Rece Davis makes Big Ten champion prediction for 2025 season

The long wait for the 2025 college football season is over, and ESPN "College GameDay" host Rece Davis has made his Big Ten champion prediction following back-to-back national championship seasons for the major conference.

Head coach Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes took home last season's national title after a perfect season from rival Michigan.

While the Buckeyes won it all, it was Oregon and head coach Dan Lanning that took home the Big Ten crown over Penn State for their first conference title after coming over from the Pac-12.

In 2025, six Big Ten teams are ranked in the preseason AP Top 25, including Penn State (No. 2) Ohio State (No. 3), Oregon (No. 7), Illinois (No. 12), Michigan (No. 14) and Indiana (No. 20).

Davis foresees an interesting trek to this year's Big Ten title, which will also come with an automatic College Football Playoff berth.

The long time ESPN broadcaster predicts defending champion Oregon to lose to Penn State on Sept. 27 before the Nittany Lions travel to Ohio State on Nov. 1. There, Davis predicts a loss for James Franklin and Co., and one that Penn State is able to bounce back from on the way to its first conference title since 2016.

"I believe Penn State is going to beat Oregon in the regular season matchup," Davis said on the "College GameDay Podcast." "Then they go to Columbus and lose… Then they get the rematch in the Big Ten Championship Game and I, too, am going with the Nittany Lions to win, huge game, win the conference championship game and represent the Big Ten as conference champions."

There is a lot to like about Penn State this season after the program made its first ever playoff appearance and logged a school-record 13 wins.

Star quarterback Drew Allar returns as the most experienced passer in the conference, and he has two star rushers back in Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton. The defense is expected to reload and provide some significant challenges to opposing offenses after signing former Ohio State coordinator Jim Knowles in the offseason.

Those factors are on paper, though, and the talent among teams like Ohio State, Oregon and Michigan will likely prove tough to overcome, to say the least.

Penn State will open the season at home against Nevada on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET (CBS).