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Who will win the B1G in 2016? Media makes picks in Cleveland.com poll

Connor O'Gara

By Connor O'Gara

Published:

Michigan has all the preseason hype.

The Wolverines are the ones with the preseason All-Americans all over the field. They have the coach constantly in the headlines. They also have the favorable schedule.

Still, they weren’t being picked by the media to win the B1G. Ohio State is still the favorite, according to the media.

Cleveland.com got 39 B1G media members to vote on the division and conference winners.

Here’s how it turned out:

EAST

  1. Ohio State (31)
  2. Michigan (14)
  3. Michigan State (1)
  4. Penn State
  5. Indiana
  6. Maryland
  7. Rutgers

WEST

  1. Iowa (33)
  2. Nebraska (3)
  3. Wisconsin (2)
  4. Northwestern (1)
  5. Minnesota (1)
  6. Illinois
  7. Purdue

Ohio State was picked to beat Iowa in the B1G Championship by 24 of 39 media members. The next most-popular combination was Michigan beating Iowa, but that only got six votes.

Here were the other combinations of B1G Championships:

  • Michigan over Wisconsin (2)
  • Michigan over Nebraska (2)
  • Ohio State over Minnesota (1)
  • Ohio State over Wisconsin (1)
  • Ohio State over Nebraska (1)
  • Michigan over Northwestern (1)
  • Iowa over Ohio State (1)

Ohio State got 27 votes to win the league while Michigan got 11 and Iowa got one.

It’s worth noting that Iowa was picked to finish fourth in the B1G West last year and it ended up running the table en route to the B1G Championship. Ohio State was also the unanimous pick to win the conference, but the Buckeyes didn’t end up making it to the title game.

In other words, take the only B1G preseason poll for what it is.

Connor O'Gara

Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.