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| I know there are plenty of questions surrounding the team with the number of losses it took, but the Buckeyes are the defending national champions. They have Jeremiah Smith. They have Caleb Downs. We don’t know who the quarterback is yet, but he’ll probably be pretty good because *gestures towards the recent run of results from Ohio State QBs*. They might not win the league, and they probably won’t win another natty. But they’re the reigning national champions until knocked off the mountain. (+210) |
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| They’re an extremely popular pick in the Big Ten this season because they’re following a similar blueprint to the ones Michigan and Ohio State used that led to a national title. Plenty of players who could’ve gone pro returned, so it’s a talented and experienced team. Drew Allar could prove to be the best quarterback in the league, too. Even if I’m taking a cautious approach on how good this team will be (I need to see them beat the league’s best before assuming they are the league’s best), I can’t justify ranking them lower than second right now. (+240) |
| 3 |
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| I did tinker with the idea of putting the Ducks second. I don’t know if you remember, but this team did go undefeated during the regular season last year and won the Big Ten in its first year as a league member. That’s not easy to do! The ending sucked, but even with all the changes to the roster this offseason, the Ducks will once again be in the hunt. (+280) |
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| Think of how horrible things went for the Wolverines last season. The offense was a cruel joke, and the QB situation was enough to make a MAC team blush. Yet, despite all of it, the Wolverines won eight games, including wins over Ohio State and Alabama. Yes, the team loses some studs on defense, but if the offense improves and the defense retools successfully, how far away is this team from winning 10 or more games? (+900) |
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| Everybody is searching for “this year’s Indiana,” and they’re all pointing at Illinois. It’s not quite the same situation; Indiana went 3-9 in 2023 and had a first-year coach in Curt Cignetti. Illinois is coming off a 10-win season, and Bret Bielema will be in his fifth year leading the Illini. But that team that won 10 games last year has damn near everybody back and a manageable schedule. So, while Illinois can’t be Indiana because people will see it coming if they reach the College Football Playoff, that doesn’t mean Illinois can’t make a playoff push. (+3500) |
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| I couldn’t justify putting the Hoosiers lower than this, even if I’m skeptical they’ll have the same kind of lightning-in-a-bottle season they had last year. Even if the Hoosiers don’t hit a home run on every transfer this year, they have returning talent and should hit enough singles and doubles to stick around that eight-win mark. For context, if Indiana wins eight games in 2025, the 19 wins between 2024 and 2025 would be the most in a two-year span in the program’s history. So, you know, it’d still be pretty dang good! (+3500) |
| 7 |
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| Iowa’s offense didn’t stink last year. There was so much crazy stuff going on in the Big Ten that it feels to me like that got lost in the shuffle. They scored 27.7 points per game! That was a giant improvement. Now, they’re hoping the addition of Mark Gronowski at QB will bring better balance to the offense since Kaleb Johnson and his explosive runs are gone. This is a program that looms. Waiting in the darkness for you to forget it’s there, and then — WHAM! — the next thing you know, the Hawkeyes are 10-2 and losing by 40 in the Big Ten Championship Game. (+4500) |
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| What does the fact I have USC eighth and it won’t cause many to raise an eyebrow say about the state of this program right now? There were some positive steps forward last year on the defensive side of the ball, and there are more steps being taken behind the scenes, which are all good things. At the same time, it’s freaking USC, man. It shouldn’t take this long to turn things around. (+3500) |
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| Speaking of programs that are taking forever to turn things around, Nebraska finally got to a bowl last year and is one of those teams in the middle of the pack that could rise once the season begins. Dylan Raiola had all the freshman bumps and bruises, but if he makes the sophomore leap, the ceiling of this program will rise drastically. (+3500) |
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| Jedd Fisch got slightly annoyed with me at Big Ten Media Days last summer when I called what Washington was doing in 2024 a rebuild, but, well, it was a rebuild — and an encouraging one at that. No, the Huskies didn’t reach the title game again, but they did manage to get to a bowl game, and Demond Williams got valuable experience at QB. The kind of experience that makes you excited when thinking about what could happen now that he’s the full-time starter. (+6500) |
| 11 |
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| This is one of the more disrespected programs in the Big Ten. Even I feel I’m disrespecting the Gophers by having them this low. They do not play the most exciting brand of football. It’s a ham and cheese sandwich. You don’t go to an expensive restaurant and order a ham and cheese sandwich, but you’ve never been disappointed with one when you eat it. It just works. Well, enough to get to a bowl six times in PJ Fleck’s eight seasons, and the two years they didn’t go were Fleck’s first and the COVID season. You’ll never pick them to win the league, but you can’t look at Minnesota on your team’s schedule and chalk it up as an easy W, either. (+12000) |
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| I was already encouraged by UCLA for the way its 2024 season ended, and hindsight being what it is, you can look at the rough start as a byproduct of a first-time head coach and a tough schedule. The team finished well and then went and added Nico Iamaleava, who arguably has the talent and skill to be the best QB in the conference. Whether Iamaleavea meets that potential will determine how good the Bruins will be this season. (+18000) |
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| I repeat this every chance I get because I want to make sure people are aware of it: Rutgers finished sixth in the Big Ten in points per game last season (28.9). It’s a team that was one wild, last-second Illinois touchdown away from going 5-4 in conference and finishing 8-5 overall, which feels a lot better than 7-6. The schedule this year is not friendly (the Knights get Oregon, Illinois, Ohio State and Penn State), but the Knights are firmly in that middle tier of the Big Ten. (+21000) |
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| The vibe just seems off. There were sweeping changes made to the coaching staff and roster, which is the kind of thing that happens when the coach who was supposed to lead you to greatness is off to a 12-13 start after two seasons. The problem the Badgers face in 2025 is that while I expect the football team to be better, they face a schedule that could lead to a similar 5-7 record in 2025, or perhaps one that’s even worse. (+21000) |
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| A little peek behind the curtain for you all. If I were to break these power rankings into tiers instead of individual slots, everybody from No. 8 USC to Michigan State down here at 15 would be in the same tier. All of these teams have similarities and are a breakthrough player away from leapfrogging plenty of teams. For Michigan State, that player is quarterback Aidan Chiles. The Spartans will go as far as he’s capable of taking them. (+18000) |
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| Northwestern followed up its surprising 8-5 mark in David Braun’s first season with a 4-8 performance last year. That included a mark of 2-7 in the Big Ten, with six of those losses coming by three scores or more. That’s a lot of ground to make up, but I like the addition of Preston Stone at quarterback. He gives the offense a solid floor that should lead to improvement in 2025. Whether it’s enough to get out of the league’s basement remains to be seen. (+50000) |
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| I worry for the Terps. The dissolution of divisions was supposed to work to this team’s benefit, but Maryland went 1-8 in Big Ten play last season and wasn’t competitive in most of those losses. Last year’s starting QB, Billy Edwards, left for Wisconsin, and there isn’t an obvious answer at the position this season. Some of the most productive players on both sides of the ball are gone. There is no Ohio State, Penn State or Oregon on the schedule, but the teams that are on the slate, the ones you look at and think, “Maryland can win that game,” all seem to have surpassed the Terps in the last couple of seasons. Maryland could bounce back and get to a bowl in 2025, or things could get worse. (+40000) |
| 18 |
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| Last season was awful. I feel bad even reminding Purdue fans of how things went, so I won’t. All anybody needs to focus on now is there’s a new coaching staff in charge, and a new coaching staff always brings optimism because anything is possible. But there probably isn’t much possible in 2025 other than a lot of losing. Still, if Purdue fans should take anything away from these power rankings, it’s this: I had Indiana 18th last May. Sure, I wrote, “there are enough ingredients in Bloomington to make you wonder whether the Hoosiers could be a surprise package this season,” when describing them, and I don’t feel that’s the case here, but let’s focus simply on the fact the team I ranked 18th reached the College Football Playoff. (50000) |
By News Room