For the first time in his tenure, Jim Harbaugh's Michigan Wolverines football team is picked to win the Big Ten in the annual Cleveland.com vote of writers prior to Big Ten Media Days. The event runs Thursday and Friday in Chicago.
This is the ninth season the site has conducted the poll. The Big Ten stopped polling several years ago, after which Cleveland.com took over. Thirty-four writers from around the conference participated — 17 chose U-M as the champion, 14 picked Ohio State, two opted for Nebraska and one chose Northwestern.
Ohio State had been picked as the preseason favorite the last four years and in five of the six previous seasons.
The predictions from beat writers chosen to participate (at least one from each school. Each writer was asked to rank each division from top to bottom, with seven points awarded for a first-place vote, down to one point for a seventh-place vote):
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BIG TEN EAST
1. Michigan, 222 points (20 first-place votes)
2. Ohio State, 214 points (14)
3. Michigan State, 156 points
4. Penn State, 154 points
5. Indiana, 86.5 points
6. Maryland, 82.5 points
7. Rutgers, 37 points
BIG TEN WEST
1. Nebraska, 198 points (14 first-place votes)
2. Iowa, 194.5 points (14)
3. Wisconsin, 172.5 points (4)
4. Northwestern, 142.5 points (1)
5. Purdue, 110.5 points
6. Minnesota, 100 points (1)
7. Illinois, 34 points
MOST POPULAR Big Ten Championship Game OUTCOMES
Michigan over Nebraska (8)
Michigan over Iowa (8)
Ohio State over Iowa (6)
Ohio State over Nebraska (4)
Ohio State over Wisconsin (3)
Nebraska over Michigan (2)
Michigan over Wisconsin (1)
Ohio State over Minnesota (1)
Northwestern over Michigan (1)
In the East, 33 of 34 voters ranked Michigan first or second, while 32 of 34 had Ohio State first or second.
U-M hasn't won the Big Ten and has yet to play in the Big Ten championship game, started in 2011 when divisions were split between East and West (it was then Legends and Leaders). The Wolverines tied for second in 2006 and 2007, finished second in the Legends Division in 2011 and 2012 and tied for first in the Big Ten East last season. Ohio State won the tiebreaker last year and went to the title game via a head to head win over the Wolverines.
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