Indiana gives the Big Ten its thirdnational championship in a row-and by a third different team. Where do the other Big Ten teams end up in the rankings? And how do those final rankings compare to the preseason rankings?
Now that the CFP is finished (congratulations to Indiana), it is time to look at where all of the Big Ten teams finished as far as the rankings.
Polls
Six Big Ten teams finished ranked in the top-25 in the AP poll and seven in the Coaches poll. Here is where they are ranked now (AP/Coaches).
- Indiana (1/1)
- Oregon (4/4)
- Ohio State (5/6)
- Iowa (17/17)
- USC (20/21)
- Michigan (21/22)
- Illinois (NR/25)
Illinois got enough votes to be #26 in the AP poll. The only other Big Ten team getting votes in either poll is Washington, which is #27 in both.
As a comparison, here are the Big Ten teams that were ranked (or at least received votes) in the preseason AP poll and where they ended up. (Preseason/Final)
- Penn State (2/Not Ranked)
- Ohio State (3/5)
- Oregon (7/4)
- Illinois (12/26)
- Michigan (14/21)
- Indiana (20/1)
- USC (30/20)
- Nebraska (33/Not Ranked)
- Iowa (42/17)
- Washington (Not Ranked/27)
Obviously Indiana, Iowa, and Washington over performed compared to their preseason. Penn State obviously underperformed the most. Illinois and Nebraska also underperformed.
Composite Ranking
The final ranking of the Massey Composite (https://masseyratings.com/ranks) includes 53different rankings (as of the writing of this article), including the AP and Coaches polls. The following “Cool Chart” shows the changes since the preseason for the teams in the Big Ten.
As you can see, there was some changes based on the results of the bowl games. Teams that won their bowl games (Iowa, Washington, Illinois, Penn State, Northwestern, and Minnesota) moved up. Teams that lost (Michigan, USC, and Nebraska) moved down.
The top 3 teams in the Big Ten have been the same since week 5. Indiana is solidly at the top; Ohio State dropped below Oregon.
Purdue has been at the bottom since week 9. Maryland was as high as #38 (week 5), but has dropped significantly since then; they finished #88. Penn State and UCLA both took big dips early in the season; both have rebounded but are below where they started in the preseason.
Here is a simplified look-just comparing preseason and final.
Clearly Northwestern improved the most since the preseason. Penn State dropped a lot (-25), but UCLA dropped even more (-32).
The top 8 teams in the conference in the preseason all finished among the top 9 teams in the conference. Washington was the one team that moved from the bottom half of the conference to the top half. Minnesota was the team in the top half that moved to the bottom half. Besides Minnesota, Penn State and Michigan were teams in the top half that went down; the rest all went up. Of the teams that started in the bottom half of the conference, Washington, Northwestern, and Purdue all went up; the rest all went down.
Ranking Comparison
Here’s how the Composite Ranking compares to some other rankings. (The Sagarin rankings include FBS and FCS teams. The SP+ rankings include all college teams, not just FBS and FCS.)
| School | Composite | FEI | FPI | SP+ | SRS | Sagarin | CBS Sports |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois | 21 | 22 | 30 | 24 | 19 | 27 | 31 |
| Indiana | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Iowa | 15 | 15 | 18 | 12 | 14 | 12 | 21 |
| Maryland | 88 | 68 | 73 | 76 | 77 | 85 | 86 |
| Michigan | 19 | 21 | 20 | 25 | 22 | 21 | 20 |
| Michigan State | 78 | 67 | 66 | 84 | 78 | 63 | 85 |
| Minnesota | 48 | 65 | 65 | 71 | 60 | 53 | 44 |
| Nebraska | 51 | 47 | 45 | 46 | 64 | 54 | 48 |
| Northwestern | 47 | 44 | 56 | 51 | 48 | 56 | 58 |
| Ohio State | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Oregon | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| Penn State | 27 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 26 | 10 | 46 |
| Purdue | 95 | 77 | 86 | 91 | 85 | 96 | 111 |
| Rutgers | 67 | 66 | 63 | 73 | 61 | 62 | 72 |
| UCLA | 81 | 75 | 75 | 99 | 79 | 79 | 79 |
| USC | 17 | 13 | 13 | 16 | 12 | 18 | 16 |
| Washington | 18 | 14 | 21 | 13 | 17 | 16 | 26 |
| Wisconsin | 60 | 59 | 60 | 86 | 63 | 49 | 83 |
Indiana is a unanimous #1-no surprise. Ohio State and Oregon are both in the top 5 in all of the rankings-although Ohio State is #6 in the Coaches poll. Iowa, USC, and Michigan are other teams that are in the top-25. Washington is in the top-25 in all but the CBS Sports ranking (and the AP and Coaches polls). Illinois and Penn State are in the top-25 in some of the rankings; Penn State is as high as #10 (Sagarin) but as low as #46 (CBS Sports). Wisconsin and Purdue are the two other Big Ten teams (besides Penn State) that vary by more than 30 places.
Advanced Stats
Here are some comparisons between the preseason and the final rankings for the Big Ten teams. First is FEI.
| School | FEI Preseason | FEI Final | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois | 39 | 22 | 17 |
| Indiana | 15 | 1 | 14 |
| Iowa | 20 | 15 | 5 |
| Maryland | 53 | 68 | -15 |
| Michigan | 9 | 21 | -12 |
| Michigan State | 74 | 67 | 7 |
| Minnesota | 22 | 65 | -43 |
| Nebraska | 36 | 47 | -11 |
| Northwestern | 80 | 44 | 36 |
| Ohio State | 1 | 3 | -2 |
| Oregon | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Penn State | 7 | 17 | -10 |
| Purdue | 98 | 77 | 21 |
| Rutgers | 50 | 66 | -16 |
| UCLA | 47 | 75 | -28 |
| USC | 14 | 13 | 1 |
| Washington | 32 | 14 | 18 |
| Wisconsin | 29 | 59 | -30 |
Most teams changed by less than 25 places. The exceptions are Minnesota, Northwestern, UCLA, and Wisconsin; of those, only Northwestern went up.
Next, here’s a look at how ESPN’s FPI rankings changed from the preseason.
| School | FPI Preseason | FPI Final | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois | 44 | 30 | 14 |
| Indiana | 31 | 1 | 30 |
| Iowa | 39 | 18 | 21 |
| Maryland | 61 | 73 | -12 |
| Michigan | 17 | 20 | -3 |
| Michigan State | 59 | 66 | -7 |
| Minnesota | 43 | 65 | -22 |
| Nebraska | 25 | 45 | -20 |
| Northwestern | 74 | 56 | 18 |
| Ohio State | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Oregon | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| Penn State | 5 | 16 | -11 |
| Purdue | 92 | 86 | 6 |
| Rutgers | 55 | 63 | -8 |
| UCLA | 47 | 75 | -28 |
| USC | 19 | 13 | 6 |
| Washington | 27 | 21 | 6 |
| Wisconsin | 38 | 60 | -22 |
With FPI, only 2 teams changed by more than 25 places. Indiana was up 30 while UCLA was down 28.
And finally, here’s a look at how the SP+ rankings changed since the preseason.
| School | SP+ Preseason | SP+ Final | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois | 27 | 24 | 3 |
| Indiana | 23 | 1 | 22 |
| Iowa | 25 | 12 | 13 |
| Maryland | 67 | 75 | -8 |
| Michigan | 8 | 25 | -17 |
| Michigan State | 65 | 83 | -18 |
| Minnesota | 40 | 70 | -30 |
| Nebraska | 32 | 46 | -14 |
| Northwestern | 86 | 51 | 35 |
| Ohio State | 1 | 2 | -1 |
| Oregon | 7 | 4 | 3 |
| Penn State | 4 | 15 | -11 |
| Purdue | 100 | 90 | 10 |
| Rutgers | 47 | 72 | -25 |
| UCLA | 50 | 98 | -48 |
| USC | 21 | 16 | 5 |
| Washington | 37 | 13 | 24 |
| Wisconsin | 38 | 85 | -47 |
With SP+ there are some more dramatic changes since the preseason. Wisconsin and UCLA are each down by almost 50 places.
Summary
Early in the season three Big Ten teams took big drops in the rankings: UCLA, Penn State, and Michigan State. All three are replacing their coaches. Maryland also saw a big drop but decided to keep their coach; so did the other teams that dropped.
Despite the fact that Purdue is last among the Big Ten teams in almost all of the rankings, they have improved over the preseason advanced stat rankings-unfortunately, not by a lot.
It has been pointed out many times at the turnaround by Indiana. But in 2023 Indiana was ranked #82 by SRS, #80 by FPI, and #88 by FEI. Now they are the national champions. They were also the first team to finish a season 16-0, and they did it by beating some of the best teams in the country (one, in particular, twice!).
Husky fans can rightly be disappointed that UW did not finish ranked in the top-25 in the major polls considering that most of the advanced stats rankings have them as a top-25 team. And they can be even more disappointed that they finished just behind an Illinois team that they beat handily in 2025. The good news clearly improved in 2025 compared to 2024. The other good news is that many of the early 2026 rankings have UW as a top-25 team. We’ll see if this continues through the long offseason.
Category: General Sports
