Perhaps the best place to start when discussing Big Ten football preseason media polls is 2021.
Fresh off one of the best seasons in program history, Big Ten writers convinced themselves the Tom Allen era was the real deal and placed the Hoosiers third in the Big Ten East division, ahead of Michigan.
Indiana would go on to finish last in the East with an 0-9 record, while the Wolverines tied for first.
That’s just one example of what can be best described as the sophisticated wild @$$ guess the media puts out each July.
And with the conference now up to 18 teams, including four programs folks in the media aren’t all that familiar with — and no more divisions — the task of prognosticating an 18-team order of finish has grown even more challenging.
But with all of that said, look away Indiana fans.
Or rather, nah, you’re probably used to this sort of thing.
With a new head coach and renewed optimism in Bloomington, perhaps the 2024 preseason polls can serve as a rallying cry.
Curt Cignetti has never experienced a losing season as a head coach, and it isn’t about to happen in 2024. Right?
If that trend holds, we’ll look back at the 2024 preseason media polls as the latest example of why such predictions typically aren’t very reliable.
Here is the 2024 projected order of finish in the new Big Ten as determined by 13 beat writers who cover the league for the USA TODAY Sports Network:
1. Ohio State (8 first place votes)
2. Oregon (5 first place votes)
3. (tie) Michigan
3. (tie) Penn State
5. USC
6. Iowa
7. Wisconsin
8. Nebraska
9. Washington
10. Rutgers
11. Maryland
12. Michigan State
13. Minnesota
14. UCLA
15. Illinois
16. Indiana
17. Northwestern
18. Purdue
Cleveland dot com publishes a media poll at this time each year as well, and the outlook isn’t much different for the Hoosiers. In fact, it’s a bit worse:
1. Ohio St (21)
2. Oregon (6)
3. Penn St
4. Michigan
5. Iowa
6. USC
7. Wisconsin
8. Nebraska
9. Rutgers
10. Washington
11. Maryland
12. Minnesota
13. Illinois
14. Northwestern
15. UCLA
16. Michigan St
17. Indiana
18. Purdue
If Cignetti’s Hoosiers are going to outperform expectations, one reason why will likely be the teams surrounding IU in these preseason polls.
In addition to eight home games, Indiana plays six of their nine Big Ten games against teams in the bottom half of the latter poll, and only two games against top-seven teams in either poll.
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