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The B1G hasn't released a preseason poll for 15 years, but Cleveland.com has continued the tradition by conducting its own poll of media members. This year, 24 beat writers submitted their order of finish for the 18 teams in the league.
Conference USA, the Big 12 and the American conferences have all said they will not release a preseason media poll this season after years of doing so. American conference commissioner Tim Pernetti said, "I think it’s more difficult to actually put your finger on how this should look, given that rosters look dramatically different every year. The transfer portal has created a lot of uncertainty and chaos.”
When the ballots were all counted in the B1G Poll, Penn State emerged as the favorite as the Nittany Lions seek to claim their first conference title since 2016. However, the 2025 Big Ten title odds at FanDuel.com have Ohio State (+185) leading Penn State (+230) and Oregon (+330). Then there's a significant dropoff before we get to Michigan (+1100), and the next tier starts with USC (+2100) and Iowa (+3700).
It's the first time since 2014 that either Ohio State or Michigan were not picked to lead the league. At the other end of the spectrum, it's the second straight year, Purdue was picked to finish last. None of the voters had the Boilermakers finishing better than 14th.
Penn State and Ohio State actually split the first-place vote count with 11-apiece. The only other schools to be listed in first place on any of the ballots were defending conference champion Oregon with 2 and Michigan with 1.
Oregon was the regular season champion in their first year in the conference after the Ducks ran the table to a 9-0 finish, as predicted by the Congrove Computer Rankings at CollegeFootballPoll.com.. Oregon then knocked off Penn State, 42-37, in the championship game in Indianapolis. Penn State and Indiana were both 8-1 in the regular season, but the Nittany Lions earned the second entry to the championship game due its head-to-head win over the Hoosiers who had their best season in history under first-year head coach Curt Cignetti.
Oregon, Penn State and Indiana all gained entry to the new expanded College Football Playoff which grew from 4 teams to 12, as did Ohio State which finished 4th in the regular season at 7-2 in conference play, but defeated Tennessee, Oregon and Notre Dame - in that order - by an average of 18.66 points to win its first national title since 2014.
The Buckeyes thrashed the Vols 42-17 in Columbus in the first round, then avenged a 32-31 regular season loss to the Ducks at Autzen Stadium in Eugene by opening up a 34-0 lead by halftime and cruising to a 41-21 win in the Rose Bowl. In the National Championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Notre Dame scored first before Ohio State tallied 31 unanswered points for a 31-7 lead at the midway point of the 3rd quarter. The Irish managed to pull back within 8 at 31-23 with 4:14 to play, but Buckeyes added a 33-yard field goal with 26 seconds left for a final margin of 34-23.
Oregon and Ohio State both have some work cut out for them in 2025. The Ducks lost a record 10 players to the NFL Draft in April but had lost 8 in 2024 and that worked out okay for them. The Buckeyes had 14 players taken in this year's draft and 3 more were signed as undrafted free agents.
Penn State returns 14 starters from last year's club, including QB Drew Allar and the backfield tandem of thousand-yard rushers Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen.
Allar threw for 3,327 yards with 24 TD's and 8 INT's, while Singleton rushed for 1,099 (12 TD's) and Allen for 1,108 (8 TD's).
At Oregon, keep an eye on EDGE rusher Matayo Uiagalelei, the younger brother of DJ who had an underwhelming college career as a quarterback at Clemson (2020-2022) Oregon State (2023) and Florida State (2024). His 2024 campaign ended early with a broken finger late in game five at SMU. Matayo was third in the conference in 2024 with 10.5 sacks, trailing only defensive end JT Tuimolau of Ohio State with 12.5 and linebacker Abdul Carter of Penn State with 12. Tuimolau was taken with the 45th over-all pick by Indianapolis and Carter was chosen third overall by the New York Giants.
Indiana had an experienced lineup in 2024, but 2025 is a different story as the Hoosiers are expected to return just 4 starters on each side of the ball.
Purdue is the only B1G program with a new head coach in 2025 as Barry Odom replaces Ryan Walters who was 5-19 in two seasons, including 1-11 in 2024. Odom led UNLV to a 10-3 record with a loss at Boise State in the MWC Championship game. It was the first HC job for Walters who previously served as the DC for Illinois and Missouri. Odom was 19-8 in two seasons at UNLV after previously spending 4 seasons as the HC at Missouri where he was 25-25. He is 0-3 in bowl games.
Big Ten Media Days wrapped up Thursday in Las Vegas.
The conference did release a watch list of players with five from each division.
QB Luke Altmyer, ILL
OLB Gabe Jacas, ILL
DL Mikail Kamara, IND
DB D’Angelo Ponds, IND
OT Gennings Dunker, IOWA
C Logan Jones, IOWA
DB Koi Perich, MINN
OLB Matayo Uiagalelei, ORE
DB Dillon Thieneman, ORE"
SAF Caleb Downs, OSU
WR JEREMIAH SMITH, OSU
LB Sonny Styles, OSU
QB Drew Allar, PSU
DE Dani Dennis-Sutton, PSU
RB Nicholas Singleton, PSU
A first-place vote on each ballot was worth 18 points and last-place was worth a single point.
| Rank | Team (1st) | Points | Avg. Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Penn State (11) | 435 | 1.60 |
| 2 | Ohio State (11) | 431 | 1.76 |
| 3 | Oregon (2) | 405 | 2.80 |
| 4 | Illinois | 353 | 4.88 |
| 5 | Michigan (1) | 346 | 5.16 |
| 6 | Indiana | 305 | 680 |
| 7 | Iowa | 287 | 7.52 |
| 8 | Nebraska | 277 | 7.92 |
| 9 | USC | 269 | 8.24 |
| 10 | Washington | 216 | 10.36 |
| 11 | Minnesota | 192 | 11.32 |
| 12 | Wisconsin | 159 | 12.60 |
| 13 | Michigan State | 135 | 13.60 |
| 13 | Rutgers | 135 | 13.60 |
| 15 | UCLA | 134 | 13.64 |
| 16 | Maryland | 91 | 15.36 |
| 17 | Northwestern | 65 | 16.40 |
| 18 | Purdue | 39 | 17.44 |
| Rank | Team (1st) | Points | Avg. Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio State (21) | 480 | 1.22 |
| 2 | Oregon (6) | 448 | 1.81 |
| 3 | Penn State | 418 | 3.52 |
| 4 | Michigan | 411 | 3.78 |
| 5 | Iowa | 363 | 5.56 |
| 6 | USC | 346 | 6.19 |
| 7 | Wisconsin | 313 | 7.41 |
| 8 | Nebraska | 293 | 8.15 |
| 9 | Rutgers | 249 | 9.56 |
| 10 | Washington | 236 | 10.26 |
| 11 | Maryland | 185 | 12.07 |
| 12 | Minnesota | 183 | 12.22 |
| 13 | Illinois | 145 | 13.63 |
| 14 | Northwestern | 138 | 13.89 |
| 15 | UCLA | 124 | 14.41 |
| 16 | Michigan State | 119 | 14.59 |
| 17 | Indiana | 76 | 16.15 |
| 18 | Purdue | 65 | 16.59 |
| Year | Team | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1896 | Wisconsin | 2-0-1 |
| 1897 | Wisconsin | 3-0-0 |
| 1898 | Michigan | 3-0-0 |
| 1899 | Chicago | 4-0-0 |
| 1900 | Iowa Minnesota |
2-0-1 3-0-1 |
| 1901 | Michigan Wisconsin |
4-0-0 2-0-0 |
| 1902 | Michigan | 5-0-0 |
| 1903 | Michigan Minnesota Northwestern |
3-0-1 3-0-1 1-0-2 |
| 1904 | Michigan Minnesota |
2-0-0 3-0-0 |
| 1905 | Chicago | 7-0-0 |
| 1906 | Michigan Minnesota Wisconsin |
1-0-0 2-0-0 3-0-0 |
| 1907 | Chicago | 4-0-0 |
| 1908 | Chicago | 5-0-0 |
| 1909 | Minnesota | 3-0-0 |
| 1910 | Illinois Minnesota |
4-0-0 2-0-0 |
| 1911 | Minnesota | 3-0-1 |
| 1912 | Wisconsin | 5-0-0 |
| 1913 | Chicago | 7-0-0 |
| 1914 | Illinois | 6-0-0 |
| 1915 | Illinois Minnesota |
3-0-2 3-0-1 |
| 1916 | Ohio State | 4-0-0 |
| 1917 | Ohio State | 4-0-0 |
| 1918 | Illinois Michigan Purdue |
4-0-0 2-0-0 1-0-0 |
| 1919 | Illinois | 6-1-0 |
| 1920 | Ohio State | 5-0-0 |
| 1921 | Iowa | 5-0-0 |
| 1922 | Iowa Michigan |
5-0-0 4-0-0 |
| 1923 | Illinois Michigan |
5-0-0 4-0-0 |
| 1924 | Chicago | 3-0-3 |
| 1925 | Michigan | 5-1-0 |
| 1926 | Michigan Northwestern |
5-0-0 5-0-0 |
| 1927 | Illinois | 5-0-0 |
| 1928 | Illinois | 4-1-0 |
| 1929 | Purdue | 5-0-0 |
| 1930 | Michigan Northwestern |
5-0-0 5-0-0 |
| 1931 | Michigan Northwestern Purdue |
5-1-0 5-1-0 5-1-0 |
| 1932 | Michigan | 6-0-0 |
| 1933 | Michigan | 5-0-1 |
| 1934 | Minnesota | 5-0-0 |
| 1935 | Minnesota Ohio State |
5-0-0 5-0-0 |
| 1936 | Northwestern | 6-0-0 |
| 1937 | Minnesota | 5-0-0 |
| 1938 | Minnesota | 4-1-0 |
| 1939 | Ohio State | 5-1-0 |
| 1940 | Minnesota | 6-0-0 |
| 1941 | Minnesota | 5-0-0 |
| 1942 | Ohio State | 5-1-0 |
| 1943 | Michigan Purdue |
6-0-0 6-0-0 |
| 1944 | Ohio State | 6-0-0 |
| 1945 | Indiana | 5-0-1 |
| 1946 | Illinois | 6-1-0 |
| 1947 | Michigan | 6-0-0 |
| 1948 | Michigan | 6-0-0 |
| 1949 | Michigan Ohio State |
4-1-1 4-1-1 |
| 1950 | Michigan | 4-1-1 |
| 1951 | Illinois | 5-0-1 |
| 1952 | Purdue Wisconsin |
4-1-1 4-1-1 |
| 1953 | Illinois Michigan State |
5-1-0 5-1-0 |
| 1954 | Ohio State | 7-0-0 |
| 1955 | Ohio State | 6-0-0 |
| 1956 | Iowa | 5-1-0 |
| 1957 | Ohio State | 7-0-0 |
| 1958 | Iowa | 5-1-0 |
| 1959 | Wisconsin | 5-2-0 |
| 1960 | Iowa Minnesota |
5-1-0 5-1-0 |
| 1961 | Ohio State | 6-0-0 |
| 1962 | Wisconsin | 6-1-0 |
| 1963 | Illinois | 5-1-1 |
| 1964 | Michigan | 6-1-0 |
| 1965 | Michigan State | 7-0-0 |
| 1966 | Michigan State | 7-0-0 |
| 1967 | Indiana Minnesota Purdue |
6-1-0 6-1-0 6-1-0 |
| 1968 | Ohio State | 7-0-0 |
| 1969 | Michigan Ohio State |
6-1-0 6-1-0 |
| 1970 | Ohio State | 7-0-0 |
| 1971 | Michigan | 8-0-0 |
| 1972 | Michigan Ohio State |
7-1-0 7-1-0 |
| 1973 | Michigan Ohio State |
7-0-1 7-0-1 |
| 1974 | Michigan Ohio State |
7-1-0 7-1-0 |
| 1975 | Ohio State | 8-0-0 |
| 1976 | Michigan Ohio State |
7-1-0 7-1-0 |
| 1977 | Michigan Ohio State |
7-1-0 7-1-0 |
| 1978 | Michigan Michigan State |
7-1-0 7-1-0 |
| 1979 | Ohio State | 8-0-0 |
| 1980 | Michigan | 8-0-0 |
| 1981 | Iowa Ohio State |
6-2-0 6-2-0 |
| 1982 | Michigan | 8-1-0 |
| 1983 | Illinois | 9-0-0 |
| 1984 | Ohio State | 7-2-0 |
| 1985 | Iowa | 7-1-0 |
| 1986 | Michigan Ohio State |
7-1-0 7-1-0 |
| 1987 | Michigan State | 7-0-1 |
| 1988 | Michigan | 7-0-1 |
| 1989 | Michigan | 8-0-0 |
| 1990 | Illinois Iowa Michigan Michigan State |
6-2-0 6-2-0 6-2-0 6-2-0 |
| 1991 | Michigan | 8-0-0 |
| 1992 | Michigan | 6-0-2 |
| 1993 | Ohio State Wisconsin |
6-1-1 6-1-1 |
| 1994 | Penn State | 8-0-0 |
| 1995 | Northwestern | 8-0-0 |
| 1996 | Northwestern Ohio State |
7-1 7-1 |
| 1997 | Michigan | 8-0 |
| 1998 | Michigan Ohio State Wisconsin |
7-1 7-1 7-1 |
| 1999 | Wisconsin | 7-1 |
| 2000 | Michigan Northwestern Purdue |
6-2 6-2 6-2 |
| 2001 | Illinois | 7-1 |
| 2002 | Iowa Ohio State |
8-0 8-0 |
| 2003 | Michigan | 7-1 |
| 2004 | Iowa Michigan |
7-1 7-1 |
| 2005 | Penn State Ohio State |
7-1 7-1 |
| 2006 | Ohio State | 8-0 |
| 2007 | Ohio State | 7-1 |
| 2008 | Penn State Ohio State |
7-1 7-1 |
| 2009 | Ohio State | 7-1 |
| 2010 | Wisconsin Michigan State Ohio State |
7-1 7-1 7-1 |
| 2011 | Wisconsin | 6-2 |
| 2012 | #-Wisconsin | 4-4 |
| 2013 | Michigan State | 8-0 |
| 2014 | Ohio State | 8-0 |
| 2015 | Michigan State | 7-1 |
| 2016 | Penn State | 8-1 |
| 2017 | Ohio State | 8-1 |
| 2018 | Ohio State | 8-1 |
| 2019 | Ohio State | 8-1 |
| 2020 | Ohio State | 5-0 |
| 2021 | Michigan | 8-1 |
| 2022 | Michigan | 9-0 |
| 2023 | Michigan | 9-0 |
| 2024 | Oregon | 9-0 |
| Records are regular season conference records. #-In 2012, Ohio State and Penn State were 1st and 2nd in their division, but were on probation. Therefore, Wisconsin represented the division. |
||
| Date | Result | Site |
|---|---|---|
| 12/3/11 | Wisconsin 42, Michigan State 39 | Indianapolis |
| 12/1/12 | Wisconsin 70, Nebraska 31 | Indianapolis |
| 12/7/13 | Michigan State 34, Ohio State 24 | Indianapolis |
| 12/6/14 | Ohio State 59, Wisconsin 0 | Indianapolis |
| 12/5/15 | Michigan State 16, Iowa 13 | Indianapolis |
| 12/3/16 | Penn State 38, Wisconsin 31 | Indianapolis |
| 12/2/17 | Ohio State 27, Wisconsin 21 | Indianapolis |
| 12/1/18 | Ohio State 45, Northwestern 24 | Indianapolis |
| 12/7/19 | Ohio State 34, Wisconsin 21 | Indianapolis |
| 12/19/20 | Ohio State 22, Northwestern 10 | Indianapolis |
| 12/4/21 | Michigan 42, Iowa 3 | Indianapolis |
| 12/3/22 | Michigan 43, Purdue 22 | Indianapolis |
| 12/2/23 | Michigan 26, Iowa 0 | Indianapolis |
| 12/7/24 | Oregon 45, Penn State 37 | Indianapolis |