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B1G Preseason Poll Drops

Michigan gets respect; so does...Wisconsin???

By Kind of...
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The annual unofficial media poll organized by the Cleveland Plain-Dealer cleveland.com has come out, and the media has decided to give Michigan its due as two-time defending champs, tabbing the Wolverines as the favorite for the third time in the divisional play era (2012, 2019). As the media is 3 for 12 in successfully picking the B1G champ (OSU: 2017, 2018, 2020), congrats on receiving the kiss of death, Michigan. No word on whether Jim Harbaugh told his players that Michigan isn’t favored, and then lied to the NCAA about it.

Anyway, the East predictions are as expected:

If you’re a math prodigy like me, you can deduce a few things:

-At most, only 11 of the 37 voters thought Indiana would finish out of last place. That’s pretty definitive and Rutgers should be proud of their firm “not the worst team in the East” standing among the media. That season opener against Northwestern* could be a real tone-setter.

*Sunday, September 3, on CBS!!! 11:00 a.m. kickoff!!! The ONLY CFB game in that window!!! Have we really thought this through!!!

-Every writer had Michigan, OSU, and PSU in their top three, in some order.

-Those three schools received 666 combined points.

-This is not a coincidence.

Poll

How are you picking the East favorites?

This poll is closed

  • 28%
    1. Michigan, 2. OSU, 3. PSU
    (107 votes)
  • 9%
    1. Michigan, 2. PSU, 3. OSU
    (35 votes)
  • 23%
    1. OSU, 2. Michigan, 3. PSU
    (88 votes)
  • 10%
    1. OSU, 2. PSU, 3. Michigan
    (39 votes)
  • 10%
    1. PSU, 2. Michigan, 3. OSU
    (38 votes)
  • 6%
    1. PSU, 2. OSU, 3. Michigan
    (25 votes)
  • 10%
    I am a liar and/or a troll
    (41 votes)
373 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who do you have for fourth?

This poll is closed

  • 64%
    Maryland
    (242 votes)
  • 19%
    MSU
    (73 votes)
  • 5%
    Rutgers
    (21 votes)
  • 2%
    Indiana
    (10 votes)
  • 7%
    Other/I watch for the pretty uniforms
    (28 votes)
374 votes total Vote Now

In the West, the media fell back on their standard reflex of “We sure as hell can’t figure that division out. Let’s just pick Wisconsin and/or Iowa again.” So, Wisconsin was named as favorite by a single point over Iowa. The is the fourth year in a row UW has been made the favorite. As this UW fan can tell you, Wisconsin has not won the West in any of the past three seasons. Stopped clocks and all that, I guess. Anyway:

To muse a bit:

-I would love to meet the solitary voter who had Northwestern anywhere other than last. He is either an true American hero, or a troll par excellence.

-The one voter who has Minnesota winning the West has almost certainly thought through tiebreaker scenarios a lot more fully than I have at this point.

-Lincoln Riley really missed his window to demand that Purdue be moved to the East and USC and UCLA be added to the West.

-Minnesota is the only team in the West without 1) a new head coach, or 2) a substantially new coaching staff after being raided by a divisional foe, or 3) a nepo baby on a performance mandate. Congratulations on being a paragon of stability, P.J. Fleck [ed. well...guess we’ll see if this is true in a few days]:

Poll

The West champ will be...

This poll is closed

  • 20%
    Wisconsin, with their sure to be flawless complete overhaul
    (85 votes)
  • 28%
    Iowa, behind their point-an-hour offense
    (117 votes)
  • 11%
    Minnesota, despite losing Mo Ibrahim and playing both OSU and Michigan
    (46 votes)
  • 16%
    Illinois, because Ryan Walters was totally overrated
    (70 votes)
  • 9%
    Nebraska, because Matt Rhule is more powerful than 20 years of mediocrity
    (38 votes)
  • 7%
    Purdue, because Ryan Walters is the second-coming
    (31 votes)
  • 6%
    Northwestern, because Pat Fitzgerald was the problem all along
    (29 votes)
416 votes total Vote Now

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