Big Ten Universities

Big Ten Universities is a Division 1-A college rugby conference founded in summer 2012 by ten of the twelve schools that then made up the Big Ten Conference (which has since expanded to 18 members). The Big Ten Universities was formed to improve rugby among the Big Ten schools by capitalizing on traditional Big Ten rivalries, increasing the number of fans, attracting talented high school rugby players, and playing other regional schools, which would create more competitive matchups with traditional rivals.

Big Ten Universities

Sport	Rugby Union
Founded	2012 (2012)
First season	2012
Commissioner	Tom Rooney
No. of teams	15s: 8 7s: 9
Country	United States
Most recent champions	15s: Ohio State (2024) 7s: Notre Dame (2025)
Most titles	15s: Indiana (7) 7s: Wisconsin (5)
Official website	www.bigtenrugby.com

Prior to 2012, most of these schools had played in the now defunct Division 1-AA Midwest conference (Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin) and the Division 1-AA Mid-Eastern conference (Indiana, Michigan State, Purdue).^[1] Ohio State had played in Division 1-A in the East conference.

Organization of college rugby has been evolving since 2009, with many schools organizing into conferences similar to the traditional NCAA conferences. In November 2010, USA Rugby's college management committee set out a plan for transitioning universities to NCAA-style conferences.^[2] The purpose of the realignment is for college rugby to capitalize on the marketability of major college conference rivalries.^[3]

Members

Institution	Location	Enrollment	Nickname	Colors	Rugby since	Head coach
University of Illinois	Urbana-Champaign, Illinois	41,918[4]	Fighting Illini	Orange & Navy	1963	Kevin Battle
Indiana University	Bloomington, Indiana	42,464[5]	Hoosiers	Cream & Crimson	1962	Eddie Abel
University of Michigan	Ann Arbor, Michigan	37,197[6]	Wolverines	Maize & Blue	1959 (1890)	Christian Mentzer
Michigan State University	East Lansing, Michigan	43,159[7]	Spartans	Green & White	1964	Tim Britain
University of Notre Dame	South Bend, Indiana	12,809[8]	Fighting Irish	Blue & Gold	1961[9]	Justin Hickey
Ohio State University	Columbus, Ohio	66,444 (2017)[10]	Buckeyes	Scarlet & Gray	1966	Ron Bowers
Purdue University	West Lafayette, Indiana	39,637[11]	Boilermakers	Old Gold & Black	1970	Casey Doten
University of Wisconsin	Madison, Wisconsin	42,595[12]	Badgers	Cardinal & White	1962	Kurtis Shepherd

Notes:

• Four Big Ten members do not play rugby in Big Ten Universities:
  • Conference charter members University of Iowa, University of Minnesota, and University of Nebraska compete in the D1AA Heart of America Conference.
    • The University Of Minnesota left the Big 10 in 2021
    • The University of Iowa left the Big 10 in 2019
    • The University of Nebraska left the Big 10 in 2015
  • Conference charter member Northwestern compete in NCR D2.
  • Penn State, a Big Ten member since 1990, plays in the Rugby East conference of Division 1-A. Having competed in the 2011 Big Ten 7s, in 2022 Penn State rejoined the conference as a 7s member.^[13]
  • The two schools that joined the Big Ten in 2014, Maryland and Rutgers, respectively play in the NCR Chesapeake Rugby Conference and the Liberty Rugby Conference.
  • Notre Dame joined as a full member for the 2022 season after taking part in the Spring 2022 Big Ten 7s Championship.^[14]

Results

Season	Champion	Score	Runner Up	East Champ	West Champ	Player of the Year	Top Try Scorer	Top Points Scorer	Ref.
Spring 2013	Wisconsin	30–10	Ohio State	Ohio State	Wisconsin		Martin Gianetti (Illinois) 12	Lewis Shaw (Indiana) 83	[15]
Fall 2013	Indiana*	58–38	Michigan	Indiana	Michigan	Isaac Hall (Indiana)	Isaac Hall (Indiana) 7	J. Heginbottom (Wisconsin) 64	[16]
2014	Wisconsin	34–20	Ohio State	Ohio State	Wisconsin				[17]
2015	Indiana	34–14	Ohio State	Indiana	Wisconsin				[18]
2016	Indiana	72–19	Ohio State	Indiana	Wisconsin				[19][20]
2017	Indiana	38–26	Ohio State						[21]
2018	Wisconsin	20–13	Indiana						[22]
2019	Indiana	34–7	Ohio State			Ben Richards (Ohio State) Case Fleck (Indiana)	Vince Carso (Ohio State) Russell Lemaster (Indiana) 12	Connor Forrestal (Ohio State) 89	[23][24][25]
2020	No competition held due to Covid-19
2021	Ohio State	33–29	Indiana	Ohio State	Indiana	Vince Carso (Ohio State)			[26][27]
2022	Indiana	22–20	Ohio State	Ohio State	Indiana	Peyton Wall (Indiana)			[28][29][30]
2023	Indiana	55–21	Michigan State	Michigan State	Indiana	Peyton Wall (Indiana)			[31][32]
2024	Ohio State	21–17	Notre Dame	Ohio State	Indiana	Maximus Clark (Ohio State)			[33][34]

Regular season

Fall 2012 Team Record Wisconsin (W) 5 — 0 Illinois 4 — 1 Ohio State (E) 3–1–1 Indiana 3 — 2 Michigan 3 — 2 Michigan State 2–2–1 Iowa 2 — 3 Minnesota 2 — 3 Nebraska 0 — 5 Purdue 0 — 5 Notes: Bold means qualified for playoffs (E) and (W) identify division champions Indiana's Fall 2014 Team penalized for eligibility misconduct[35][36]

Fall 2013 Team Record Indiana (E) 6 — 0 Michigan (W) 5 — 1 Wisconsin 5 — 1 Ohio State 3 — 3 Minnesota 3 — 3 Illinois 3 — 3 Michigan State 2 — 4 Iowa 0 — 6 Purdue 0 — 6

2014 Team Record Indiana 6 — 0 Wisconsin (W) 5 — 1 Ohio State (E) 4 — 2 Michigan 4 — 2 Iowa 4 — 2 Minnesota 3 — 3 Michigan State 2 — 4 Illinois 1 — 5 Purdue 1 — 5 Nebraska 0 — 6

2021 Team Record[37] Indiana (W) 6 — 0 Ohio State (E) 5 — 1 Michigan State 4 — 2 Illinois 3 — 3 Michigan 2 — 4 Purdue 1 — 5 Wisconsin 0 — 6

2022 Team Record[38] Indiana (W) 5 — 0 Ohio State (E) 4 — 1 Notre Dame 4 — 1 Illinois 3 — 2 Wisconsin 3 — 2 Michigan State 2 — 3 Michigan 1 — 4 Purdue 0 — 5

2023 Team Record[39] Indiana (W) 4 — 0 Ohio State (E) 3 — 1 Michigan State 2 — 0 Michigan 1 — 4 Illinois 1 — 1 Wisconsin 1 — 1 Purdue 1 — 2 Notre Dame 0 — 3

2024

Team	Record[40]
Notre Dame (E)	3 — 0
Indiana (W)	3 — 0
Ohio State	2 — 1
Wisconsin	2 — 1
Illinois	1 — 2
Michigan State	1 — 1
Michigan	0 — 3
Purdue	0 — 3

Big Ten 7s

The Big Ten schools have formed the Big Ten 7s tournament. The Big Ten tournament features a round of pool play, followed by knockout play. The winner of the Big Ten 7s earns an automatic berth to the USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships and to the Collegiate Rugby Championship.

The inaugural Big Ten tournament was held August 2011, and hosted by Wisconsin.^[41] Wisconsin and Penn State dominated, each winning its respective pool and advancing in knockout play to the finals, where Wisconsin defeated Penn State 21–14.^[41] Wisconsin's victory at the 2011 Big Ten 7s earned it the right to compete for the national championship at the 2011 USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships.^[42]

Year	Location	Champion	Final score	Runner Up	Third	Tournament MVP	Leading Try Scorer	Ref.
Aug 27, 2011	Madison, WI	Wisconsin	21–14	Penn State	Iowa	Ben Knight (Wisconsin)	—	[41]
Nov 10, 2012	Columbus, OH	Wisconsin	33–14	Penn State	Ohio State	Tom Hemmings (Wisconsin)	Blaze Feury (Penn St) John Ryberg (Iowa) 7	[43]
Apr 14, 2013		Wisconsin	—			Tom Hemmings (Wisconsin)
Apr 19, 2014	Columbus, IN	Ohio State	29–12	Iowa		Taylor Young (Iowa)
Apr 18, 2015	Ann Arbor, MI	Indiana		Illinois		Bryce Campbell (Indiana)		[44]
Apr 2–16, 2016	Columbus, OH	Wisconsin	—	Michigan				[45][46]
2017	Columbus, OH	Ohio State		Wisconsin	Michigan			[47][48]
Apr 28, 2018	Madison, WI	Wisconsin	26–5	Ohio State				[49]
2019		Ohio State	31–17	Minnesota
Apr 2–16, 2022	Champaign, IL West Lafayette, IN Ann Arbor, MI	Indiana	—		Notre Dame	Will Chevalier (Indiana)		[50]
Apr 15, 2023	South Bend, IN	Penn State	19–14	Indiana	Notre Dame	Ian Roudybush (Penn State)		[51][52]
Apr 13–14, 2024	South Bend, IN	Penn State	40–0	Michigan	Indiana			[53]
Apr 12–13, 2025	South Bend, IN	Notre Dame	21–12	Oregon				[54]

See also

• College rugby
• Division 1-A Rugby
• Big Ten Conference