2023 Big Ten Preseason Power Rankings: Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State headline a stacked Top 3
We’re a little more than a month away from the official start of the 2023 college football season. Rejoice!
With various media days wrapping up around the country, it’s time to release our updated preseason 2023 Power Rankings for each P5 conference just before the start of fall camp. We kickstarted the series with the SEC, and today we update the latest Big Ten preseason Power Rankings:
Here are my 2023 Big Ten Preseason Power Rankings.
1. Michigan
Headlined by quarterback J.J. McCarthy and dynamic tailbacks Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards, Michigan returns 13 starters off last year’s title team and added a slew of impact transfers — especially along the OL and front seven. Harbaugh has said, “Now is the time to strike while the iron is hot,” and while he probably won’t be around to see the iron get heated up, he’ll be back for the important games come October and November.
2. Ohio State
A year ago, the Buckeyes were the unanimous pick to win the Big Ten East, but after losing to Michigan for the second-straight season, Ryan Day’s team is seen as the clear-cut No. 2 program in the conference right now. A win in Ann Arbor come Thanksgiving weekend would certainly change that notion.
Ohio State has an embarrassment of riches at receiver and tailback, and its front-seven should be among the best in the nation, too. There’s legitimate questions at OL, but entering fall camp, there’s buzz surrounding likely starting QB Kyle McCord.
3. Penn State
The Nittany Lions have been one of the darlings of the offseason, and while the hype has slowed a bit with Michigan still the prohibitive favorite to win the Big Ten East, PSU has the talent to get back to Indy for the first time since 2016.
Penn State has one of (if not the best) 1-2 punch at tailback with sophomores Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, and the belief is the offense should take a leap with former 5-star prospect Drew Allar under center. The defense is loaded with all-conference talent at all three levels and might be the best overall unit in the league in 2023. If the Nittany Lions can at least split Ohio State and Michigan, it could crack the College Football Playoff even if it misses out on a Big Ten title.
4. Wisconsin
The Badgers will look totally different under new head coach Luke Fickell, who brought in more than a dozen transfers and a splashy OC hire to modernize Wisconsin’s offense.
Star tailback Braelon Allen returns, and he’ll be playing alongside former SMU quarterback Tanner Mordecai in Phil Longo’s ‘Dairy Raid’ offense. The Badgers should be stout defensively, and if the program’s transition to the Air Raid isn’t too bumpy, then they’re the favorites to win the Big Ten West in the final year of divisions.
5. Iowa
Until proven otherwise, the Hawkeyes can be distilled down to the basic binary of awesome on defense, awful on offense. After historic woes in 2022, can embattled OC Brian Ferentz average at least 25 points per game? He has to if he wants to keep his job for 2024. Kirk Ferentz finally embraced the transfer portal, adding Michigan quarterback Cade McNamara, as well as several playmakers including former Ohio State wideout Kaleb Brown.
The Hawkeyes project to be elite defensively again this fall, so if the offense even has a pulse, they can certainly win the Big Ten West and even scare one of the conference’s three CFP contenders.
6. Maryland
Mike Locksley has methodically improved Maryland each year since arriving in College Park, and the Terps bring back one of the best quarterbacks in the Big Ten in Taulia Tagovailoa. The offense will look a bit different with OC Dan Enos off to Arkansas, but the Terps reloaded the receiver room via the portal (Kaden Prather and Tyrese Chambers) and signed a trio of likely starters along the OL.
The question is can Maryland stop anybody this fall? The defense ranked a respectable seventh in the league in yards per play allowed in 2022, but six starters must be replaced, including star cornerback Deonte Banks. The Terps must replace their entire starting DL, too.
7. Minnesota
The Gophers are coming off consecutive 9-4 seasons, but they’re set to face a much tougher schedule in 2023 (Michigan, Ohio State and Michigan State) — and that’s without veteran quarterback Tanner Morgan and star tailback Mohamed Ibrahim.
Minnesota should be solid again on defense, especially with the return of standout safety Tyler Nubin, and the Gophers are high on Western Michigan transfer tailback Sean Tyler (2,100 yards and 16 touchdowns the last two seasons, plus three KO return scores Minnesota has never won the Big Ten West, and unless first-year starting quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis is great immediately that streak is likely to continue.
8. Illinois
After nearly winning the Big Ten West in his second year in Champaign, the Fighting Illini look to be in store for a transition season in 2023. Bret Bielema must replace his ballyhooed DC Ryan Walters, now the head coach at Purdue, a slew of NFL Draft picks including 1st Round corner Devon Witherspoon and tailback Chase Brown, who ranked No. 2 in the Big Ten in rushing last season.
All is not lost, though, as Ole Miss transfer Luke Altmyer may be an upgrade at quarterback and Illinois does return seven starters on defense, including one of the most underrated interior defensive lines in the nation.
9. Nebraska
Matt Rhule typically takes a Year 0 approach at a new school, but after inheriting a better roster and using the transfer portal to shore up holes elsewhere, the Cornhuskers could legitimately snap their seven-year bowl-less streak in 2023.
Former Georgia Tech QB Jeff Sims won the team’s starting QB competition this spring, but the larger questions are whether Rhule has supplemented the front seven with enough help to shore up a unit that was dreadful against the run last season (No. 119 nationally). Nebraska added 13 transfers, including three off the reigning back-to-back national champion Georgia Bulldogs.
10. Michigan State
It seems like a really long time ago that Mel Tucker was seen as one of the fast-rising head coaches in the country, but Spartans’ program is flirting with a precipitous decline after a 5-7 year and a mass exodus of transfers this offseason. The timing is brutal, too, as MSU faces a gauntlet schedule in 2023 (Big Ten East foes + at Iowa and a non-conference game against a Top 10 Washington team).
Some 20 players left the program, including starting quarterback Payton Thorne and one of the top receivers in the Big Ten in Keon Coleman. Michigan State did add 17 transfers to the roster, with Tucker hoping defensive linemen Tunmise Adeleye, Deandre Butler and Ken Talley can help shore up a unit that was 13th in the Big Ten in yards per play allowed and last in third down defense.
11. Purdue
Former Illinois defensive coordinator Ryan Walters inherits a Boilermakers’ program making a stark transition after winning the Big Ten West title in 2023.
Walters brought in OC in Graham Harrell to run the Air Raid in West Lafayette, hoping to continue Purdue’s recent offensive success — albeit just in a new scheme. Texas transfer Hudson Card will be the starting quarterback, and the Boilermakers added some receiving weapons from the portal in FAU wideout Jamal Edrine and Marshall’s Corey Gammage. Getting to a bowl game should be considered a successful Year 1 for Walters considering all the moving pieces at Purdue this offseason.
12. Rutgers
The Scarlet Knights return a veteran team in 2023, but how much does that matter if they aren’t overall talented? They couldn’t average two touchdowns a game in conference play last season, and they return quarterback Gavin Wimsatt, who averaged just 5.2 yards per attempt in five starts.
Greg Schiano shook up the offensive staff by bringing back coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca to develop quarterback Wimsatt. Defensively, Rutgers looks like a mess still (34.3 points per game) unless a couple G5 transfers hit it big. Rutgers opens the season against Northwestern and then hosts Va. Tech two weeks later. The Scarlet Knights could be 3-0 heading into the Michigan game, or 1-2.
13. Indiana
Tom Allen faces intense pressure after going just 6-18 the last two seasons, so the Hoosiers’ head coach hoped to stymie the program’s downfall with a string of defensive transfers.
Indiana added 10 players from the portal to ideally improve a unit that ranked last in the Big Ten in points allowed per game in 2022. Allen also brought in former Tennessee 4-star signee Tayven Jackson to play quarterback. Indiana plays a brutal schedule (Big Ten East + Wisconsin + a non-conference game vs. Louisville) and still has major concerns along the offensive line (38 sacks allowed last season).
14. Northwestern
The Wildcats have lost 11 straight games and yet that’s the least of the program’s problems as the entire athletic department is embroiled in scandal.
Earlier this month, beloved head coach Pat Fitzgerald was fired amid an alleged hazing scandal, and the university is facing a litany of lawsuits by former players. Former North Dakota State defensive coordinator David Braun inherits an impossible situation as the interim head coach, as the team was already expected to be bad in 2023 — and now there’s uncertainty what the roster will even look like come the end of fall camp.