Jim Harbaugh’s Wolverines received 27 of 37 first-place votes while the Buckeyes got eight and two went to Penn State.
Those teams are the consensus top three in preseason polls from a variety of sources.
Wisconsin is generally considered the fourth-best team in the league entering the preseason, and new coach Luke Fickell’s squad tops the preseason poll by a narrow margin.
Wisconsin got 20 first-place votes while Iowa got 16 and Minnesota received the other.
The Badgers ended up with one more point than the Hawkeyes in the overall tally while the Golden Gophers came in a distant third followed by Illinois, Nebraska, Purdue and Northwestern.
In the first nine years of the East-West division format, the East champion has never lost in the Big Ten Championship Game, and the pollsters predicted that would continue.
Everyone picked Michigan, Ohio State or Penn State to win the title game if they win the division with the West victim varying.
Cleveland.com began conducting the Big Ten’s preseason poll 13 years ago after the conference decided to stop producing one or doing official preseason award projections.
Full predicted standings:
East
1. Michigan (27 first-place votes) 248 points
2. Ohio State (8) 226
3. Penn State (2) 192
4. Maryland 143
5. Michigan State 105
6. Rutgers 74
7. Indiana 48
West
1. Wisconsin (20 first-place votes) 233
2. Iowa (16) 232
3. Minnesota (1) 176
4. Illinois 152
5. Nebraska 116
6. Purdue 89
7. Northwestern 38
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