Breakthrough coming? USA TODAY Sports Network's Big Ten football preseason rankings tabs Penn State as best
But it's a team that has for years played third fiddle that is picked to break the glass ceiling it has faced. A pool of writers across the USA TODAY Sports Network from coast to coast were polled on who will win the league, and Penn State was the preseason choice to win the championship Dec. 6 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The Nittany Lions have not won the Big Ten since 2016, their only time supplanting Ohio State and Michigan in the defunct East Division. Penn State lost to Oregon, 45-37, in last year's championship game, the first without divisions, but went on to reach a CFP national semifinal where they lost to eventual national runner-up Notre Dame.
It may be Penn State's best chance to win a national championship for the first time in 39 years. Though its 1994 team went undefeated, it was Nebraska that claimed the national title after beating Miami in the BCS national championship game. The Nittany Lions will have competition, though, as the Big Ten hopes to have a third straight national champion.
There was a grouping of Penn State, Ohio State and Oregon as the three programs who were predicted to finish first by network writers. A pool of teams were bunched up in the middle, and another cluster in the lower third.
They ranked teams first through 18th with a total points system used to rank teams: a first-place prediction equaled one point and last was 18. The team with the fewest points was ranked first.
First-year Purdue football coach Barry Odom has his work cut out for him. His Boilermakers were a consensus pick to finish 18th. Meanwhile in-state rival Indiana is not expected to have much of a drop off from a (tied) second-place finish in Curt Cignetti's first season.
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USA TODAY Sports Network preseason Big Ten champion, order of finish
1. Penn State, 16
2. Ohio State, 20
3. Oregon, 26
4. Michigan, 45
5. Illinois, 55
6. Indiana, 63
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7. USC, 72
(tie) 8. Nebraska, 85
(tie) 8. Washington, 85
10. Iowa, 86
11. Minnesota, 112
12. Wisconsin, 117
13. Rutgers, 138
14. UCLA, 139
15. Michigan State, 141
16. Maryland, 155
17. Northwestern, 165
18. Purdue, 180
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Champion: Penn State (5 votes)
Aaron Ferguson is assistant sports editor at the Indianapolis Star. He coordinates Big Ten polls, rankings, enterprise and more for the USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on Twitter/X at @Sports_Aaron, Instagram at a_ferg_writes, TikTok at sports_aaron, Reddit at sports_aaron and BlueSky at sportsaaron.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: USA TODAY Network's Big Ten football preseason rankings, championship picks
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