Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg
Sorry I'm a little late with this -- spent most of the morning delayed at O'Hare Airport (big shocker) -- but the preseason coaches' poll came out earlier today, and the Big Ten tied both the SEC and Big 12 for the most teams [5] in the initial rankings. So much for the league being down, right?
Here's the rundown of the rankings:
No. 3 Ohio State (tied for second place in first-place votes with 14)
No. 12 Wisconsin
No. 19 Illinois
No. 22 Penn State
No. 24 Michigan
Not many surprises except for the last team on the list. Either the coaches really respect Rich Rodriguez, regard unproven talent extremely highly or put Michigan in the poll based off the program's history. I'll go with the third option.
I'm not big on preseason polls to begin with, but there's really no justifiable reason to put Michigan in the top 25 before seeing it play a game. The Wolverines lost their record-setting quarterback, their record-setting running back, two dynamic receivers and four starters from the offensive line. That sounds an awful lot like what Notre Dame dealt with following the 2006 season. I'm not saying Michigan will struggle nearly to the extent Notre Dame did last fall, especially with Rodriguez as its coach, but the personnel situations run parallel.
The coaches got it right with Ohio State, a team I also rank at No. 3. Wisconsin might be a little higher than it should be, given the uncertainty at quarterback and all the injuries this spring. Illinois and Penn State seem about even going into the season, somewhere in the 18-23 range. Both teams boast plenty of talent on defense and some promising skill players on offense, but both have questions in the backfield (running back for Illinois, quarterback for Penn State).
Adam Rittenberg joined ESPN.com in 2008 after four years at the Arlington Heights (Ill.) Daily Herald, where he covered sports at Notre Dame, Northwestern, DePaul and several other colleges. He lives in Chicago.
