On the eve of Big Ten football media days getting underway in Indianapolis, the annual Big Ten preseason media poll organized by Cleveland.com has officially been released. And if the preseason poll is any indication, it looks like Penn State will be destined for another third-place finish in the Big Ten East Division in 2023.
Unlike a number of other conferences, the Big Ten does not organize its own preseason media poll. The lack of a preseason poll is a weird quirk for the Big Ten, which misses out on manufacturing its own preseason poll media frenzy and allows athletic departments and football PR types around the expanding conference to push out all types of press releases to the masses and the social media circles.
So, with no official poll from the conference, Cleveland.com has taken the initiative to gather media members from around the Big Ten footprint to count up votes for division predictions, conference championship predictions, players of the year, and more.
Two-time defending Big Ten champion Michigan was picked to finish in first place in the Big Ten East with 27 first-place votes going to them. Ohio State, who has been the preseason favorite in the Big Ten in this poll seven of the last eight years, was picked to finish in second place with eight first-place votes.
Penn State also picked up a pair of first-place votes, but was predicted to finish third in the overall balloting. Because voters could only choose one of their division champions to win the Big Ten championship game, both votes for Penn State in the East also picked the Nittany Lions to win the Big Ten. One Big Ten championship game prediction has Penn State topping Iowa, and the other has Penn State over Wisconsin.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Michigan is the runaway favorite to be the Big Ten champion this season. Michigan was picked as the Big Ten champion by 27 voters, and no voter predicted a Michigan loss in the Big Ten championship game regardless of the matchup. Ohio State received eight predictions to win the Big Ten.
The West saw Wisconsin take the top spot in the preseason poll with 20 first-place votes. Iowa came in second with 16 first-place votes, and Minnesota picked up one first-place vote to finish in third place in the preseason poll.
How accurate has the Cleveland.com preseason media poll been in predicting the Big Ten champion? The preseason poll has accurately predicted the Big Ten champion just three times in the past 12 seasons for a record of 3-9 overall. Penn State fans are hoping that trend continues in their favor this fall.
See the full Big Ten preseason media poll via Cleveland.com.
In the interest of full disclosure, I was among the 37 voters in this preseason poll. I will share my ballot with you later this week.
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