The spring football season is officially closed with every school having finished up spring practices, and for the ones that wanted to have them, including Michigan, spring games have been played. The spring window of the transfer portal has also closed, which means college football is in that dead period where high school recruiting starts to take center stage.
However, with the dead period here, it is time tos start taking a closer look at each team and see where they stand against the other teams in the conference. Can Oregon have the same success it had in year one of the Big Ten? Can Michigan bounce back after a down season? Will Ohio State repeat its success? Will this finally he the season for Penn State?
Here is a post-spring transfer portal Big Ten power ranking that will answer those questions and more.
The Purdue Boilermakers are practically starting from scratch after hiring Barry Odom from UNLV after last season. Odom will come in as the only new coach in the conference, and while he will look to make an impact like Curt Cignetti did with Indiana last season, he has a tough road ahead. He made a few moves in the transfer portal, coming in with the No. 14-ranked transfer portal team in the Big Ten, according to 247Sports; however, he is probably going to need more than one season to get his footing under him.
After yet another tough season, Northwestern is looking to find some sort of success anywhere, and they might have found something in SMU transfer quarterback Preston Stone, but he was benched with the Mustangs for a reason. Northwestern lost a lot of players to the transfer portal, and head coach David Braun didn't bring in a ton of talent other than Stone, giving him the No. 18 transfer portal class in the conference.
Maryland head coach Mike Locksley has shown he can recruit well at the high school level as he has the No. 8 ranked 2025 recruiting class in 2025 the conference, however, he has the No. 11 transfer portal class in the Big Ten. This means that the success of this program may not come right away, but instead will see it come in a few years.
Jonathan Smith's first season with Michigan State was probably not what he wanted, but he has worked to improve the roster for the Spartans going into next season. Smith did bring in 21 players from the transfer portal, two of them being four-star recruits. He did add a wide receiver for quarterback Aidan Chiles, who needs to play better in order for Michigan State to take that step forward next season.
There was a point in the season in 2024 that it looked like Rutgers could be making some moves; however, they still only finished 7-6 on the season. Quarterback Aidan Kaliakmanis played better than most thought he would last season, but running back Kyle Monoagai is gone, and he took a lot of the Scarlet Knights' offense with him to the NFL. The defense took a hit, but head coach Greg Schiano at least brought in 16 players from the portal. Will it be enough?
After two seasons at Wisconsin, Luke Fickell is going to need to show something this season in order to keep his job. Quarterback play has been the Achilles heel for the Badgers under Fickell, and it just seems like no answers are coming. This program just doesn't know who it is under Fickell, and the success he had at Cincinnati simply hasn't transferred to the Big Ten.
The UCLA Bruins were in the middle of probably one of the biggest offseason stories with the Bruins landing a five-star transfer, Nico Iamaleava, from Tennessee in the transfer portal. While this is a big pick-up for the Bruins, Iamaleava had problems last season with the Volunteers and couldn't be a down-the-field passer, and in DeShaun Foster's offense, he certainly won't have the weapons he did in Tennessee.
Washington had to replace their head coach and move into a new conference in the same season after making it to the National Championship and losing a good portion of their roster to the NFL and the transfer portal. That is a lot for one team, adn for Jedd Fisch to still lead this team to a 6-7 record seems like a miracle. Quarterback Desmond Williams Jr. is set to take over at the QB position this next season, which should be a huge boost for the Huskies, but the defense could lead to a lot of shootouts that the young gunslinger may not be ready for.
Teams in the Big Ten are still trying to figure out the Minnesota Golden Gophers. There are times they can be very scary and times when they struggle more than they should. However, head coach PJ Fleck always seems to be just competitive enough to make it seem like Minnesota is somewhat in the mix. There are questions around the quarterback room this coming season, but it seems other position groups are locked in place and looking to be very competitive.
The biggest question that surrounds the Hawkeyes this next season is what the offense will look like under Kirk Ferentz. Iowa lost a huge part of its offense with Kaleb Johnson going to the NFL, and even losing Brendan Sullivan seemed to hurt the Hawkeyes. However, Ferentz did land South Dakota State quarterback Mark Gronowski out of the transfer portal, who threw for 23 touchdowns and ran for 20 more last season. If Iowa can figure out how to produce well enough on offense, everyone knows their defense is elite, and they can truly contend.
There are still a lot of questions around whether or not Lincoln Riley can find true success at USC. Everyone knows he can do it; he did it at Oklahoma, but the success has not quite transferred over to USC. The Trojans need a lot of help on the defensive side of the ball, and they might have found some with the additions of Chasen Johnson, Ta'Mere Robinson, and Kennedy Urlacher. On the offensive side of the ball, Jayden Maiava is set to be the starting QB and the dual-threat quarterback has a lot of work ahead of him.
Nebraska had a strong start to the season last year with all the hype around true freshman Dylan Raiola, or the knockoff of Patrick Mahomes. Matt Rhule has the ability to turn the Cornhuskers into contenders, but a lot of that depends on the play of Raiola. He could take a serious step forward, or he could hit his sophomore slump, but with the additions in the transfer portal and the recruiting class, Nebraska has an opportunity to make some moves this season.
Illinois was a surprising team last season, but it is clear that head coach Bret Bielema knows what he is doing with the Fighting Illini. Quarterback Luke Altmyer could be one of the better quarterbacks returning to the Big Ten next season, and even though he lost some great wide receivers, Bielema went out and got him Justin Bowick and Hudson Clement as replacements, giving Altmyer great targets. Illinois has the ability to be the Indiana dark horse next season, they just need to put it all together.
The Indiana Hoosiers had one of the craziest turnarounds for a program seen in a long time, and it is all thanks to Curt Cignetti. Cignetti truly built a program that was designed for winning, and he isn't planning on letting last season be a fluke. While the Hoosiers lost some key players to the NFL and the transfer portal, Cignetti made sure to bring in great replacements like quarterback Fernando Mendoza and some great receivers from around the Big Ten.
The biggest expectation for the Michigan Wolverines next season is what quarterback Bryce Underwood is going to do. The Wolverines were still able to finish with an 8-5 record last season, with wins over USC, Ohio State, and Alabama last season even without a solid offense. The key for Michigan this next season is going to be their defense, which is looking to be elite. If the offense can come into place, the Wolverines have the opportunity to be a CFP team and a true title contender.
The Oregon Ducks performed well in their first season in the Big Ten, and Dan Lanning is proving to be an elite coach with the Ducks. After an undefeated season, losing only in the CFP to the Ohio State Buckeyes, Lanning made it a point to build his team up even more than last season. Dante Moore is looking to take the starting role next season after sitting behind Dillon Gabriel for a season, so the offense should be able to perform well.
Ohio State may be the reigning champions, but a lot of that squad is no longer in the facility, and Ryan Day has had to find a lot of replacements to fill some very key positions. Former five-star Julian Sayin will be taking over the quarterback duties for the Buckeyes, but he doesn't have a ton of experience. Being able to throw to Jeremiah Smith should make him feel a lot better. Depth is what the Buckeyes really need to worry about, but this is a championship team for a reason.
Penn State is returning almost its whole core squad from last season, including star quarterback Drew Allar and running backs Nichola Singleton and Kaytron Allen, who will make up the best backfield in the country. The wide receiver group is set to look even better with new additions, along with additions on the defensive side of the ball as well. Even with losses to the NFL, Penn State found a way to get over the hump last season to the CFP and could finish the job next season.