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Five B1G teams land in ESPN’s Top 25 future power rankings
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The unique Top 25 future power rankings from ESPN has been released.
Over the past few years, ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg has produced “future power rankings” for teams, looking at a three-year projection for some of college football’s top squads. He has ranked the quarterbacks, offenses and defenses, which culminates in the future Top 25 power rankings.
From Rittenberg:
FPR is ultimately a personnel-based projection, and some of the players cited in previous lists will be recognized here. But the team rankings take a wider-angle view of the nation’s Top-25 teams over the next three seasons: 2021, 2022 and 2023. Some teams just consistently outperform their personnel, which deserves recognition here.
In this year’s edition, five B1G teams earned recognition in the Top 25. Ohio State leads the way in the No. 3 spot and is the only conference team to crack the Top 10. Penn State, Wisconsin, Iowa and Northwestern also were included. Here’s where they fell, per Rittenberg:
No. 3: Ohio State Buckeyes
No. 12: Penn State Nittany Lions
No. 14: Wisconsin Badgers
No. 23: Iowa Hawkeyes
No. 24: Northwestern Wildcats
Noticeably absent from these rankings is traditional B1G power Michigan. The Wolverines are coming off a 2-4 campaign in 2020 and lost several players to the NCAA transfer portal. Not cracking the Top 25 future power rankings isn’t the best look for Jim Harbaugh and Co.
Traditional powers Alabama and Clemson occupied the top two spots, respectively. You can view the complete Top 25 by visiting ESPN.com (subscription required).
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB