Where Washington ranks in the Big Ten, and how I voted
Media Days are Poll Days.
The Alaska Airlines app is prompting me to check in for tomorrow’s flight to Las Vegas, where the Big Ten will mark the unofficial End of Summer — for those of us in the football and football-chronicling business, anyway — by holding its annual media days, beginning Tuesday.
I’ll be at Mandalay Bay for Washington’s turn on Wednesday. Jedd Fisch, Demond Williams Jr., Jonah Coleman and Ephesians Prysock will be in town to promote the program. Last year, Fisch, Coleman, Carson Bruener and Kam Fabiculanan attended this event in Indianapolis, which only contributed to the unfamiliar vibe surrounding UW’s maiden Big Ten voyage.
This year, the conference ventures west as the Huskies enter their second season of membership. The forecast calls for 99-degree temperatures in Vegas tomorrow and Wednesday. (It’s only supposed to be 83 in Indy. Life is an excercise in give and take.)
With Media Days Season comes Poll Season, of course, even if the conference office doesn’t facilitate an official poll. Fortunately, I was invited to participate in what has been dubbed the Officially Unofficial Big Ten Preseason Poll by Doug Lesmerises, co-host of the Kings of the North podcast.
Lesmerises wrangled 54 voters: at least one reporter covering each conference team, and two for most of them, plus 20 national folks.
Here are the results:
1. Penn State (35 first-place votes)
2. Ohio State (18)
3. Oregon (1)
4. Illinois
5. Michigan
6. Indiana
7. USC
8. Nebraska
9. Iowa
10. Washington
11. Minnesota
12. Wisconsin
13. Michigan State
14. UCLA
15. Rutgers
16. Maryland
17. Northwestern
18. Purdue
(The poll organized by Cleveland.com — I didn’t participate in that one — featured little deviation, with USC and Iowa flip-flopped, Michigan State and Rutgers tied for 13th and UCLA at No. 15. Otherwise, the results were the same.)
Here’s the ballot I submitted, with each team’s finish in the KOTN poll in parentheses. I’ve also divided the ranking into tiers, and included some thoughts on each team.