enough to consider Northwestern to be in the “Stock Up” category.

Stock Down

Washington Huskies

Make no mistake, Washington could be a really good football team this fall. However, their offseason was nothing if not bizarre. Star quarterback Demond Williams Jr. agreed to an NIL deal in early January to remain at Washington for the 2026 season. Just days later, he announced that he would be entering the transfer portal. Washington threatened legal action as he had just signed a binding agreement with the school. Williams’ agent then dropped him amidst the discourse. Eventually, Williams would agree not to transfer and return to Seattle for one more year.

While the Washington coaches and media have insisted that the saga will have no effect on the football field this season, that’s just hard to believe. How would you feel playing with a star quarterback who clearly wants to be playing for another school?

Nebraska Cornhuskers

During his tenure as Nebraska’s head coach, Matt Rhule has consistently preached that he and his staff are mere moments away from turning the corner and making the Cornhuskers competitive. However, this offseason was about as disastrous as it could be. Quarterback Dylan Raiola opted to be a backup in Oregon rather than the prodigal son in Nebraska. Rhule was then unable to pick up any major talent in the transfer portal, opting to settle for UNLV’s Anthony Colandrea at quarterback.

Expect Nebraska to take a step back in 2026 due to a very bad offseason.

Wisconsin Badgers

If you ask the average Wisconsin fan how they feel about the program right now, apathy would be the primary response. Luke Fickell’s tenure has been immensely disappointing and, frankly, it’s a bit surprising he wasn’t fired this past offseason.

Given one more chance to lead the Badgers, Fickell brought in a whopping 33 transfers. Many will play quite a few snaps, but very few appear to be real difference-makers. Additionally, the Badgers lost quite a bit of talent to the portal, including Christian Alliegro (Ohio State) and Joe Brunner (Indiana). With attendance dwindling and confidence waning, Wisconsin needed a big shake-up this offseason. That didn’t appear to happen.