By all means, the 2024 college football season is going to be historic. There’s a good chance that, way down the line, we look back at the 2024-25 season and say that it marked a new era in the sport, with the level of conference realignment that will take place, and the expansion to the 12-team College Football Playoff.
Going forward, as we shift from a Power 5 landscape to a Power 4 landscape in terms of conferences, the writing is on the wall for things to further morph into a Power 2 landscape, with the Big Ten and SEC leading the way. Some of the best teams in the nation — Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon, Texas, Michigan, and many more — reside in either of those two conferences going into the 2024 season. We have a good idea, based on a multitude of preseason rankings, which teams in those conferences will be among the top dogs this season.
But beyond that, how will the power balance shift? Are there schools that may be waiting in the weeds right now — maybe due to a coaching change — that could take over as a power in years to come? That’s what we want to look at in our future power rankings.
Here’s our estimation on which teams in the Big Ten will be near the top of the standings over the next five years.