Ohio State picked as favorite in Big Ten Preseason Poll conducted by The Bill and Doug Show
Jeremiah Smith was selected as the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year for the second straight season.
COLUMBUS — Ohio State barely edged Oregon as the pick to win the Big Ten in a preseason poll of 46 reporters and analysts who cover the league.
Oregon actually received more first-place votes with 20, while Ohio State got 19 and Indiana earned seven. But the Buckeyes got more second-place votes and wound up with an average ranking of 1.74 in the voting, while Oregon checked in at 1.82.
I’ve been conducting or overseeing a preseason Big Ten poll since the conference did its last official preseason poll in 2010. That included 13 years at cleveland.com, two with Kings of the North, and now one for The Bill and Doug Show.
This year, the voters included 16 national reporters and 30 beat writers for individual Big Ten teams. Bill and I were two of the voters.
Here are the full results of the voting.
Voters were also asked how many Big Ten teams they think will make the College Football Playoff. The choices were two, three, four, or five or more.
The results:
• 4: 25 votes
• 3: 20 votes
• 5 or more: 1 vote
The single vote for 5 or more was from me, and I will not apologize.
Now, onto individual player voting.
First, for Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith was the overwhelming winner (he was also the preseason pick last year). He received 33 of the 46 first-place votes cast. Voters picked three players, with three points awarded for a first-place vote, two for second, and one point for third.
The other first-place votes went to Oregon quarterback Dante Moore, Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin and Indiana quarterback Josh Hoover. (There were 46 first-place votes, but a few voters only picked a winner and didn’t vote for second or third, so point totals don’t completely add up.)
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year voting was much more spread out. Nineteen players received votes, with 12 players getting first-place votes.
Not every voter cast a ballot in the defensive player of the year voting, so there are only 41 first-place votes.
Oregon defensive tackle A’Mauri Washington beat Minnesota defensive end Anthony Smith by one point, with Oregon safety Koi Perich (a Minnesota transfer) another point behind.
