UCLA is set to enter its third season in the Big Ten following a sophomore campaign during which the program captured three NCAA championships – the most of any Big Ten school. The conference as a whole saw 11 different national titles to its name in the most recent competitive cycle. Daily Bruin Sports will preview the football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and other top programs of each Big Ten rival.
Football
2025 record: 7-6, 4-5 Big Ten, GameAbove Sports Bowl victory
Coach: David Braun
Person to watch: Chip Kelly
If there’s one Big Ten team UCLA fans are going to keep an eye on, it’s USC.
But Northwestern is a close second.
For the second time in three years, Chip Kelly – the former coach the Bruin faithful seem to hate the most – is an offensive coordinator in the Big Ten. And like he did at Ohio State in 2024, he will dodge facing UCLA.
After coach David Braun and company trotted out the pocket-passing Preston Stone under center in 2025, Northwestern brought in Michigan State quarterback Aidan Chiles – a dual-threat signal caller who certainly fits Kelly’s track record.
Chiles followed coach Jonathan Smith from Oregon State to Michigan State ahead of the 2024 season. The quarterback played 21 games over his two-year stint in East Lansing, recording 3,807 passing yards on a 60.8 completion percentage, 23 total touchdowns and 14 interceptions.
However, Smith was fired with a 4-15 record as a Spartan – seemingly clearing the way for the Wildcats to scoop Chiles up.
The signal caller’s position coach gives the Bruin faithful another reason to pay attention to Evanston.
Jerry Neuheisel was one of the few bright spots in UCLA’s 3-9 campaign last season. The son of former Bruin head coach Rick Neuheisel was born at UCLA Medical Center and was a backup quarterback for the blue and gold. He was a graduate assistant in Westwood, the Bruins’ wide receivers coach, tight ends coach and assistant head coach before he was named UCLA’s interim offensive playcaller in the wake of former offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Tino Sunseri’s midseason departure.
Despite winning the hearts of whoever was still coming to the Rose Bowl, Bob Chesney’s hiring as head coach indicated that there wouldn’t be any room for Neuheisel.
Taking the job as Northwestern’s quarterbacks coach, Neuheisel will coach his seventh year under Kelly – the previous six all coming from his time at UCLA.
In the team’s first run of 2026, admittedly against South Dakota State of the FCS, Chiles completed 14 of his 24 passes for 273 yards and a touchdown while the Wildcat ground attack rushed for 224 yards in the team’s 34-18 victory.
Men’s basketball
2025-26 record: 15-19, 5-15 Big Ten, Big Ten tournament third-round defeat
Coach: Chris Collins
Player to watch: Jayden Hodge
Coach Chris Collins has taken the Wildcats to places they’ve never been – like the NCAA tournament – but the upcoming season spells little hope of the program returning to March Madness.
Northwestern’s below-.500 campaigns the last two years ended its streak of back-to-back invitations to the Big Dance, and made it, on paper, the team has only gotten worse.
Collins will need to replace forward Nick Martinelli’s production, but filling the void left by the two-time All-Big Ten Second Team selection and New York Knicks’ second-round draft pick does not appear to be an easy feat.
Former Wildcat Nick Martinelli goes up against former Bruin Jamar Brown at Pauley Pavilion. (Karla Cardenas-Felipe/Daily Bruin staff)
The Wildcats also lost forwards Arrinten Page, Jayden Reid and Tre Singleton to the transfer portal – meaning the team’s top-four leading scorers have all departed Evanston.
As far as continuity goes, just three players from last season will still be suiting up in purple and white – guards Angelo Ciaravino, Jake West and Phoenix Gill. Ciaravino averaged 22 minutes and 6.3 points per game, and West and Gill were even worse in both categories.
It would seem any surprise turnaround would rely on whatever talent Collins was able to bring in.
The bad news is that there doesn’t seem to be much.
Forward Jack Karasinski put up 21.7 points per game last season, but at Bellarmine. Guard LA Pratt averaged 17 at Northeastern, but saw just three games last season because of injury.
The Wildcats secured the services of four-star forward Jayden Hodge out of Montverde Academy, but relying on mid-major transfers and freshmen doesn’t exactly appear to be a winning formula.
Women’s basketball
2025-26 record: 8-21, 2-16 Big Ten
Coach: Carla Berube
Player to watch: Lily Carmody
The Wildcats are under new management – and it may very well have been needed.
Joe McKeown retired as the winningest active women’s basketball head coach in the Big Ten, but those winning ways seemed to evade him and Northwestern late in his career.
The Wildcats haven’t broken .500 since going 17-12 in 2022, though they were just 8-8 in conference play, and they haven’t made the Big Dance since being a No. 7 seed in 2021 – eventually losing in the Round of 32.
Grace Sullivan signed to play professionally in Belgium in July after her NCAA eligibility expired, meaning Northwestern will have a new leading scorer come next season – though only time will tell if they even match Sullivan’s 21.4 points per game.
Coach Carla Berube’s top-two additions may be Lily Carmody, a transfer guard who led Boston College with 12.8 points per game last season, and guard Lexi Blue, a Kentucky transfer and former four-star recruit.
The Wildcats will also feature four-star recruit and Chicago local guard Xyanna Walton, who, given time, could very well become a hometown favorite for the team.
For now, however, the Wildcats may just be looking to tread water and stay above the Big Ten cellar.
Women’s golf
2025-26 finish: 14th-place finish in the NCAA championship
Coach: Emily Fletcher
Player to watch: Ashley Yun
Coach Emily Fletcher’s program is just two seasons removed from a national title and finished in the middle of the pack at the 30-team NCAA championships in May.
The Wildcats win the 2025 NCAA women’s golf national title. (Courtesy of Northwestern Athletics)
Ashley Yun is returning for her fourth season with the program and is the only Wildcat upperclassman to be named to the Big Ten’s Women’s Golfers to Watch list.
However, the team is bringing back a considerable portion of last year’s team in juniors Megan Meng and Hsin Tai Lin alongside sophomore Lauren Lee. And the program’s two transfers, Judy Joo and Emilie Knai, were teammates at St. Andrews.
Finally, Northwestern’s two freshman recruits, Ann-Sophie Bourgault and Rebecca Wang, both made the conference’s Golfers to Watch list alongside Yun.
Excluding women’s lacrosse and field hockey – sports UCLA doesn’t currently have varsity teams for – Northwestern’s best chances of a national title in 2026-27 seem to lie with Fletcher and her program.