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The Big Ten currently holds bragging rights for the best conference in college football.
The SEC may still receive more national recognition. But after the latest round of conference realignment and Ohio State’s 2024 national title, the 18-team Big Ten measures up well compared to its southern counterpart. The conference boasts three of ESPN SP+’s top-six-ranked teams entering the 2025 season, including Ohio State at No. 1. It also dominated the SEC during the 2024 postseason, including several College Football Playoff triumphs.
That elevated standing can help to inform our 2025 season preview work. The Buckeyes, Oregon Ducks and Penn State Nittany Lions again project as the conference’s best, with Michigan, Iowa, Indiana and others also in the mix.
Those projections focus solely on each team’s quality. They must be considered along with their strength of schedule and path through conference play. Seen with Indiana last season, a good team with an easy schedule can combine for an 11-1 run and a CFP berth. Wisconsin in 2025 may display the opposite — a solid team with one of the toughest slates in the sport.
So, just as we did last weekend with each Big Ten team’s full 12-game schedule, it’s time for a specific forecast of conference play.
A reminder of the methodology:
The equation used to compare each slate is simple. First, we take each team’s SP+ rating to find a numerical value for every game. The higher that number, the tougher the matchup. We then add every opponent’s SP+ rating together to find a total opponent score. That large number is divided by the number 12 (total games) to find the average opponent score — a number that can then be compared to the SP+ leaderboard to find, on average, what a team will face each week. The game’s location (home or away) is not factored into analysis.
With that, as we…
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Publish date : 2025-04-05 10:20:00
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