National Champs always publishes its Way-Too-Early Predictions for the Opening Polls of the following season in December. That said, in the past they have done a solid job of guessing the top teams. The good news is that for the teams who would like to forget 2008, the clock starts on 2009. The bad news is that 2009 might not look that different than 2008... Projected Rank of Big Ten Teams 7. Ohio State 10. Penn State 15. Iowa 18. Minnesota Yes, bowl results will shake this up. Yes, early-entry decisions will shake this up. But the early projection is another down year for the Big Ten.