Ohio State Buckeyes Named Favorite To Win Big Ten

The Ohio State Buckeyes were named the favorite to win the Big Ten Conference via the annual cleveland.com preseason poll.

Sept. 9, 2023; Columbus, Oh., USA; Brutus Buckeye and Ohio State Buckeyes tight end Gee Scott Jr. (88) take a stance as the Ohio State Buckeyes huddle up before Saturday's NCAA Division I football game against the Youngstown State Penguins at Ohio Stadium. / Barbara J. Perenic/The Columbus Dispatch

Headed into the 2024-25 college football season, the general consensus around the country has appeared to be that the Ohio State Buckeyes, Oregon Ducks, Penn State Nittany Lions and Michigan Wolverines are prepared to head a four-horse race to a Big Ten Conference title.

Cleveland.com released their annual preseason poll on Monday, where 27 voters were given the opportunity to rank each Big Ten team 1-18. Of the 27 votes for No. 1, the Ohio State Buckeyes ran away with the top spot by receiving 21 of them. The other six first-place votes went to the Oregon Ducks.

Here were the full results with each team's average ranking:

1. Ohio State Buckeyes - 1.22
2. Oregon Ducks - 1.81
3. Penn State Nittany Lions - 3.52
4. Michigan Wolverines - 3.78
5. Iowa Hawkeyes - 5.56
6. USC Trojans - 6.19
7. Wisconsin Badgers - 7.41
8. Nebraska Cornhuskers - 8.15
9. Rutgers Scarlet Knights - 9.56
10. Washington Huskies - 10.26
11. Maryland Terrapins - 12.07
12. Minnesota Golden Gophers - 12.22
13. Illinois Fighting Illini - 13.63
14. Northwestern Wildcats - 13.89
15. UCLA Bruins - 14.41
16. Michigan State Spartans - 14.59
17. Indiana Hoosiers - 16.15
18. Purdue Boilermakers - 16.59

The Ohio State Buckeyes might be heavy favorites to win the Big Ten based on this preseason poll, yet going on the road to face the Oregon Ducks will serve as potentially the biggest challenge of the entire season. The Ducks do have an excellent roster and are expected to have an explosive offense.

Ohio State Buckeyes running back TreVeyon Henderson (32) carries the ball against Oregon Ducks during the fourth quarter in their NCAA Division I game on Saturday, September 11, 2021 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. Osu21ore Kwr 43 / Kyle Robertson/Columbus Dispatch via

The Buckeyes will also go to Penn State in November and finish off the year with Michigan at home.

This certainly seems to be the year of change not only in college football but especially in the Big Ten. The divisions are gone, four teams from the Pac 12 joined the conference, Sherrone Moore is Michigan's head coach following the departure of Jim Harbaugh and numerous Big Ten teams have a realistic shot to make the new 12-team playoff.

The cleveland.com voters were also asked to predict how many Big Ten teams would make the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff. There were nine voters who selected four teams, 16 who picked three teams, one that went with two teams and one who chose a single team to represent the conference. Ohio State was featured in the playoff in every ballot, Oregon was in all but one ballot, Penn State in 18, Michigan in 15 and Iowa in three.

Oct 21, 2023; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes defensive end JT Tuimoloau (44) goes up against Penn State Nittany Lions offensive lineman Olumuyiwa Fashanu (74) during the third quarter of their game at Ohio Stadium. / Kyle Robertson/Columbus Dispatch / USA

As the regular season quickly approaches, it is clear that the Ohio State Buckeyes are viewed highly by these voters. The Big Ten could also get a decent amount of representation in the College Football Playoff this season if everything plays out according to the majority of voters' opinions.