The Big 10 held its media day today in Chicago.
Ohio State was picked to win the conference -- no surprise there since many, many people have the Buckeyes as the nation's preseason No. 1.
Wisconsin was picked to finish second and Illinois third.
Sorry. That's all the Big 10 releases.
I'm going to guess Penn State or Michigan was picked to finish fourth. Penn State gets both Illinois (Sept. 27, 8 p.m.) and Michigan (Oct. 18, 4:30 p.m.) at home. Those will be big games in terms of which teams land in Jan. 1 bowls. The first- or second-place team would probably go to a Rose Bowl. It's not a stretch to have two Big 10 teams in BCS games. In 2005, Penn State played in the Orange Bowl and Ohio State in the Fiesta. However, an undefeated or one-loss Big 10 team could go to the national championship game in Arizona. Anyhow, the point is that the third- and fourth-place teams will be fighting for the Capital One and Outback Bowls.
The Big 10 preseason offensive player of the year: Chris "Beanie" Wells, Ohio State's fabulous running back.
The Big 10 preseason defensive player of the year: James Laurinaitis, Ohio State's star senior linebacker.
I can't argue with any of these picks. But as we saw last season, anything can happen once the season starts.
-- MR