Shutterstock
Big Ten media days kick off this week in Chicago, and the preseason poll dropped Monday to set the stage. Ohio State comes in as the favorite, but not by much. This league is stacked at the top heading into 2026, and the numbers back that up.
The Cleveland.com poll pulls together votes from media members who cover the conference, and this year’s results show just how tight things are between Ohio State, Oregon and Indiana. Those three programs have combined to win the last three national titles (Ohio State, Michigan and Indiana all took turns), and that stretch has completely reshaped how people think about power in college football.
Ohio State grabbed the top spot, though it was close. The Buckeyes got 11 first-place votes. Oregon actually got more, 15 of them, which tells you the voters see these two teams as basically even heading into the fall.
Indiana isn’t a Cinderella story anymore.
The Hoosiers landed at No. 3 in the poll after their breakthrough run put them on the national radar for good. Five voters picked Indiana to win the league outright, which would’ve sounded absurd a few years ago. Not anymore. Following Indiana’s rise, USC, Michigan, Washington and Penn State rounded out the rest of the top six, in that order.
What’s driving all this? A lot of it traces back to Oregon’s climb under Dan Lanning, who’s turned the Ducks into a program that recruits and plays like it belongs in the same conversation as the league’s old guard. Indiana’s turnaround adds another layer; it’s no longer a two-horse race between Ohio State and Michigan for Big Ten supremacy, and that shift has made the whole conference more interesting heading into the season.
Whereas past preseason polls often had a clear gap between the top team and everyone else, this one reads more like a three-way tie disguised as a ranking. That should make the race to Indianapolis (site of the Big Ten Championship Game) as unpredictable as it’s been in years.
Projected Big Ten standings
| Rank | Team (First-Place Votes) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio State (15) |
| 2 | Oregon (11) |
| 3 | Indiana (5) |
| 4 | USC |
| 5 | Michigan |
| 6 | Penn State |
| 7 | Washington |
| 8 | Iowa |
| 9 | Illinois |
| 10 | Minnesota |
| 11 | Nebraska |
| 12 | Wisconsin |
| 13 | UCLA |
| 14 | Northwestern |
| 15 | Maryland |
| 16 | Michigan State |
| 17 | Rutgers |
| 18 | Purdue |
