Each college football season, everyone starts out with an even slate and a chance as good as anyone else to win a conference championship. Everyone starts with a clean slate, but when you look at all the teams at the beginning of the season, there are some that everyone just knows don't have a shot at winning a conference championship.
For years, some teams just can't seem to figure out how to find the winning strategy that other teams have. In the Big Ten, there have been some teams that have struggled for years and found a way out of the struggle, but some still can't seem to find the winning formula.
4 teams that don't have a chance to win a Big Ten title in 2025
In the Big Ten, there are teams that seem to dominate every single season, but there are also some that can't seem to get away from the bottom of the conference. Here are four teams that most likely will have yet another season at the bottom of the conference.
1. Purdue Boilermakers
Purdue has been in the basement of the Big Ten for a while now, and now this season, they will be the only team in the conference with a new head coach. Barry Odom did his best to build a team through the transfer portal, but it's hard to recruit guys to a school that has only had 10 winning seasons since 2000.
The Boilermakers did not make a lot of strides in their roster for next season, but Odom could bring a new culture to Purdue. He may need a few seasons to build his roster, so Purdue doesn't have much of a chance at winning the Big Ten this season, but don't count them out in a few seasons.
2. Northwestern Wildcats
Northwestern, like Purdue, has had its struggles in past seasons. The Wildcats have had some success in a couple of past seasons, like in 2023, where they did have an 8-5 record, but consistent success has not really been in the cards for Northwestern.
Since 2000, Northwestern has only had one Big Ten title win and two other conference title game appearances. Head coach David Braun did a solid job building through he transfer portal, but this team still has a long way to go before it can think about winning any Big Ten titles.
3. Maryland Terrapins
Since 2000, Maryland has been to one Big Ten Championship and won it, but that was back in 2001. Since Mike Locksley took over, the Terrapins have had three winning seasons in six years and three bowl game wins, but never close to a Big Ten title game.
Maryland did well in the high school recruiting game, but those players need time to develop, and in the transfer portal, Locksley did not bring in a ton of talent, so a Big Ten title seems pretty unlikely.
4. Wisconsin Badgers
Since Luke Fickell took over two years ago, the Badgers have struggled to find any sort of success, especially not the kind they thought they would under a College Football Playoff coach. Fickell led the Cincinnati Bearcats team to the College Football Playoff as the first Group of Five team to ever make it in, however, he hasn't found success with a bigger program with bigger resources.
The Badgers lost a big part of their offense with Kyle Monangai going to the NFL, and Fickell still hasn't fixed his quarterback problem. Fickell has yet another new quarterback, and the transfer portal was not amazing for the Badgers, so a Big Ten title probably isn't in the future for the Badgers this season.