ESPN's Heather Dinich: 'Ohio State will beat Michigan, but won't win the Big Ten'

Ohio State is the reigning champions of the college football world. Many believe they’re the favorites in the Big Ten, if not all of the sport in 2025, but not Heather Dinich.

The ESPN analyst joined Get Up on Monday to deliver a hot take on the Buckeyes. She’s thinking they’ll end their skid against Michigan, which is music to the ears of their fans in Columbus, but they won’t win the Big Ten.

“Ohio State will beat Michigan, but they will not win the Big Ten,” Dinich proclaimed. “Look, I’m sorry Buckeyes, but there are a lot of questions.

“When you lose your quarterback, your two leading rushers, your top three leaders in sacks, and by the way, both of your coordinators? There’s some questions in Columbus.”

As you can tell, Dinich believes there’s a myriad of questions pertaining to Ohio State’s season. The big question for her from ESPN’s Mike Greenberg was if not Ohio State, who’s going to win the Big Ten? The answer wasn’t difficult to come up with for Dinich. 

“It’s Penn State,” she proclaimed. “They’re my No. 1 preseason team. On paper, they are absolutely loaded. Back to the coordinator position, James Franklin might have the two best in the country. On offense, with Andy Kotelnicki, and Jim Knowles on defense, who he picked from Ohio State. Talk about a secret weapon.

“But you’ve also got Drew Allar back. He’s going to be better. He’s going to increase his draft stock. You’ve got Nick Singleton, Kaytron Allen. I mean, these guys are loaded on defense. Dani Dennis-Sutton, Zane Durant, you’ve got NFL talent all over that field.”

It’s been a bit since Penn State beat Ohio State, but many believe this is the season they rise to the occasion. Dinich is confident, but Paul Finebaum pushed back on the narrative a bit.

“Heather had me until you said No. 1 in the country. There is no way,” the SEC Network host responded. “Texas is the best team in the country. They are going to win the national championship. There is no way the Big Ten does it three years in a row. 

“I certainly, if I had to bet on somebody, I would never bet on James Franklin doing it. He’s a very good coach. He’s not a great coach. Penn State will not win the national championship.”

Alas, it’ll all be settled on the field, and until they’re defeated, Ohio State has the throne. Penn State, Texas and Michigan will all have a shot at beating the Buckeyes in 2025, and Ryan Day’s team will be highly motivated to show the world why they’re still No. 1 this season.