The Athletic’s estimates put Big Ten football roster spending in a conference-wide band of roughly $27 million to $31 million. Ohio State and Oregon sit in a tier of their own, paying nearly double that average. USC, Indiana, and Michigan come in third through fifth — over the average, but not in the same stratosphere as the two leaders. Nebraska and Penn State take sixth and seventh, barely clearing the conference midpoint. Wisconsin and UCLA land right around it. Then come the programs under the average. Four of them sit in a tight cluster: Maryland, Michigan State, Northwestern, and Washington
— Read on Roundtable Sports