Big Ten Football Preseason Poll Released, Michigan Picked To Win Conference

The 2023-24 Big Ten preseason media poll was published on Tuesday, and for the first time in four years, coach Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines were picked as the conference favorites over Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes.

In the 13th annual Big Ten football preseason media poll conducted by Cleveland.com, the Michigan Wolverines were picked as the 2023-24 conference champion by 27 of the 37 voters. 

This marks the first time since 2019 that a team aside from coach Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes has been named the conference's preseason favorite, despite coach Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines being two-time defending Big Ten champions. 

Of the 10 remaining first-place votes, eight were given to Ohio State, and two were given to coach James Franklin and the Penn State Nittany Lions. Wisconsin was named the preseason favorite in the Big Ten West division, just barely edging out Iowa and Minnesota. None of the 37 preseason poll voters picked any team from the West to win the Big Ten Conference Championship. 

Voters ranked each team in each division first through seventh, with a first-place vote garnering seven points, and a seventh-place vote garnering a single point. Votes for all other places worked in the same reciprocal fashion. 

Here are the results of the media voting (total voting points listed first, overall first-place division votes received in parentheses).

East Division Preseason Picks

1. Michigan - 248 (27 first-place votes)
2. Ohio State - 226 (8 first-place votes)
3. Penn State - 192 (2 first-place votes)
4. Maryland - 143
5. Michigan State - 105
6. Rutgers - 74
7. Indiana - 48

West Division Preseason Picks

1. Wisconsin - 233 (20 first-place votes)
2. Iowa - 232 (16 first-place votes)
3. Minnesota - 176 (1 first-place vote)
4. Illinois - 152
5. Nebraska - 116
6. Purdue - 89
7. Northwestern - 38

According to Nathan Baird of Cleveland.com, Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State received all available top-three votes in the Big Ten East. With Indiana earning the second fewest voting points in the conference, just 11 over the voting point baseline of 37, it's safe to assume that Tom Allen and the Hoosiers received only sixth- and seventh-place East divisions votes from the media.

There are differing opinions on a national level about who the best Big Ten team is. In fact, according to the Fanduel gambling website, it's Ohio State who has the best odds to win the Big Ten Championship Game. They are listed as plus-165 favorites, and Michigan is second at plus-185.

Northwestern — still in the midst of the hazing scandal that cost Pat Fitzgerald his job and has extended to several other NU athletics programs — received 36 of a possible 37 last-place votes in the West division. Northwestern was the only team to finish with fewer media voting points than Indiana in the Big Ten. 

Indiana begins its 2023-24 college football season against Ohio State in Bloomington on Sep. 2 at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS. 

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