The Big Ten media days are getting underway today at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, kickstarting over a month of preseason hype that won't be exhausted until opening kickoff.
The new-look conference welcomes in Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington, which guarantees plenty of exciting storylines that will only add to the usual conference drama. Coaches and athletes from every Big Ten team will be in attendance to try to address these storylines and steady fans' nerves for the upcoming season.
On Monday, Cleveland.com released the Big Ten preseason media poll, ranking all eighteen teams in the conference. While this ranking in no way is determinative, it does indicate the general early media assessments of every Big Ten team.
Below is how all eighteen teams stacked up. The numbers in the parentheses represent points, with a team receiving 18 points for a first-place vote, 17 points for a second-place vote, all the way down to 1 point for an 18th-place vote.
18. Purdue (65)
17. Indiana (76)
16. Michigan State (119)
15. UCLA (124)
14. Northwestern (138)
13. Illinois (145)
12. Minnesota (183)
11. Maryland (185)
10. Washington (236)
9. Rutgers (249)
8. Nebraska (293)
7. Wisconsin (313)
6. USC (346)
5. Iowa (363)
4. Michigan (411)
3. Penn State (418)
2. Oregon (448)
1. Ohio State (480)
Takeaways
Clearly, Ohio State has established itself in the eyes of the media as the preeminent favorite in the Big Ten. With Ryan Day leading a talented, hungry team, Ohio State makes sense in the top spot. No voter ranked the Buckeyes outside of the top two in the conference.
Oregon slots in as the primary challenger, with Penn State and defending national champion Michigan right at the Ducks' heels.
Two ex-Pac-12 newcomers are dealing with surprisingly low rankings: Washington at 10 feels low considering they were national runners-up a season ago, but the Huskies are dealing with a multitude of departures, including QB Michael Penix Jr., WR Rome Odunze, and Coach Kellen DeBoer to Alabama. How new coach Jedd Fisch manages the CFP hangover and addresses the roster vacancies will determine whether or not his team can outperform expectations.
And UCLA at 15 may seem shocking, given the Bruins' national pedigree, but questions about this roster abound with a new coach in Deshaun Foster stepping in to steady the ship.
Rounding out the conference are the two Indiana schools, with Indiana at 17 and Purdue at 18. Both are coming off of rough seasons, with pressure especially on Purdue coach Ryan Wolters to deliver some improvement in 2024.
