Tag: Cleveland.com

Where did Rutgers land in 12th annual Cleveland.com preseason poll?

Cleveland.com has released their annual preseason Big Ten football poll. See where Rutgers landed in the voting

Since 2011, Cleveland.com has released their annual preseason Big Ten football poll. Ohio State was unanimously voted as the Big Ten conference champions for the third straight year. It is the first time since 2015 there was a unanimous winner. The Buckeyes have now been selected as overall conference winners for the third straight year and seventh year total.

Cleveland.com Big Ten voters have correctly selected the conference champion three times during the polls 12 year history – 2017, 2018, and 2020. The voters include “beat writers from 13 of 14 Big Ten teams and some who cover the entire league or have a national perspective.”

Ohio State is obviously the winner in the East. Over in the west, Wisconsin took 31 of 36 first place votes. Let’s look at where Rutgers and the rest of the Big Ten fell in the rankings.

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Where did Nebraska land in the preseason Big Ten football poll ?

A familiar team has been selected to win this season’s conference championship!

For the 12th straight year, Cleveland.com has released the results of its preseason Big Ten football poll. Ohio State has been selected to win the Big Ten conference overall for the third straight year and is the first unanimous preseason favorite to win the conference championship since 2015. In the west, Wisconsin is the overwhelming favorite taking 31 of the 36 first-place votes, with Iowa and Minnesota each earning several votes.

Since Cleveland.com started its preseason Big Ten football poll in 2011, the Big Ten writers have only selected the correct preseason winners three times (2017, 2018, 2020). The publication was forced to take on the responsibility for organizing the poll after the Big Ten conference dropped the preseason poll 12 years ago. The voters comprise a “panel included beat writers from 13 of 14 Big Ten teams and some who cover the entire league or have a national perspective.”

Where has Nebraska been selected to finish in the Big Ten in 2022? Scroll below and find out.

Cleveland.com: Notre Dame toughest opponent for Ohio State in 2022

Think the Irish can give the Buckeyes a game?

The average college football fan most likely is writing off Notre Dame in its season opener at Ohio State. The only Irish-related thing anyone seems to be focusing on is [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] beginning his first full season as head coach at his alma mater. However, Doug Lesmerises of Cleveland.com thinks the Irish could give the Buckeyes a game at the Horseshoe. In fact, he’s calling the game against Irish the Buckeyes’ toughest of the upcoming season.

Lesmerises cites the Irish’s potential as a College Football Playoff team and the possibility of them getting better under Freeman. He also thinks [autotag]Michael Mayer[/autotag] and [autotag]Brandon Joseph[/autotag] could have big performances in this game. Finally, he mentions that while the Buckeyes have a winning record in recent games against major programs not in the Big Ten, that drops to a losing record when you take out games played against California and Miami when those programs were having down seasons.

While it’s nice to make some people in Buckeye Nation nervous, the Irish still will have to prove they can compete in one of the toughest environments imaginable. Hopefully, they will.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Where Penn State lands in Cleveland.com’s preseason Big Ten poll

Voters in the Cleveland.com preseason Big Ten poll pick Penn State to finish second in East

Big Ten media days begin later today in Indianapolis. Unlike other conference media days, the Big Ten does not conduct its own preseason media poll for some reason. But that doesn’t mean we are without a preseason media poll to forecast what will happen in the Big Ten this fall. Cleveland.com has been organizing its own unofficial preseason media poll with members of the media stretching across the Big Ten footprint.

On Wednesday, the 2021 preseason Big Ten poll from Cleveland.com. To the surprise of practically nobody, Ohio State has been pegged as the runaway preseason favorite in the Big Ten. As for Penn State, a rebound season seems to be predicted by many. The Nittany Lions finished in second place in the Big Ten East in this year’s preseason poll from Cleveland.com.

In the interest of full disclosure, I was among the 34 voters in this year’s poll. It was my second year being invited to participate in the poll, and it was the second year in a row I had Ohio State as my preseason Big Ten favorite.

Ohio State received all 34 first-place votes in the Big Ten East, so it was really just a matter of who would come in second. Penn State received 23 second-place votes to Indiana’s 11, giving the Nittany Lions the edge over the Hoosiers for the top spot behind the Buckeyes. Indiana finished third in this year’s preseason poll, one spot ahead of the Michigan Wolverines.

Wisconsin easily pulled away from Iowa for first place in the Big Ten West. The Badgers received 29 first-place votes (including mine) while Iowa received the other five.

Just one voter in the poll predicted Ohio State to not win the Big Ten championship. The one voter in the wild picked Wisconsin to top the Buckeyes while 28 picked Ohio State over Wisconsin and five picked Ohio State over Iowa.

You can see the full Cleveland.com poll here.

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