Big Ten football media days preview: The war for four (natties, that is) is on

The sweet, sultry stench of football is in the city air.

Yes, the Bears are beginning training camp practices up at Halas Hall, and we’ll have every move of that covered.

But starting Tuesday at the Hilton in the South Loop, Big Ten coaches and select players will huddle with college football media for three days of the superpower conference’s annual kickoff event. For nearly 50 years, the event was held here. Now, for the first time since 2019 — after stops in Indianapolis and, last year, Las Vegas — it’s back.

These are heady times for the Big Ten, which has won the last three national championships. Here are 10 topics sure to play big this week and beyond:

1. The war for four

Michigan, Ohio State and Indiana have claimed the last three natties, making a beyond-reasonable-doubt case that the Big Ten has surpassed the SEC as the best league in the land. A fourth straight title would be a massive statement, not that it would stop SEC apologists from twisting themselves into rhetorical pretzels.

Ohio State has the shortest odds of any team to win it all and could be ranked No. 1 when the first polls come out. Indiana will have its highest preseason ranking ever. Could a fourth different Big Ten team rise up and make it four straight? Oregon has that kind of buzz, deservedly. Also lurking is Penn State, which has an ideal schedule — no OSU, Indiana or Oregon on it — and key transfers from Iowa State who left for Happy Valley along with new Nittany Lions coach Matt Campbell.

2. The Big Cig

Indiana’s Curt Cignetti is 65 years old and only two full seasons removed from James Madison, yet his 27-2 record with the Hoosiers — along with his prodigious swagger — has made him the biggest celebrity coach in the college game. No one delivers money quotes like Cignetti, who, coming off a 16-0 season, signed the No. 1-ranked portal class. His aura will dissipate with the Hoosiers’ next also-ran season, whenever that is, but we’re not there yet.

3. New coaches

Campbell will draw crowds in Chicago, and Michigan’s Kyle Whittingham — who was regarded over two-plus decades at Utah as one of the best in the business — will draw even bigger ones. They, along with UCLA’s Bob Chesney, have important things to prove in their new posts.

Eyes and ears will be locked in differently, meanwhile, on Michigan State’s Pat Fitzgerald — “Go, Spartans!” — who will look strange in green to everyone who saw him for so many years in Northwestern purple. Fitzgerald was a star and media favorite at his alma mater, where it once seemed he had a job for life, but now he’s in as sink-or-swim a situation as the next guy. It’s already fascinating.

4. Coaches on the hot seat

No one — anywhere — is sweating more than Wisconsin’s Luke Fickell, whose Badgers teams are a brutal 10-17 in Big Ten games. Maryland’s Mike Locksley, Nebraska’s Matt Ruhle and USC’s Lincoln Riley are under serious pressure, too. The four of them might want to hoist a few together at Kitty O’Shea’s while they still can.

5. New quarterbacks

All Indiana’s Josh Hoover, a flashy transfer from TCU — where he threw for 71 touchdowns — must do is step into the shoes of No. 1 overall NFL pick Fernando Mendoza. Hoover won’t be at media days to talk about that. Northwestern’s Aidan Chiles, who had moments of excellence at Michigan State, won’t be there, either.

Penn State’s Rocco Becht, who was Campbell’s guy at Iowa State, will be. So will Illinois’ Katin Houser, a certain sign that the former two-year starter at East Carolina will be QB1 for the Illini. The newbies will join a formidable group of QBs across the league that includes Oregon’s Dante Moore, Ohio State’s Julian Sayin, USC’s Jayden Maiava, Michigan’s Bryce Underwood and Washington’s Demond Williams.

6. North by Northwestern

There will be season-long buzz about the Wildcats’ new stadium, a nearly billion-dollar project intended to raise the football program to new heights. Will it? Coach David Braun will be selling the future hard.

In the X’s-and-O’s department, Braun’s addition of Chip Kelly as offensive coordinator has everyone curious. Kelly’s rep has fallen off since his heyday as Oregon’s head coach — a run that ended in 2012 — but his name still carries a lot of weight.

7. I-L-L …

Illinois isn’t as much of an “it” team as it was a year ago, when it was pegged by many as a College Football Playoff possibility. Coach Bret Bielema has produced 19 wins the last two years, including bowl conquests of SEC foes South Carolina and Tennessee, but nearly half his roster is new this time around, making it difficult to have a strong sense — good or bad — about where this team might go.

Bielema will talk a big game, though; he can always be counted on for that this time of year. You’ve got to appreciate the big fella for it.

8. Non-conference games

There are three in early September that will steal the spotlight:

Wisconsin vs. Notre Dame, Sept. 6: Prime time at Lambeau Field? What a spectacle.

Oklahoma at Michigan, Sept. 12: A huge tone-setter for the Wolverines and for Whittingham, who could work wonders with such high-level talent and depth.

Ohio State at Texas, Sept. 12: We’re talking about the season’s first 1-vs.-2 clash — who’s 1 and who’s 2, we’ll see — under the lights in Austin.

9. New rules

Among other changes for 2026, there will be less trickery allowed with punt formations (at least five linemen in the tackle box, each ineligible to catch a pass), fewer yards penalized for offensive pass interference (10, down from 15) and no carryover disqualifications for targeting (two thumbs up).

10. Playoff expansion

What, you thought 12 teams was plenty? It’s going to go to 16 soon enough, unless it goes to 24. Sigh.