USC Trojans Snubbed From Early Top-25 Football Rankings?

Shortly after the Ohio State Buckeyes 34-23 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the National Championship on Monday night, ESPN’s Mark Schlabach released his Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings for the 2025 college football season. The Trojans were not ranked. Should they have been?

USC is coming off a 7-6 season. The Trojans were ranked No. 23 in the 2024 preseason AP Poll and got to as high as No. 11 before tumbling out the rankings completely. They had 21 players enter the transfer portal and failed to bring in a top ten recruiting class. 

The reality is that right now, coach Lincoln Riley’s team does not not deserve any assumption of being a top 25 team heading into next season until they show it on the field.

Six Big Ten Teams In Way-Too-Early Rankings

There are six Big Ten teams in the Top 25. The Big Ten teams ranked are the Ohio State at No. 1, Penn State at No. 3, Oregon at No. 6, Illinois at No. 13, Indiana at No. 17, and Michigan at No. 21. 

There may be a changing of the guard of who the elite college football conference is. For decades, it was the SEC. Alabama, Georgia, and LSU had dominated the sport, but times are changing. The Big Ten has now won the last two National Champions, with Michigan winning in 2023 and Ohio State winning in 2024. 

Not only has an SEC team not won the National Championship since Georgia in the 2022 season, an SEC hasn’t even made an appearance. In addition to Michigan and Ohio State winning the previous two national championships, the Big Ten has other programs knocking on the door.

The Penn State Nittany Lions have been one of the premier programs in the Big Ten for quite some time, but have not been able to get over the hump of beating Ohio State Michigan. Despite this, Penn State made this season's College Football Playoff Semifinals. They lost on a last second field goal to Notre Dame. The Nittany Lions will be back next year with quarterback Drew Allar.

Another team to be feared from the Big Ten is the Oregon Ducks. Oregon went into the College Football Playoff 13-0 as Big Ten champions and ranked No. 1 in the country before losing to Ohio State. Ducks coach Dan Lanning will have them as a contender for a long time.