There could be some big changes at the top of the Big Ten football rankings in 2025, according to ESPN's prediction model.

After boasting four College Football Playoff teams and the national championship last year, the Big Ten is aiming for a dramatic encore in 2025.

Oregon made a splash in its first year in the Big Ten, going undefeated in the regular season and winning the conference title with a victory over Penn State in the championship game.

UCLA is coming into this year with three main goals. One being getting a positive record. Last year, the Bruins went 5-7. After going 5-7, they missed out on a

The Huskies will be hard-pressed to do much better in the secondary than they did in 2024, when they ranked second in the country with the fewest passing yards allowed per game. Washington returns cornerback Ephesians Prysock and has added fellow 6-foot-4 cornerback Tacario Davis to the mix.

BetMGM has the Badgers at +15,000 to win the Big Ten. So, a $100 bet will pay $15,000 if UW somehow finishes atop the 18-team league. While those odds are risky, they put the Badgers with the 12th-best chance to win the league.

The Big Ten is floating a 28-team College Football Playoff model, but sources say the proposal faces pushback from SEC, ACC, and Big 12 leaders.

10. Iowa: Don’t be surprised if Mark Gronowski, a South Dakota State transfer, emerges as one of the best quarterbacks in the conference. If the Hawkeyes play their standard brand of defense under coordinator Phil Parker, they could finish far closer to the top of the conference than the bottom — and this projection could look downright foolish.

According to Thamel, the new model proposed by the Big Ten suggests eliminating conference title games and awarding more auto bids for the four power conferences. In a 28-team playoff, the Big Ten and SEC would receive seven auto bids each, while the ACC and Big 12 would get five auto bids each, per Thamel.

Big Ten Football is about to return to NBC and Peacock to kick off the 2025 season, and with the return of the game comes the return of a football and broadcasting legend.