The Big Ten may have won the last two College Football Playoffs, but the bottom of the league is awful and the middle of it is incredibly suspect. That being said, this is still a Power Two league, as the Big Ten and the SEC are the ones that drive the bus in major college football. As a surprise to no one, more than one-fifth of the teams ranked inside of the preseason Coaches Poll hail from the Big Ten.
With the AP Top 25 coming out next Monday, we have to wonder if the Big Ten will end up with more than the six teams who cracked the top 25 of the Coaches Poll. To me, there seems to be a very clear and obvious line of demarcation. Teams like Ohio State, Oregon and Penn State are locks, but would the same principles not apply to teams Illinois, Indiana and Michigan? We will wait and see.
In case you have not seen it, or need a reminder of what looks like, here is the US LBM Coaches Poll.
Preseason Coaches Poll for 2025 college football season
- Texas Longhorns: 1,606 points (28 first-place votes)
- Ohio State Buckeyes: 1,565 points (20 first-place votes)
- Penn State Nittany Lions: 1,525 points (14 first-place votes)
- Georgia Bulldogs: 1,466 points (3 first-place votes)
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish: 1,360 points
- Clemson Tigers: 1,324 points (2 first-place votes)
- Oregon Ducks: 1,307 points
- Alabama Crimson Tide: 1,210 points
- LSU Tigers: 1,056 points
- Miami Hurricanes; 823 points
- Arizona State Sun Devils: 806 points
- Illinois Fighting Illini: 734 points
- South Carolina Gamecocks: 665 points
- Michigan Wolverines: 580 points
- Ole Miss Rebels: 573 points
- SMU Mustangs: 555 points
- Florida Gators: 498 points
- Tennessee Volunteers: 492 points
- Indiana Hoosiers: 460 points
- Kansas State Wildcats: 438 points
- Texas A&M Aggies: 392 points
- Iowa Sate Cyclones: 392 points
- BYU Cougars: 287 points
- Texas Tech Red Raiders: 261 points
- Boise State Broncos: 246 points
For even better understanding, here is every college football team that received at least one vote.
- Oklahoma Sooners: 221 points
- Missouri Tigers: 142 points
- Louisville Cardinals: 126 points
- USC Trojans: 116 points
- Utah Utes: 86 points
- Baylor Bears: 76 points
- Auburn Tigers: 50 points
- Iowa Hawkeyes: 49 points
- Memphis Tigers: 34 points
- Army Black Knights: 33 points
- Tulane Green Wave: 31 points
- Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets: 27 points
- TCU Horned Frogs: 24 points
- Nebraska Cornhuskers: 19 points
- Syracuse Orange: 16 points
- Washington Huskies: 15 points
- Navy Midshipmen: 14 points
- Arkansas Razorbacks: 14 points
- Duke Blue Devils: 12 points
- Colorado Buffaloes: 12 points
- Minnesota Golden Gophers: 11 points
- UNLV Rebels: 8 points
- Florida State Seminoles: 8 points
- Kansas Jayhawks: 6 points
- Vanderbilt Commodores: 3 points
- Buffalo Bulls: 1 point
As you can see, when it comes to the top third of the Big Ten, all six of those teams in question are ranked inside of the top 20. Unless the Associated Press feels a certain way about Illinois, Indiana or Michigan, they will all start the year ranked, just like College Football Playoff locks Ohio State, Oregon and Penn State. The big question is if a seventh, or even an eighth, can potentially crack the top 25.
I will now put all 18 Big Ten teams into one of four categories when it comes to being a ranked team.
What Big Ten teams are going to make the Preseason AP Top 25 Poll?
From locks, to probables, to borderlines, to those without a chance, here is how I see the Big Ten.
- Locks (6): Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana
- Probables (0)
- Borderlines (4): Iowa, USC, Nebraska, Washington
- Not a Chance (8): Minnesota, UCLA, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Rutgers, Northwestern, Purdue, Maryland
The really interesting thing to me is that I do not have any teams listed as probables. Again, this goes back to my main point that I would be hard-pressed to not have Illinois, Indiana and Michigan firmly ranked inside of the top 25, just like I would with Ohio State, Oregon and Penn State. If I had to force one into being a probable, I think it would have to be Michigan, just because I like the others more.
As far as the borderline candidates are concerned, I think there is a chance that maybe two between Iowa, Nebraska, USC and Washington could crack the top 25. To me, it is all about optics heading into the season. I think the league benefits the most by having Iowa ranked early ahead of CyHawk, as well as USC coming on strong before the Trojans inevitably lose in conference play. The others need work.
And this right here is where I have the biggest beef with the Big Ten: The bottom third of the league is weak, to downright awful. While I am bullish on what teams like Minnesota, Michigan State and USC can accomplish, this may be a challenging year for Rutgers. Northwestern and Purdue will be up against it, while it Maryland and Wisconsin have a chance to be among the worst Power Four teams.
So really what this all boils down to is whether I realistically think Iowa or USC has a shot at cracking the top 25. Nebraska and Washington may be ranked at various points of the season, but not from the jump. I am not high on USC at all; I think people have grown tired of Lincoln Riley's schtick. As for Iowa, it does serve FOX to have the Hawkeyes ranked entering their Week 2 matchup with rival Iowa State.
Against my better judgement, I feel Iowa comes in at around No. 24 or No. 25 to make it seven teams.
- Ohio State Buckeyes
- Penn State Nittany Lions
- Oregon Ducks
- Illinois Fighting Illini
- Indiana Hoosiers
- Michigan Wolverines
- Iowa Hawkeyes