The gold standard of preseason Big Ten media polling has long been the annual Cleveland.com poll, which is released on the eve of Big Ten media days every year for the past 16 years. But the mothership is jumping into the fray in attempting to prognosticate the top schools in the conference.
USA TODAY Sports polled several writers within the network, including a few national and regional writers, and the 15 analysts predicted an order of finish not too different in the top 11, but the bottom half of the order is a bit more murky, as it differs from the Cleveland.com poll from 12-18.
Like in the Cleveland.com poll, Michigan came in ranked No. 5, behind Ohio State, Oregon, Indiana, and USC.
Here is the order of finish predicted by USA TODAY Sports:
- Ohio State (11 first-place votes)
- Oregon (5 first-place votes)
- Indiana
- USC
- Michigan
- Penn State
- Washington
- Iowa
- Illinois
- Minnesota
- Nebraska
- UCLA
- Wisconsin
- Maryland
- Northwestern
- Rutgers
- Michigan State
- Purdue
Additionally, Michigan only has one player who has received true preseason honors, with John Henry Daley making the 2026 preseason All-Big Ten team. The Wolverines did have four honorable mentions: running back Jordan Marshall, right tackle Andrew Sprague, and cornerbacks Zeke Berry and Jyaire Hill. Receiver Andrew Marsh seems like a glaring omission and it wouldn't be surprising to see offensive linemen Blake Frazier or Jake Guarnera or defensive linemen Trey Pierce or Enow Etta eventually make the postseason cut with a promising season made good.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: USA TODAY Sports predicts 2026 Big Ten football order
