Big Ten college football writers have no faith in the 2023 edition of IU football.
In advance of this week’s Big Ten media days, beat writers from all 14 conference teams participated in Cleveland.com’s annual Big Ten preseason poll, along with some national outlets. A total of 37 voters participated. Each writer was asked to vote 1-7 in both divisions, with first-place votes worth seven points, second-place votes worth six and so on.
Of the 37 voters, 27 picked Michigan to win it all, and eight picked Ohio State. Indiana was last in the East Division by a wide margin. Across the league, only Northwestern got fewer votes than IU.
Here are the results for the final season of the league’s divisional format:
Big Ten East
1-Michigan (27 first-place votes) 248
2-Ohio State (8) 226
3-Penn State (2) 192
4-Maryland 143
5-Michigan State 105
6-Rutgers 74
7-Indiana 48
Big Ten West
1-Wisconsin (20 first-place votes) 233
2-Iowa (16) 232
3-Minnesota (1) 176
4-Illinois 152
5-Nebraska 116
6-Purdue 89
7-Northwestern 38
Here’s how the Big Ten media has performed predicting where IU will land in the East during the Tom Allen era:
- 2017: Projected 5th, Finished 6th
- 2018: 6th/6th
- 2019: 5th/4th
- 2020: 4th/2nd
- 2021: 3rd/7th
- 2022: 7th/6th
In other voting by the group, Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr. topped Michigan’s Blake Corum and J.J. McCarthy for Big Ten preseason Offensive Player of the Year. No Indiana player received votes.
Iowa defensive back Cooper DeJean was voted the preseason Defensive Player of the Year by one point over Illinois defensive lineman Jer’Zhan “Johnny” Newton. Once again, no IU players saw any votes.
When it came to toughest road stadium to play in, Penn State’s Beaver Stadium received 17 first-place votes, followed by Ohio Stadium. Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium received seven votes, with three going to Michigan Stadium and one to Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium.
Indiana opens the 2023 season on Sept. 2 against none other than Ohio State.
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