Big Ten Football Week 4 Saturday Watch Grid

Week 4 of the college football season features four Big Ten conference games this Saturday, and one of the biggest nonconference games of the year, as coach Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes take on coach Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Full-on, Big Ten football conference play is almost here. Friday night featured a bloodletting between Wisconsin and Purdue. Saturday features four more Big Ten conference games, and one of the biggest games of the entire college football season in Ohio State at Notre Dame. 

Here are the games you 100 percent need to watch this Saturday, the games that you should definitely keep an eye on and the games where you might want to get out of the house or do some chores. 

Tier 1 — Absolute Must-Watch Games

• Ohio State at Notre Dame, 7:30 p.m. ET. TV: NBC, Peacock
• Iowa at Penn State, 7:30 p.m. ET. TV: CBS

Ohio State at Notre Dame might be the game of the season. It features the No. 6 and No. 9 ranked teams in the country, respectively, and two of the biggest team brands in the sport, bar none. Any fan whose team is not playing in the 7:30 evening slate will be tuned into this game, and for good reason. 

Unfortunately, NBC and CBS did the public no favors in making Iowa at Penn State one of those games going on concurrently with Ohio State-Notre Dame. With Wisconsin faltering its way through the early stretch of the season, the Hawkeyes and the Nittany Lions seem firmly solidified as the Big Ten's third and fourth best teams. 

The game action itself between Penn State and Iowa could be a little lacking. These are two of the best defensive teams in the country, and everyone knows how limited Iowa can be on offense. Still, this is the first heavyweight conference game in the Big Ten this season. It's a must-watch. 

Tier 2 — Good Games to Flip to Occasionally

• Rutgers at Michigan (HC), Noon ET. TV: Big Ten Network
• Maryland at Michigan State (HC), 3:30 p.m. ET. TV: NBC

Two of four Big Ten conference games this Saturday, though neither is as compelling as Iowa at Penn State. Michigan will likely bludgeon Rutgers in a 31-7 type game, while Maryland and Taulia Tagovailoa should give us a diet version of what Washington and Michael Penix Jr. did to Michigan State last week.

Regardless, these are two of the Big Ten's five best teams (yes, Maryland might be top five, I said it) playing their first conference games of the season. Both are worth keeping an eye on. 

Tier 3 — It's Still Big Ten Football, At Least

• Florida Atlantic at Illinois, 3:30 p.m. ET. TV: Big Ten Network
• Louisiana Tech at Nebraska, 3:30 p.m. ET. TV: Big Ten Network
• Minnesota at Northwestern, 7:30 p.m. ET TV: Big Ten Network
• Akron at Indiana, 7:30 p.m. ET. TV: Big Ten Network

Three Group of Five vs Power Five games that most should not watch unless their favorite team is involved, and also Minnesota vs Northwestern. 

For anyone wondering why the Gophers and Wildcats are included here, go watch highlights of Minnesota's 31-13 loss to North Carolina last week. Or maybe some of Northwestern's 38-14 loss to Duke. 

With how poorly these two Big Ten offenses are performing, there's a real chance this game ends in an 8-6 Minnesota victory that everyone feels horrible about. Please, for your own safety, do not watch that game if you do not have to.

Related Stories on Big Ten:

• 2023-24 BIG TEN MEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE: The conference released its schedule in full for the upcoming college basketball season this Tuesday. Here is every game, conference and non-conference, that a Big Ten team is playing in for 2023-24. CLICK HERE
• 2023-24 BIG TEN WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE: The conference released its schedule in full for the upcoming college basketball season this Thursday. Here is every game, conference and non-conference, that a Big Ten team is playing in for 2023-24. CLICK HERE
• WEEK 3 BIG TEN POWER RANKINGS: We're well into the 2023 college football season, and things have started to separate in the Big Ten. There's a clear top three in the conference, but also a whole lot disappointing squads, including two nearby teams that slid below Indiana in this week's rankings. CLICK HERE