Michigan football is coming off of its best season since 1997, and its first Big Ten win since 2004. Certainly, that’s given the Wolverines a little cache and recency bias, suggesting that the maize and blue will run it back and win another title, right?
In the eyes of the media, no, not a chance.
In the annual Cleveland.com media poll, which is in its 12th year and surveys 36 members of the media, Ohio State unanimously was picked to win the Big Ten East and the Big Ten Championship in 2022, despite the Wolverines having won the prize a year ago. Michigan got exactly zero first place votes as the Buckeyes got all of them for the East division.
Here is the result of said poll:
WEST DIVISION
1. Wisconsin (31 first-place votes) 246 points
2. Iowa (3) 198
3. Minnesota (2) 162
4. Purdue 153
5. Nebraska 1236. Illinois 65
7. Northwestern 61
EAST DIVISION
1. Ohio State (36) 252
2. Michigan 203
3. Penn State 169
4. Michigan State 162
5. Maryland 104
6. Rutgers 60
7. Indiana 58
BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Ohio State over Wisconsin (31)
Ohio State over Iowa (3)
Ohio State over Minnesota (2)
OTHER POLL NOTES
• There is little consensus behind Wisconsin in the West, as every team received a vote to finish as high as third
In fairness to the voters, Michigan has been picked to win the conference twice in recent memory — 2012 and 2019 — and failed both times. On the other hand, Ohio State has been picked to win the conference in the last three polls, but obviously was incapable in 2021. The Cleveland.com poll has a 3-8 record thus far in accurately predicting the Big Ten winner. It has picked Ohio State to win the conference seven times, and was accurate on that count just thrice.
We’ll see if that trend continues or not this coming season.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbzardvge799bm2 player_id=01f5k5y2jb3twsvdg4 image=https://wolverineswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]