The Big Ten has spent the last two seasons making its case as the best conference in college football, punctuated by back-to-back national championships between Michigan and Ohio State. However, the difference between the 18-team Big Ten and the 16-team SEC is the same as it was before both conferences grew in size: depth.
The SEC has always been the deeper of the two conferences, and with the addition of Oregon to the Big Ten’s top-heavy upper-tier that has long included Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State, there just aren’t as many teams capable of winning the Big Ten as there are of winning the SEC.
In 2025, it would be a shock if the conference champion didn’t come from the elite tier of Penn State, Ohio State, and Oregon, but if not, then a group of five dark-horse contenders could potentially rise up and steal the Big Ten title. Beyond those eight teams, the next five in the post-spring transfer portal Big Ten football power rankings will need a little luck and a lot of help to claim the conference crown.
Washington is two years removed from a national championship game appearance, but it’ll be a long road back to national prominence. Kalen DeBoer left for Alabama and took what remnants of his roster who didn’t go to the NFL with him, and Jedd Fisch was left to pick up the pieces with a 6-7 record last season. Washington’s hope for 2025 is that young quarterback Demond Williams Jr. is an immediate star, but even that may not be enough with Ohio State, Michigan, and Oregon on the schedule.
For the first time in a few years, Iowa fielded a somewhat functional offense in 2024, and there’s a chance that unit continues to improve with South Dakota State transfer Mark Gronowski taking over at quarterback. However, in a Big Ten that doesn’t have a wildly diluted West division, it’s difficult to see a path for the Hawkeyes to win the Big Ten. Kirk Ferentz was lucky enough to get both Penn State and Oregon at home, but even if they win one of those games, they’ll need some help to claim a spot in Indianapolis.
Michigan State is the last team outside of Oregon, Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State to win a Big Ten title, but in Year 2 under Jonathan Smith, that feels like a pipe dream. Even if quarterback Aidan Chiles takes another step forward in his second season as Smith’s starter, the Spartans will need their defense to perform better than 64th in the country in success rate.
PJ Fleck almost always finds a way to win a game or two that he shouldn’t, but don’t expect those games to come on the road in Columbus or Eugene. The Golden Gophers got a difficult schedule draw with both Oregon and Ohio State on the road, so they may already be out of luck, but Fleck is too good a coach to put Minnesota in the “no chance” tier.
Landing former five-star QB Nico Iamaleava because of a spring transfer portal NIL dispute with Tennessee was a massive stroke of luck for DeShaun Foster. The only problem is that Iamaleava hadn’t lived up to his five-star potential in Knoxville. Even if he suddenly develops into a superstar under offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri, the rest of UCLA’s roster is too far away from Big Ten title contention.