Buckeyes Voted Big Ten Favorite in Preseason Media Poll

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The college football season unofficially kicks off this week with Big Ten Media Days being held in Chicago, and the Ohio State Buckeyes will find themselves in a familiar position.

Ohio State is was voted the top team in the Big Ten Conference in a poll released by Cleveland.com on Monday morning. While the conference itself does not release an official preseason poll, for years Cleveland.com has released a poll during this week and it has been treated as the "official" poll.

The Buckeyes collected 15 first-place votes and 540 points in the poll, finishing ahead of Oregon who received 11 first-place votes and 527 points. The reigning National Champions, the Indiana Hoosiers, are projected third in the conference, receiving five first-place votes and 509 points. This year marks the 10th time since the poll began in 2011 that Ohio State has been tabbed as the Big Ten favorite.

Lincoln Riley is coming into a "must-win" year at USC and his Trojans are projected 4th, followed by the University of Michigan at 5th. New Penn State head coach Matt Campbell will look to help that program rebound from a miserable season and are currently projected 6th.

Washington is ranked No. 7 after they were able to hold on to star quarterback Demond Williams Jr. Iowa claims the 8th spot as they continue to be the very definition of consistency in a constantly evolving college football landscape. Bret Bielema and his Fighting Illini are undergoing a massive change on the defensive side of the football and come into the season projected at No. 9 and the last of the top-half.

The rest of the rankings show the growing depth of the conference. Minnesota comes in at No. 10 followed by Nebraska at No. 11. Luke Fickell was given an aggressive amount of resources to rebuild his Wisconsin Badgers program and they are marked at No. 12. First-year head coach Bob Chesney will lead the way for the UCLA Bruins after coming over from James Madison.

The rankings are round out with Northwestern at 14, Maryland at 15, Michigan State ranked 16, Rutgers being 17th and finally the Purdue Boilermakers at the bottom at No. 18.

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This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Buckeyes Voted Big Ten Favorite in Preseason Media Poll

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