The games in the 2025 Big Ten football season will be a big fight as heralded changes in realignment bring mighty changes in power rankings. Welcome Oregon, Washington, the league appears to be set for one of the more competitive seasons in the history of college football ever. This is a very early look at how the power rankings might turn out in 2025:
Michigan still sits atop the Wolverines’ mountain as the Big Ten champions that have made back-to-back trips to the playoffs. In Michigan, the head coach Jim Harbaugh demonstrates immense prowess in developing a powerful crew of an assaulting line and a defense line that retains the college’s stumpy standing. Quarterback improvement and a particularly strong stable of backs placed this team among the favorites for another post-season.
Penn State is set to give Michigan and especially Ohio State a run it has never received under the current coaching regime. The Nittany Lions are quite active on the offense line with Drew Allar as one of the best passers currently in the market. With their solid lines on the defensive side and a high-powered scoring threat in Nick Singleton in the backfield, maybe James Franklin will get his program to the promised land.
As always Ohio State remains one of the top teams in the conference but concerns at the quarterback position as well as a changing of the guard on the offense puts the Buckeyes a tier below the Wolverines and Nittany Lions for now. Ryan Day will always depend on their elite receiver arsenal led by Marvin Harrison Jr.
And a defense that in some ways rose to the occasion in 2024. A solid program allows the Buckeyes to always get back on their feet after falling because of this or that reason.
This makes a great deal of sense as the Ducks finally go into their first season of Big Ten competition receiving much hoopla. New head coach Dan Lanning has developed a program with speed and physicality, perfect for the Big Ten conference. To some extent, they could feasibly be competitive immediately with the return of Dante Moore at quarterback and an adept offense to boot – but trying to slog through the typical rigors of Big Ten football could be quite the challenge.
The Huskies provide stiff competition and strong offense as well as a strong defense to the Big Ten. A new signal-caller will replace Michael Penix Jr., but Kalen DeBoer’s system is built to have success with depth. Where they can build from here is going to come from managing that extremely rigorous early slate.
Despite the change to the Big Ten this year, Riley’s USC team is not even close to being a reliable defensive squad. A high-flying offense is kept alive by quarterbacks replacing Caleb Williams, but there are doubts about how physically tough the Trojans are, especially in the brutal Big Ten.
: Luke Fickell’s rebuild continues to bear fruit as the Badgers are still solid on the defensive end while showing signs of improvement on the offense end.
Defensively remains a bulldozer but implosion on the offensive end continues unabated.
The Big Ten will be a tough conference for Chip Kelly’s offense.
P.J. Fleck’s program keeps on rowing the boat but there is a problem of depth.
With these changes the 2025 Big Ten schedule is already looking to be the most unpredictable of all time as usual suspects meet new challengers.
