It figures to be an unpredictable Big Ten football season. Ohio State won the College Football Playoff national championship last year but lost 14 guys to the NFL, so there’s a to of talent to replace. Heck, despite winning the ultimate prize, the Buckeyes only finished in fourth place in the conference behind Oregon, Penn State, and Indiana.
The Ducks won the League in their first season in the Big Ten, but they, too, have to replace some key pieces. Indiana figures to take a step back unless we get some more of that unexpected Curt Cignetti magic, and while Penn State probably has the most returning talent, the Nittany Lions have yet to show they can beat the top of the conference consistently. We haven’t discussed Michigan yet, but it should be better than last season if it can continue to build off of a great finish.
We’ll take our stab at predicting how the teams will stack up in the conference in our own time, but two Big Ten football analysts got ahead of the game by doing so already. Former Michigan tight end and Columbus area native Jake Butt joined Adam Breneman to pick the order of finish in the Big Ten for the 2025 season, and there were indeed some differences.
Here’s how Butt saw things playing out with the top half of the League, with a nod to the good guys:
Breneman differed not only on the champion of the league, but elsewhere as well. Here’s how he sees the top nine shaking out:
- Penn State
- Ohio State
- Oregon
- Illinois
- USC
- Indiana
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Iowa
If this rings true — even with the second-place finish predicted by Breneman — you can go ahead and pencil Ohio State into the College Football Playoff again. However, buyer beware because, as we know, predictions like these are rarely correct, and there will be a slew of surprises and disappointments coming this fall.
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