Michigan is the heavy favorite to emerge as Big Ten champions for a third consecutive season, according to the annual cleveland.com Big Ten preseason media poll released Tuesday. The Wolverines received 27 of 37 possible first-place votes in the Big Ten East, while 27 voters also predicted that Michigan will topple whomever emerges from the West division.
Ohio State landed eight first-place votes as the Buckeyes look to reclaim superiority in the league amid the Wolverines' resurgence under coach Jim Harbaugh. Penn State also tallied two first-place votes in the division. In the West, Wisconsin narrowly edged Iowa by a 20-16 mark in first-place votes despite the fact that the Badgers are led by a first-year coach in Luke Fickell. Minnesota also received one first-place vote.
Four different schools have represented the Big Ten West in the league's championship game each of the past four seasons. By contrast, the Big Ten East has been dominated by the Buckeyes or Wolverines for the past six seasons as Ohio State won the conference for four straight seasons from 2017-20 before Michigan took control the past two years.
This marks the final season for the league under its current 14-team format before the arrival of UCLA and USC in 2024 turns the Big Ten into a 16-team super conference without divisions. The league will move to a "flex protect plus" schedule model and have the top two teams in the overall conference standings play each other in the Big Ten Championship Game at the end of the season.
Below are the full results of this year's cleveland.com preseason media poll with first-place votes in parentheses.
Big Ten West
1. | Wisconsin (20) | 233 |
2. | Iowa (16) | 232 |
3. | Minnesota (1) | 176 |
4. | Illinois | 152 |
5. | Nebraska | 116 |
6. | 89 | |
7. | Northwestern | 38 |
Big Ten East
1. | Michigan (27) | 248 |
2. | Ohio State (8) | 226 |
3. | Penn State (2) | 192 |
4. | Marlyand | 143 |
5. | Michigan State | 105 |
6. | 74 | |
7. | Indiana | 48 |
