Way too early Big Ten Conference Power Ranking: James Franklin has his best group yet

The Big Ten has won back-to-back national championships, with Michigan and Ohio State winning titles in the last two years. Penn State is trying to take a similar approach this year to Michigan and Ohio State in the previous two seasons, bringing back a veteran group. Illinois is coming off a 10-win season and should be in the mix for a Big Ten Title as well. Ohio State and Oregon are both rebuilding, but they should be good as well this year. Below are the early power rankings for the Big Ten.

Penn State earns the top spot going into the season because they are returning a loaded veteran team. Bringing back quarterback Drew Allar and running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen are a huge help for Penn State going into next year. This is a big season for James Franklin as he has a talented team that could compete for a National Title.

Ohio State's offense has a chance to be special again with a talented group of wide receivers in Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate. The question is the defense, with only 2 defensive starters returning. Ryan Day will try to win back-to-back championships, which will be difficult in the competitive Big Ten.

Illinois brings back 18 starters from an impressive 10-win team that beat South Carolina in the Citrus Bowl. They should have a good chance of repeating that success this season especially with Luke Altmyer back under center. Head Coach Brett Bielema has built a good program, and next season should be his best team since he arrived.

Oregon is in a similar boat to Ohio State, having lost 14 starters from last year’s team. They have recruited well and supplemented their roster well in the transfer portal, so they should still be a good team. Head Coach Dan Lanning builds rosters well enough that the expectation will be to compete for Championships every season.

Matt Rhule and Nebraska could be an improved team going into year 3. Coming off a 6-6 season and bringing back talented quarterback Dylan Raiola, Nebraska should be better in the Big Ten. The other big part of Nebraska's success towards the end of last year was that offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen was hired on November 11th, 2024, as offensive coordinator. He now gets an entire off-season to implement his offense.  

Michigan is a tough team to judge going into next year because they finished the season strong, beating Ohio State and Alabama to close the season, but still struggled badly on offense last year. Incoming 5-Star Freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood has a lot of hype, but a lot of pressure will be put on him if he starts next season. Also, Michigan is facing massive sanctions from the NCAA over the Connor Stallions case, and that decision should drop in the late summer or early fall, so it could be a distraction for Michigan.

This is where the Big Ten starts to fall off a cliff, as there's clearly a tier of 6 teams at the top and then everyone else. Minnesota has been a consistent team under PJ Fleck, but has never cracked into that top group in the Big Ten. Minnesota should be around the 7-9 win mark this year as Fleck has a consistent program but, they won't have enough talent to compete to win the Conference.

Indiana is coming off of a historical season where they won 11 games in Curt Cignetti’s 1st year at Indiana.  This season, the Hoosiers have a much tougher schedule, which should lead to them falling back from last season. Cignetti is a good coach who should keep Indiana as a good team for a long time in the Big Ten but it's too early to tell if he can reload on a yearly basis.

USC could either win 10 games or 6 games this season, and no one would be shocked with the outcome. They should be improved from a 7-6 record, as Lincoln Riley is trying to turn around the program after two down seasons. One area of growth for Riley and USC would be to win close games as last year, they lost 5 games by 7 points or less. If they flip the switch and win a few close games, they could be one of the most improved teams in the Big Ten.

This might be too low for Iowa, which should be around 8-9 wins again this season. Kirk Ferentz has continued to maintain a successful program in the Big Ten. They have constantly found success in playing great defense and great special teams and doing enough on offense to win games.

Under Head Coach Greg Schiano, Rutgers has climbed back to respectability, winning seven games in back-to-back seasons. The next step is to get eight or nine wins for Schiano and Rutgers. It will be an uphill battle in the talented Big Ten, but do not count out Schiano.

Washington could climb up this list with 2nd-year head coach Jedd Fisch trying to rebuild the program after a 6-7 season in year 1. Fisch took over a tough situation at Washington after they went to a National Championship game, and they lost head coach Kalen DeBoer to Alabama. Fisch also helped lead Arizona to 10 wins in his 3rd season there, so he has a track record of success.  

Michigan State is in a similar way to Washington, with 2nd-year head coach Jonathan Smith trying to rebuild a struggling program. Smith has a track record from being the head coach at Oregon State, where he helped turn around the program from a 2-10 season in his 1st year to a combined 18 wins in his last two seasons there. Last year the Spartans won 5 games, and it's hard not to expect a few more wins from them this year.

UCLA looked better towards the end of the season, winning 4 out of 6 games down the stretch. Now they added quarterback Nico Iamaleava from Tennessee which could elevate the team's potential in 2025. It should be an improved program in the 2nd year of Head Coach DeShaun Foster's tenure. Making a Bowl Game would be a positive step for the direction of the Bruins.  

Head Coach Luke Fickell has struggled since taking over at Wisconsin, winning 7 and 5 games the last two years. This year, they have a hard schedule, so it might be difficult to reach 6 wins for Fickell and company. Fickell, at some point, needs to break through and have a good season, or he could end up on the hot seat.

After going 8-5 in year one for David Braun, the Wildcats fell back to 4-8 last year. Northwestern should find it hard to compete in the Big Ten as they no longer just get to compete against other Big Ten West teams, which makes it much harder for Northwestern to compete in the league. The turnover in the transfer portal has made it tougher to hold onto talent long term as well adding another wrinkle.

After winning 8 games in 2022 and 2023, Maryland under Mike Locksley struggled last year, winning 4 games. The fortunes may not improve for Maryland this year as Lockley’s team has seemed to struggle to maintain any forward momentum in the Big Ten. For Maryland, reaching 6 wins and making a bowl would be a positive step forward.

Purdue was awful last year, going 1-11 with their lone win coming against Indiana State in the season opener. Purdue has since fired Ryan Waters and replaced him with Barry Odom. Hiring Barry Odom, who had a successful two-year run at UNLV, is a great move, but it could be a struggle in year 1 for him, as it is a total rebuild for Purdue.