Big Ten preseason polls are out, where does Oregon sit?
With the Big Ten’s media days beginning tomorrow July 23rd, through the 25th, now is a great time to check out some of the preseason polls and All-Big Ten lists.
Cleveland.com Rankings
Cleveland.com’s polls for the Big Ten have been released with the Ohio State Buckeyes sitting at No. 1 with an overwhelming majority of 21 first place votes. Oregon trails only to the Buckeyes with six first place votes. The other former Pac-12 teams didn’t fare very well in the poll, with USC coming in at No. 6, Washington No. 10, and UCLA at No. 15. Rounding out the top five were the Penn State Nittany Lions at No. 3, the Michigan Wolverines at No. 4, and the Iowa Hawkeyes at No. 5.
Oregon’s October 4th opponent Michigan State under new head coach Jonathan Smith is all the way down at No. 16. Voted the worst team in the Big Ten are the Purdue Boilermakers, who Oregon will face on the road one week removed from facing the Buckeyes. Oregon will face Illinois six days later, and the fighting Illini check in at No. 13. As for the two remaining teams on the schedule, Maryland is No. 11, and Wisconsin No. 7.
USA Today’s Rankings
Similarly to Cleveland.com, USA Today also has Ohio State No. 1, and Oregon No. 2. However, they have a few differences worth pointing out, such as Michigan being third above Penn State at No. 4. USC is No. 5 on USA Today, up one spot, while Iowa falls back to No. 6. Wisconsin and Nebraska stand pat at No. 7 and No. 8 respectively, while Washington swaps with Rutgers for the No. 9 spot. Maryland stays at No. 11, while the Michigan State Spartans have the biggest discrepancy among these two lists being at No. 12 on USA Today, and four spots worse on Cleveland.com. Minnesota falls back a spot to No. 13, and UCLA jumps up a spot to No. 14. The bottom four teams consist of Illinois, Indiana, Northwestern, and Purdue respectively, beginning with Illinois at No. 15.
USA Today also released some preseason accolades such as player of the year, coach of the year, newcomer of the year, and first team all Big Ten. Player of the Year for USA Today was a unanimous vote for Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel, who also won Newcomer of the Year unanimously. Coach of the year went to Ohio State’s Ryan Day in a very close vote. As for the first team All-Big Ten, Oregon has Dillon Gabriel, Tez Johnson, and Jeff Bassa on their respective first teams. Others receiving votes for first team on offense included: Evan Stewart, Terrance Ferguson, Josh Conerly Jr, Ajani Cornelius, Matthew Bedford. Oregon would only have one defensive player receiving votes in Jabbar Muhammad, and no special teams players.
