The first month of the 2025 college football season is already in the books. Although Michigan was idle in Week 5, that didn’t stop the schedule makers from constructing what turned out to be an incredible
Saturday slate to close out September.
While there’s still a ways to go before we find out who will be competing in this year’s Big Ten Championship or even the College Football Playoff, we have a slightly better picture of who the most relevant teams will be when we reach the end of the season. Today, we’ll be sifting through what we saw during the first month of the season and grouping the Big Ten’s teams into tiers based on how likely they are to be competing for the conference championship or a playoff bid.
The afterthoughts
UCLA (0-4), Purdue (2-2), Northwestern (2-2), Wisconsin (2-2)
I don’t think you would’ve found anyone stumping for any of these teams as playoff contenders before the season started, and nothing has happened so far to change that stance. UCLA checks in as the king of this tier, as the Bruins have been among the worst of the worst in Power 4 so far with losses to New Mexico and UNLV, while head coach DeShaun Foster was let go after Week 3.
Northwestern did defeat UCLA in Week 5, but hasn’t looked much better than the Bruins so far. Purdue is 2-2 under first-year coach Barry Odom with its offense doing its part, including a 30-point performance vs Notre Dame in Week 4, but the defense has a ways to go if it hopes to play spoiler against some of the middle of the pack opponents in the Big Ten.
Wisconsin is perhaps the most disappointing team in the Big Ten this year, as the Badgers are off to a rather ugly 2-2 start. Luke Fickell’s seat is about as hot as it can get right now with his team being overwhelmed in back-to-back losses to Alabama and Maryland. Wisconsin will travel to Ann Arbor this weekend in what could turn into an ugly affair.
As “mid” as it gets
Minnesota (3-1), Iowa (3-2), Maryland (4-0), Rutgers (3-2), Michigan State (3-1)
This group probably isn’t scaring anyone this year, but each of them has had its fair share of bright spots thus far. Iowa looks to be the best of the group, as it has two losses by a combined eight points to Iowa State and Indiana. Maryland has also been impressive with a 4-0 start, as true freshman quarterback Malik Washington appears to be the real deal with eight touchdowns and just one interception.
Similarly, Minnesota has done some good work with a not-so-great schedule with its lone loss coming at Cal; we’ll learn more about Minnesota when it faces Ohio State this week. The Scarlet Knights got off to a 3-0 start but have lost back-to-back games to Minnesota and Iowa. Quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis has been sold thus far with 1,399 yards through five games.
Michigan State appears to have taken a slight step forward in year two of the Jonathan Smith era. Led by Aidan Chiles, the Spartans earned a thrilling overtime victory over Boston College in Week 2, but recently suffered their first loss to USC in Week 4, albeit while scoring 31 points. Nobody is mistaking Michigan State for a contender right now, but it could be a pesky opponent for some better teams in the Big Ten.
Borderline playoff teams
Michigan (3-1), USC (4-1), Illinois (4-1), Washington (3-1), Nebraska (3-1)
All the teams here are still in play for both conference championship and playoff spots, but they’ve got some work to do to get there. Michigan and USC have probably been the most encouraging of the bunch so far. The Wolverines are off to a good start at 3-1, with its lone loss coming on the road against what looks to be a solid Oklahoma team.
Meanwhile, USC’s offense has been clicking on all cylinders with Jayden Maiava under center, but suffered its first loss over the weekend at Illinois. The Illini entered the season as a sneaky contender in the conference thanks to plenty of returning production on both sides of the ball. However, a 63-10 loss to Indiana is going to be hard to ignore on the resume.
Washington was impressive in its first three games of the season, but the Huskies were suffocated by Ohio State over the weekend for their first loss of the year. Meanwhile, Nebraska failed its lone big test of the year against Michigan, but its offense looks to be much improved from last year and should keep the Cornhuskers in any game they play.
S-Tier competitors
Oregon (5-0), Indiana (5-0), Ohio State (4-0), Penn State (3-1)
No real surprises here, as the teams expected to be good in the Big Ten this year have been good. Oregon is the leader after a 30-24 win at Penn State this past weekend. Dante Moore has been incredible and looks to be one of the best quarterbacks in the country in his first year as Oregon’s starting quarterback.
Indiana and Curt Cignetti are also back in in business with a 5-0 start after narrowly beating Iowa, 20-15, over the weekend. Fernando Mendoza looks to also be one of the conference’s best quarterbacks and was an integral part of the Hoosiers’ 63-point outburst against an above average Illinois defense. Meanwhile, Ohio State has been humming along with wins over Texas and Washington to pad the resume early in the season.
Finally, despite losing a game at home to Oregon over the weekend, Penn State still has all of its goals in front of it and is certainly still a playoff contender with one of the more talented rosters in the country. The schedule isn’t kind with games against Ohio State, Indiana and Nebraska late in the year, but the Nittany Lions shouldn’t be overmatched in any of them.
