UW FOOTBALL: Writers pick Badgers to win Big Ten’s West Division

The Big Ten officially announced its players to watch this morning as the favorites for Player of the Year honors.

The Big Ten Conference stopped compiling votes for a pre-season football poll in 2011 but Cleveland.com has taken upon themselves to keep the tradition going.

Many were quick to write the Big Ten off last season just two weeks into the year after a terrible Week 2 showing by the conference in its biggest spotlight games.

In a conference as deep as the Big Ten, there are a number of games that pique my interest.

On the defensive side of the ball, most of the front seven is gone. Ohio State, in essence, could be walking that extended playoff gauntlet this season.

Michigan State is the immediate number one contender to takeover the East from the Buckeyes.

As we head back to Chicago armed with new questions Thursday and Friday, Miller and his twice-surgically repaired shoulder are in the process of switching from quarterback to receiver and the Ohio State Fair is about to unveil a butter sculpture of coach Urban Meyer to commemorate the team’s 2014 success. Remember how V-Tech beat Ohio State in Columbus a year ago?

Christian Hackenberg was the 2013 Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

Delany will once again sit in front of a microphone before the media to present his annual state of the Big Ten address, at which time he has been known to delve into some American history as a tangent to his overall points about the NCAA and the Big Ten.

All 40 voters picked the Buckeyes to repeat as Big Ten champions, with most expecting the sequel to look a lot like last season – including a rematch in the league title game.

Finally, Rutgers comes off a solid 8-5 season and returns arguably the best receiver in the conference in Leonte Carroo (55 rec, 1086 yards, 10 TD) and the best pure linebacker in Steve Longa (102 tackles, 4.5 TFL). All this talk about challenging Ohio State is rushed.

09/19 Northern Illinois: “They played in the Orange Bowl a couple of years ago!” says an Ohio State fan who’s trying to make Ohio State’s schedule sound like it’s not softer than ice cream outside in July.

Question: Did the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry immediately go to a higher level when Jim Harbaugh was hired?

“For the first time in three years, we get to be with the same group of people”, Flood said.

Cook, who maybe could’ve left Michigan State after last season, will be the next Spartan quarterback to be selected in the NFL Draft this spring. (Wisconsin tailback Corey Clement placed fifth in the voting). That certainly feels like the case this season, and it is not because Michigan is going to be very good.

IOWA CITY, Iowa -University of Iowa senior defensive end Drew Ott has been named to the 2015 football preseason Big Ten Players to Watch List.