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It’s almost college football time, let’s preview the Big Ten
It might be July, but college football isn’t too far away. In just a few weeks, the race to the College Football Playoff will begin. College football this year will once again run through the Big Ten, as the Ohio State Buckeyes will defend their national title from last year. With the rosters mostly set for this season, Shady Sports previews how each team in the Big Ten will perform on the field this year.
Tier 1: Conference Title Contenders
Ohio State Buckeyes
The Buckeyes won the national championship last year in the first year of the expanded playoff field, and now look to defend their title in all of college football. What was interesting last year was how the Buckeyes won despite not even making the Big Ten Championship game. A close loss to Oregon early in the season hurt, but it was the upset loss to Michigan, their 4th loss to Michigan in a row, that really made Ohio State look like they weren’t contenders. However, they rattled off wins against Tennessee, Oregon and eventually Notre Dame to win the title.
Now, without certainty at the QB position, and the rest of the offense remains largely unproven outside of Jeremiah Smith. Smith may have a bid as a top receiver in the upcoming NFL draft if his career continues to blossom the way it already has. The defense will remain strong as ever. If Ohio State wants to repeat as champions and more importantly, beat Michigan, Ryan Day must take his offense to the next level despite unproven talent. I predict they will finish in the conference title game, and in the playoffs this year.
Michigan Wolverines
Strange circumstances surrounded the Wolverines 2024 season, but now, they at least have their guys. Bryce Underwood is a top prospect, but I don’t see the true freshman doing too much this year. The highly successful running back room that has dominated college football the past few years is no longer filled with superstars like Donovan Edwards. The defensive side of the ball saw top contributors end up in the pros.
The Wolverines will only go as far as Bryce Underwood can take them, and those kind of expectations being placed on a freshman usually won’t lead to many good results. Don’t be surprised if Michigan has to fight for a spot in a bowl game down the stretch of the year, a Big Ten title seems to be a little too far out of reach.
Penn State Nittany Lions
I cannot think of any team under more pressure to win than Penn State in 2025. James Franklin and his inability to win under pressure has led to years of wasted talent and seasons where good records are met with playoff failure. Last season saw a playoff run and lots of hope the Nittany Lions would win not just any big game, but a big game that could’ve cemented a spot in the title game.
Ultimately, they did not make the big game, but they retained a lot of talent from their 2024 campaign. Anything short of a Big Ten championship should be considered a failure, but even more important is postseason success. Drew Allar has experience, now he must prove he is a winning quarterback when it matters most, and James Franklin must finally win some big games. History is not on his side in that regard.
Oregon Ducks
The Oregon Ducks had a successful 2024 regular season, but fell to Ohio State in the playoffs. Now in 2025, their second season in the Big Ten, they look to continue shaking things up in the conference. Being a newcomer to the conference, the Ducks have a lot of work to do to gain respect among their conference peers, but a 13-0 regular season put them on the map. The off-season saw the team use that success as momentum to revamp holes on the roster.
The defense is almost entirely going to have a new look, and the offense will at least see a new signal caller in Dante Moore. Moore transferred from UCLA, and will now have the keys to the Oregon offense which was exciting and high powered last year. The offense had multiple additions, including Makhi Hughes and Dakorien Moore. Keeping the momentum as a program should help keep this team in Big Ten title contention, and a playoff contender.
Indiana Hoosiers
2024 was immensely successful for the Hoosiers. A program not known for football managed to make the first enlarged playoffs and shocked the world. In 2025, they won’t be surprising anyone, but they will be an outside contender for a Big Ten Championship appearance. Quarterback Fernando Mendoza transferred to the Hoosiers, being the lead star of a strong transfer portal class to keep second year coach Curt Cignetti’s team competitive in the Big Ten.
Indiana also retained key pieces of the defense in Mikail Kamara, Aiden Fisher, and D’Angelo Ponds. Keeping these key contributors to an already stout defensive unit should keep Indiana in contention for the conference title, but the big question remains: Can they hang with the top dogs in the conference another year?
Tier 2: Bowl Game Contenders And Playoff Sleepers
Illinois Fighting Illini
Of all the teams poised to be a playoff sleeper, I would have to choose Illinois. Illinois has largely been a media favorite this off-season after an impressive 2024 showing and one of the weaker schedules in the conference. While I think there are stronger teams in the conference that will be playing for the title, Illinois could be threatening for a spot in the expanded playoff by the end of the season. If not, they’ll almost definitely be in a bowl game.
What makes the Illini so dangerous in the Big Ten? Perhaps their offensive and defensive lines, which are among the strongest in the nation. All the starters from last year’s campaign on the offensive line, and the defense loaded up on transfer talent. The offense is built around experience with the program. QB Luke Altmyer is a senior who has spent a few years with Illinois. If you ask me, Illinois can push for late playoff spots, but I question if they can hang with the big dogs.
Iowa Hawkeyes
The Hawkeyes have long been a traditional Big Ten team. Strong in the run game, stout defenses, and a distinctly bland offense that seems to be stuck in the 1960’s. Yet somehow, Iowa is a consistent top 25 team year in and year out. This year, they have made some improvements, especially at the wideout position, a historically weak position in the Iowa offense.
The defense will also continue to be good enough to give opposing offenses fits. The one word I use to describe Iowa is consistent, and that means they are a consistently good team competing for bowls. They might not be the strongest in the Big Ten, and a hard schedule might give them a handful of losses, but you should expect to see this team in a bowl game come December.
USC Trojans
The BIg Ten debut for Lincoln Riley and the USC Trojans was a massive disappointment. Close losses were the story of a season where USC was hardly eligible for a bowl game, and conference losses held the Trojans back from success. Now, after working out some kinks, like who the starting QB would be, USC can threaten to make a much bigger splash in 2025 than the past few years.
The potential is there for USC on both sides of the ball. A strong receiving core featuring Makai Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane could make for one of the more interesting passing attacks in the conference. On the defensive side of the ball, don’t be surprised if the true freshman Jahkeem Stewart makes an impact. The pieces are here for the Trojans to make a move up the college football totem pole, but they have to put it together and prove they’re more than a .500 team.
Minnesota Golden Gophers
If you’re not a Minnesota fan or a Big Ten fan, you might not have noticed Minnesota being a quiet yet consistent bowl contender under P. J Fleck. Minnesota is in a bit of transition phase with their personnel, but if there’s anything we should know about Minnesota, they will manage to make the most out of whatever players take the field for their squad.
Their schedule features many winnable games that could put this team in cruise control for a bowl appearance. California, Buffalo and Northwestern state at home early is a favorable non-conference schedule, while their home schedule also features Northwestern, Rutgers and Purdue later in the season. That’s six wins right there in Minneapolis, the rest of the season could fall into place.
Nebraska Cornhuskers
Nebraska under Matt Rhule can be one of the biggest boom-or-bust teams in the Big Ten. With talented QB Dylan Raiola under center, this offense could very well be in the upper echelon of Big Ten offenses, and they could threaten to be ranked late in the year. The offense features a strong recruiting and transfer class, so the hope in Nebraska is that the Huskers will score- a lot.
The defense won’t wow anyone, but experience does run deep for Nebraska. Multiple starters from the 2024 squad return, but the big question is if they can step up and win some games. Assuming the offense does their job, it could fall onto the defense being solid to make Nebraska a bowl team again. We all know how the program has fallen from its glory days, and we all know the fan’s expectations to bring it back, so this season will be pivotal in that rebuild.
Washington Huskies
The Huskies first season in the Big Ten wasn’t super impressive, especially a year after making the national championship, but this makes sense as head Coach Kalen DeBoer had left and much of the roster of that 2023 team had moved onto the NFL. A six win season followed, and the Huskies were put into rebuilding mode.
Now, Washington has an opportunity to bounce back and become a bowl game team in 2025. Quarterback Demond Williams is a rising star in the Big Ten, and the Huskies defense started retooling with transfers that could take Washington to the next level. However, this is still a team in rebuild mode. Even so a small improvement in the win column is enough to keep this team in a bowl game.
Michigan State Spartans
A complete rebuild under Jonathan Smith enters its second year in East Lansing, and this year we could see some results. QB Aidan Chiles has room to develop after an underwhelming season where he showed flashes but also struggled to get momentum going. The offense and defense both improved via transfers and recruiting, where it seems as though the Spartans are building a contender for the future.
However, the future is still a while away. If all goes right, the Spartans could have a 2021 like surge towards a high ranking and even playoff contention, but a far more realistic vision for the season is a bowl appearance and threatening some of the higher ranked teams in the Big Ten with an upset.
Tier 3: Better off Next Year
Wisconsin Badgers
The Wisconsin Badgers program has little to no momentum coming from 2024. The season finished with a losing record and missing a bowl game. Despite improvements along the offense and defense, there are too many questions marks to say if this team will be better than last year’s 5-7 performance. Can the quarterback play improve? Is there enough on the defense to hold opponents to fewer points than last year?
Even still, the Badgers have one of the hardest schedules in the Big Ten. They go to Alabama, they have Michigan and Ohio State on the schedule, as well as tests against Oregon, Indiana, Illinois and Minnesota late in the year. While a talented team, the Badgers are not likely to find themselves in a bowl game.
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Rutgers has enjoyed a fair amount of success the past few years behind standout running back Kyle Monangai, and they have been a bowl team for much of this era. However, the Scarlet Knights haven’t been a super strong team, especially last year, where they only won 7 games and barely snuck into a bowl. Rutgers sits just below the rest of the Big Ten when it comes to their offense, now without Monangai, and their defense has a ton of turnover as only two starters from last year return.
Rutgers also has a tough conference schedule against Ohio State, Penn State and Oregon, which are 3 super tough games that could tank the conference resume for the Scarlet Knights. Without an offensive identity, at least at this point, I can’t see this team winning more than 5 or 6 games and fighting for their bowl eligibility down the stretch.
Maryland Terrapins
Maryland’s 2024 campaign was one of disappointment. A 4-8 record and missing out on a bowl for the first time in 3 years was not ideal, and the Terps were towards the bottom of the BIg Ten’s standings. The Terps seemed to be dead in the water most games, as nearly every single loss last year came by double digits. It looks like Maryland will be going for a youth movement in the early stages of a rebuild.
Freshman QB Malik Washington has a lot of upside, and while it’s unclear if he’ll get the starting job, I doubt he sits the bench all year. Besides, what else does Maryland have to lose? Their stands already are half empty every game and the program was moving in the wrong direction in 2024. Trying to get young and unproven guys opportunities is the only thing that can keep the Terrapins relevant and competitive in the Big Ten.
UCLA Bruins
2024 started horribly for UCLA. A 1-5 start quickly doomed UCLA to the bottom of the Big Ten standings and out of the bowl race. However, UCLA rallied just enough to finish a respectable 5-7. Building on the strong finish from last year, the Bruins started building their strong defense back up, mostly via the transfer portal, while experience is the biggest thing keeping the offense clicking in a perfect world for UCLA.
The Bruins gambled big time on QB Nico Iamaleava from Tennessee. Iamaleava, who left Tennessee over an NIL dispute, is a major upside in talent, but his locker room personality was put into question after it was clear how much money this dude wanted to play ball. Perhaps it’s not a big deal, but for a rebuilding program, it’s a risky move that could either result in must watch football, or a disaster like the first half of 2024.
Northwestern Wildcats
Another year passes and Northwestern is still an also-ran in the Big Ten. An 8 win season in 2023 seems like it happened ages ago, and the Wildcats have fully entered rebuilding mode after a 4-8 record in 2024. Similar to other programs in this tier of the Big Ten, Northwestern is in the early stages of a rebuild. The biggest add this year was former SMU starter Preston Stone. Stone has dealt with injury, but offers upside to a program that hasn’t had much going for it in the transfer portal.
Turnover on the defense and an overall lack of big additions means the Wildcats will have to hope their talent pool can step up this year to keep them out of the Big Ten’s basement. I don’t trust this team defensively, which is why I have them ranked so low, but don’t be mistaken, their offense is subpar as well. The ceiling for this team is 7 or 8 wins and a bowl game, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
Purdue Boilermakers
Purdue sucked last year. They really sucked. 1-11 was the final record, good for dead last in the Big Ten and almost any other ranking you could find. Among the worst teams of all time, 2024 Purdue has a good shot at claiming that title. Constant blowout losses and their only win coming against Indiana State made for one of the hardest seasons to watch in college football. And unfortunately, there aren’t many signs that things are getting better for the Boilermakers.
New coaches have had trouble getting the rebuild started, mostly flipping transfers from smaller schools and giving chances to play at a Big Ten school, so the players on the field will be different. The big question is if the talent level will be different. No one returns on the defensive side of the ball, and the offense lacks a lot of firepower with middling QB Ryan Browne and decent RB Devin Mockobee returning. It’s worth noting Purdue has a rough schedule, so don’t expect anything out of this team in 2025.
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