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Ohio State and Oregon are the overwhelming favorites to finish atop the Big Ten standings and battle it out in Indianapolis this season.
While the Big Ten ceased doing an official preseason poll 14 years ago, Cleveland.com has taken up the burden of compiling the poll. This season, 27 voters participated with Ohio State and Oregon finishing first and second, respectively.
Ryan Day’s Buckeyes led the poll with 21 of the available first-place votes while Dan Lanning’s Ducks finished 2nd with the other 6 first-place votes. Penn State and Michigan rounded out the top 4 as the only other programs to earn more than 400 points in the poll.
Ohio State’s average ranking on the poll was 1.22 while Oregon’s was 1.81. The Buckeyes only received first and second-place votes while Michigan earned a second-place vote at the expense of Oregon.
As for the rest of the league newcomers, USC finished at 6th while Washington (10th) and UCLA (15th) were well down the ladder. However, voters were distinctly split on the Huskies with Washington earning votes from 4th to 16th across the ballots.
Voters were also asked to predict the total number of B1G teams to reach the new 12-team College Football Playoff. 3 teams received the most votes with 16 while 4 teams received 9 votes. One vote apiece went to the B1G earning 1 or 2 bids.
As for the Coach of the Year race, Lanning edged out Day with 12 votes to Day’s 10. It shapes up for a dramatic season for the Buckeyes and Ducks, including an Oct. 12 matchup between the two sides in Eugene. Fans can track the latest Big Ten Championship odds with Tradition’s Ohio betting apps.
Here is how the full voting breaks down:
Rank — Team (1st-place votes) — Total points — Average rank
No. 1 Ohio State (21) 480 1.22
No. 2 Oregon (6) 448 1.81
No. 3 Penn State 418 3.52
No. 4 Michigan 411 3.78
No. 5 Iowa 363 5.56
No. 6 USC 346 6.19
No. 7 Wisconsin 313 7.41
No. 8 Nebraska 293 8.15
No. 9 Rutgers 249 9.56
No. 10 Washington 236 10.26
No. 11 Maryland 185 12.07
No. 12 Minnesota 183 12.22
No. 13 Illinois 145 13.63
No. 14 Northwestern 138 13.89
No. 15 UCLA 124 14.41
No. 16 Michigan State 119 14.59
No. 17 Indiana 76 16.15
No. 18 Purdue 65 16.59
Ohio State is picked as the favorite to win the Big Ten in the 14th annual @clevelanddotcom Preseason Big Ten Poll.
Oregon makes its debut at No. 2 followed by Penn State and Michigan as the top 4 https://t.co/chvsLlyo7W
— Stephen Means (@Stephen_Means) July 22, 2024
Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.