Ohio State, Wisconsin picked to win Big Ten Divisions in 2022 media poll

It’s Big Ten Media Days this week and leading up to that the media has released its 2022 preseason poll or at least the results are out. 

You know when media days hit, that the college football season is getting closer and after watching the SEC, Big 12, and ACC have their media sessions, the Big Ten is doing the same this week starting on Tuesday.

It’s going to be fun to watch simply because of all the personalities among the Big Ten football head coaches. You’ve got Jim Harbaugh, Ryan Day, Mel Tucker, James Franklin, PJ Fleck, and more.

There will be plenty of storylines to follow but one thing that’s different from previous years is that Ohio State doesn’t come in as the defending champion, even though the Buckeyes are still the favorite according to the preseason media poll.

Sean Callahan, a reporter that covers Nebraska, tweeted out the results of the poll which projects both Ohio State and Wisconsin to win their respective divisions in 2022 and meet for the Big Ten football championship.

Breaking down the Big Ten football preseason media poll

Ohio State was a unanimous selection as all 38 voters predicted that the Buckeyes would win the Big Ten East. The Badgers got 31 first-place votes. Iowa got three and Minnesota got two.

Michigan was the second-place team in the East division, followed by Penn State, Michigan State, Maryland, Rutgers, and Indiana. The other west teams were Iowa, Minnesota, Purdue, Nebraska, Illinois, and Northwestern.

It’s crazy that two years ago, Northwestern and Indiana were the darlings of the league. Now, they are predicted to finish last. Michigan wasn’t predicted to do anything last year, after a 2-4 campaign and won the league so who knows what will happen.

Scott Frost and Nebraska need to finish better than fifth in the West though, or if they are in that position, better at least have a winning record or six wins for goodness sake to reach a bowl game. Otherwise, he won’t be back at Big Ten Media Days in 2023.

The Huskers will be the first team to speak at Big Ten Media Days. Michigan will close out day one. Michigan State, Penn State, Wisconsin, and Ohio State will all go to the podium on Wednesday.

But if all goes according to the media’s predictions, it will be Ohio State and Wisconsin playing for the Big Ten championship in December.

Of course, a few other teams will have something to say about that, but sitting here in August, it seems like a sound prediction.