Big Ten Bloggers Preseason Poll

Penn State blogger Mike from the conglomerate PSU blog Black Shoe Diaries was able to pull together a very respectable collection of Big Ten bloggers, yours truly included, to take a whack at putting together a picture of how us know-it-all bloggers think the predicted order of finish will be for the 2011 season. No divisions, no conference title game prediction. Just rank the teams 1 through 12.

First, the participating blogs...

• Nittany White Out (Penn State)
• Nittany Lions Den (Penn State)
• The Daily Gopher (Minnesota)
• Black Heart Gold Pants (Iowa)
• Sparty MSU (Michigan State)
• Bucky's 5th Quarter (Wisconsin)
• Corn Nation (Nebraska)
• Eleven Warriors (Ohio State)
• Lake the Posts (Northwestern)
• Maize & Blue Nation (Michigan)
• Crimson Quarry (Indiana)

And now, here's how we think it's all gonna go down...

The poll is based on the lowest point total, with each ranking assigned by the voter equaling the number of points assigned. First-place votes indicated in parentheses. Black Shoe Diaries did not have an entry in this poll.

Rank	Team	Points(1st)
1	Wisconsin	17(10)
2	Nebraska	29(2)
3	Ohio State	54
4	Michigan State	57(1)
5	Penn State	62
6	Iowa	80
7	Northwestern	91
8	Michigan	96
9	Illinois	106
10	Purdue	129
11	Minnesota	143
12	Indiana	150

Mike breaks down the voting...

• Wisconsin is obviously the runaway favorite among us blogger know-it-all folk. The Badgers got the most 1st place votes, and only one blogger voted UW lower than 2nd in the conference.
• Nebraska didn't get the expected attention, with only the two 1st place votes, and three votes lower than 2nd place. The Huskers low rank was 5th.
• Ohio State only received one vote higher than 3rd. The rest varied from 3rd all the way down to 8th.
• Michigan State was all over the map as well, but generally fell between 3rd and 4th. The same blogger who voted Nebraska 5th voted MSU 1st. The Spartans' low rank was 8th, from two bloggers.
• Penn State is about where many expected. The Nittany Lions did get two 2nd place votes. The low PSU rank was 7th, by two bloggers.
• Iowa's highest rank was 3rd. The Hawks' low rank was 9th.
• Northwestern's high rank was 4th. The Cats' low rank was 10th, but generally most were in the 7-8 range.
• Michigan's high rank was 4th. The low rank was 9th.
• Illinois came in much lower than expected. The Illini's low rank was 12th! Another was for 10th. The high rank was only 6th. 
• Purdue only received two rankings in the single digits. However, no one picked the Boilers last.
• Indiana wouldn't have beaten out Minnesota even if a certain homer pick (though, not sure how homerish a 9th place rank can be) did help out the Gophers a bit. Still, the Hoosiers high rank was a single vote for 10th place. Minnesota only received four last-place votes.

How did I rank the teams in my prediction?  Let's just say I had the top two teams the same as the poll, and the bottom two teams the same as the poll. The 8 teams in the middle were slightly very different.

Which blogger ranked Michigan as high as #4??? I'll never tell.