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.
Toppmeyer: Why the Big Ten desperately wants to rig College Football Playoff
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
Insider: IU football schedule a politicking punching bag in inconsistent College Football Playoff process
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
Local Boiler: 'Authentic' Lawrence Central grad can go 'as far as he wants' as Purdue football general manager
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
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Pete Carroll says Raiders didn't rush into decision to release Christian Wilkins
HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Raiders coach Pete Carroll said Friday the club didn't rush into its decision to release defensive tackle Christian Wilkins the day before over a dispute regarding his recovery from a broken foot. 'We took a long time to make our decision,' Carroll said. 'We watched our way through the whole thing. We're keeping it really clear with what we said. I think there was no clear path to his return, so we just had to move on.' His comments largely echoed the statement issued by the Las Vegas organization on Thursday. The Raiders didn't mince worse with an unusually strongly-worded statement, saying that Wilkins failed to provide a "clear path or plan for future return to play.' Wilkins was injured in Week 5 last season and had some sort of setback in his recovery that took him out of offseason practices and landed him on the physically unable to perform list shortly before training camp opened Wednesday. Wilkins, 29, was the Raiders' marquee free-agent signing last year, agreeing to a four-year, $110 million contract with $82.75 million guaranteed. The Raiders reportedly are voiding the remaining $35.25 million of Wilkins' deal. Wilkins has filed a grievance with the NFL Players Association, a person with knowledge of the situation said. That person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic. The Raiders will have a dead-salary cap of $29.8 million even if they win the grievance. With Wilkins off the roster, Adam Butler and Jonah Laulu ran first team at tackle this week in practice. Butler started 16 games last season, finishing with 65 tackles, eight for loss and five sacks. Laulu started seven games as a rookie, making 35 tackles, with three for loss and a sack. Both players were in all 17 games. 'This place is about competition,' Carroll said. 'It always has been. It's wide open. I'm not going to talk about any names right now. If you watch the rotations, we're giving everybody a chance. We're mixing the (starters) with the (backups) all the way throughout just to gather a bunch of information.' Wilkins was brought to Las Vegas to add an even stronger presence to a defensive line that includes pass rushers Maxx Crosby and Malcolm Koonce. He had a career-high nine sacks in 2023 with Miami to go with his elite run stopping ability. The hopes of forming one of the NFL's most imposing defensive lines took a major hit when all three linemen suffered season-ending injuries, though Crosby and Koonce are back practicing. Crosby was nearly unblockable Friday as the team continued to work in non-padded practices. Wilkins had two sacks and 17 tackles in five games before injuring his foot, which required surgery. He suffered a Jones fracture — a break of the bone that connects the pinkie toe to the base of the foot. ___ AP NFL:
Yahoo
3 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Blackhawks Should Swing Trade For Bruins Forward
The Chicago Blackhawks have had a quiet off-season thus far, but the possibility of them making another addition to their roster before the season is here should not be ruled out. They currently have over $21 million of cap space and could use it if it means bringing in a player that would help them beyond the 2025-26 campaign.
Yahoo
3 minutes ago
- Yahoo
How will Josh Naylor fit in with the Mariners?
Yahoo Sports senior MLB analysts Jordan Shusterman and Jake Mintz react to Seattle's acquisition of the All-Star first baseman from the Arizona Diamondbacks. Hear the full conversation on the 'Baseball Bar-B-Cast' podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. View more Video Transcript Now Josh Naylor isn't going to win any MVP awards. He was an All-Star last year. This year, the numbers are a little bit down. He's traded some power for some contact. He only has 11 home runs this year, he hit 31 last year, but he immediately becomes one of the best five hitters in this Mariners lineup, and it comes at a relatively affordable price with two pitching prospects, one of whom is in High A, and one of whom is a reliever. Josh Naylor's floor is really high, and I think that is really where the appeal comes in. Obviously, it's a rental situation, so it's not, you know, a long-term commitment. But when you look at him over the past four years, it's been rock solid. You know, the shape of the production has changed a little bit, but if you look at all the first basemen over the last four seasons, again, we're talking about a big sample size because he generally posts and hasn't had a lot of injuries since his very dramatic leg injury earlier in his career. He is not elite, but he is right at the top of that second tier. The Mariners are basically going to be trying to decide what kind of versatility they want to keep. Do they want to keep as much offensive upside on the roster, which would be keeping Ray, keeping Canzone, who's had a really nice run in right field, and then maybe it's the time is over for Solano, but like I said, then you're really lacking any sort of right-handed element on the bench. So maybe they send down Miles Masterboni and just trust Williamson and Dylan Moore to be the full utility guys. There's a few options here, but my instinct is that it's kind of the end for Solano, but I'm not totally sure. But I do think that Josh Naylor is an everyday first baseman, and I have to imagine that's how they're viewing him. So everything is going to have to fit around that reality. The dude shows up and the dude hits. He basically was exactly what Arizona asked him to do, and you have to give him credit for that, right? He's going to be a free agent. He understands that this is he's been in these postseason races too, you know, with Cleveland. And so he, you know, he'll fit in in that sense, and I trust him to kind of show up. He's a flawed hitter, you know, there are ways where he can kind of go cold, but for the most part, I think he just fits the Mariners for a lot of reasons, again, because of that floor and because of the fact that the lineup is in a better place overall, it looks a lot better to add a guy like him. Close