The wait is officially over. After an eventful Week 0 of college football, we finally get a full slate on Saturday as the 2025 season truly gets off the ground in the Big Ten and across the country. Every week of the season I will be dropping my predictions for every game in the Big Ten, excluding games involving FCS opponents. Here are my predictions for Week 1 in the Big Ten:

Thursday: Rutgers over Ohio

Ohio was the best team in the MAC season last year and the Bobcats are a quality football team. Rutgers has been a middle of the pack Big Ten team, which is not spectacular but also not terrible, so the Scarlet Knights should be able to start the season off with a victory.

Thursday: Minnesota over Buffalo

P.J. Fleck has kept the Gophers as a very competitive team the last view years, will we see them finally breakout this year? I am excited to see how new quarterback Drake Lindsey fairs in game one but I do thing this team takes care of business in week 1.

Thursday: Nebraska over Cincinnati

This will be a great opening statement victory for Dylan Raiola and Matt Rhule. I can see Raiola making 1-2 Mahomes like plays in this game. We know for sure he will have the same exact pregame routine at least.

Friday: Michigan State over Western Michigan

Aidan Chiles will perform better this season and this Michigan State team should handle business against a middle of the pack MAC team last season.

No. 3 Ohio State over No. 1 Texas

This will be a college football championship game level matchup. I think Arch Manning will have a fantastic season this year I just think game 1 the nerves might get to him. Ohio State will make a statement to start their run for a two-peat.

Northwestern over Tulane

Northwestern had a really poor offense and that caused them to go 4-8 last season. Preston Stone should help this offense be better and starting the season off 1-0 could build some momentum for this season. If I had to guess I still believe Northwestern will be one of the worst Big Ten teams.

Maryland over FAU

Maryland will be another team that will be at the bottom of this conference but they usual have great success against teams that are not in the Big ten. Under their head coach Michael Locksley, the Terps are 17-1 in non-conference games, I don’t see that streak ending Saturday.

Purdue over Ball State

Purdue was really bad last year going 1-11 and getting blown out majority of the weeks last season safe to say the Big Ten had their way with the Boilermakers in 2024. The one game Purdue did win was week 1 versus Indiana State. This game should be a must win for Purdue.

Indiana over Old Dominion

Indiana albeit they got dominated was a team that made the college football playoff last season. This is a team that wins games in which they are the favorite it is just when they play teams that are better than them where we see them look like a different team.

Penn State over Nevada

Penn State is looked at by most the best team in the Big Ten so this is a game that should get really ugly really fast. Would be a nice game for Drew Allar to put up great stats for the Heisman resume.

Michigan over New Mexico

I believe freshman Bryce Underwood will deliver an impressive debut performance. This would be a great game for him to settle in and see what he can do before the schedule gets tough.

USC over Missouri State

The Trojans test out their new rushing attack versus a very poor run defense. I think we will see two 100-yard rushers in this Trojan backfield. I am really excited to see how this defense looks. I am expecting a big game from Eric Gentry; he should be flying all over the field.

UCLA over Utah

UCLA is the underdog in this matchup but Utah has lost each of its last four games as a favorite. Nico Iamaleava is one of the more scrutinized players in college football; what better way to silence the critics than an upset victory versus Utah.

Washington over Colorado State

 Demond Williams Jr. is coming into this season with a lot of hype and I think this will be the perfect introduction game for him. If he can be special for the Huskies this season watch out the Huskies can be a sleeper team in the Big Ten.

This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Big Ten football Week 1 game predictions as 2025 season gets rolling