Ranking Big Ten teams by 2021 confidence level

Just because a team is projected to do well doesn’t mean we’re confident about it.

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I’ve done Big Ten power rankings, but there’s one thing to say this is where each team stands compared to the others, it’s another to be able to feel confident that they’ll actually compete for the conference title or more.

Some schools might be projected to win their division, but that doesn’t mean that you know they will. Wisconsin, Penn State and Michigan all lost big in 2020, and while many expect them all to rebound, can you really feel as good about them as you do Indiana or Iowa — teams that succeeded last year?

With that in mind, here’s my confidence-level ranking for each team in the Big Ten, based off more than just what happened in the pandemic year.

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