IU football picked to finish sixth in a pair of preseason Big Ten media polls

Ahead of Big Ten media days in Las Vegas this week, a pair of preseason media polls have been released with forecasts of the league standings for the upcoming football season.

Indiana, which reached the College Football Playoff and finished tied for second in the Big Ten last season, has been picked to finish sixth in both polls.

The Big Ten does not release an official preseason media poll with the projected order of finish for the league, so the USA Today Sports Network and Cleveland.com both canvass reporters for their input.

Here are the results:

USA Today Sports Network media poll results:

1. Penn State, 16
2. Ohio State, 20
3. Oregon, 26
4. Michigan, 45
5. Illinois, 55
6. Indiana, 63
7. USC, 72
(tie) 8. Nebraska, 85
(tie) 8. Washington, 85
10. Iowa, 86
11. Minnesota, 112
12. Wisconsin, 117
13. Rutgers, 138
14. UCLA, 139
15. Michigan State, 141
16. Maryland, 155
17. Northwestern, 165
18. Purdue, 180
Champion: Penn State (5 votes)

Cleveland.com media poll:

(first place votes in parenthesis)

1. Penn State (11), 435
2. Ohio State (10), 431
3. Oregon (2), 405
4. Illinois, 353
5. Michigan (1), 346
6. Indiana, 305
7. Iowa, 287
8. Nebraska, 277
9. USC, 269
10. Washington, 216
11. Minnesota, 192
12. Wisconsin, 159
13. Michigan State, 135
13. Rutgers, 135
15. UCLA, 134
16. Maryland, 91
17. Northwestern, 65
18. Purdue, 39

In addition, the USA Today Sports Network released preseason All-Big Ten teams and several Hoosiers were represented.

Wide receiver Elijah Sarratt was named to the preseason All-Big Ten offense team while defensive lineman Mikail Kamara, linebacker Aiden Fisher and defensive back D’Angelo Ponds were named preseason All-Big Ten defense.

(Photo credit: IU Athletics)

Category: Football

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