College football rankings: Big Ten predicted order of finish for 2022 season

Your first look at the Big Ten rankings ahead of the 2022 college football season.

Big Ten Media Days is here and with it the unofficial start of the college football season. And that makes it officially prediction season.

Including in the Big Ten, which, although it canned its media preseason poll in recent years, still offers us a view of what to expect in the conference.

That's thanks to Cleveland.com, which picked up the mantle and asked media members to rank where they predict Big Ten teams will finish this coming year.

Let's look at the updated Big Ten football preseason media rankings.

College football rankings: Big Ten predicted order of finish

First-place votes in parentheses

Big Ten West

7. Northwestern. Two years ago, the Wildcats played for the Big Ten title. A year ago, they won a single game in conference and didn't score over 14 points a game in the second half of the season.

6. Illinois. Bret Bielema returns in Year 2 with an offense that failed to crack 20 ppg and fielded the third-worst scoring defense. But he does get transfer quarterback Tommy DeVito, who arrives from Syracuse with a big arm.

5. Nebraska. Not much hope for the Cornhuskers, who lost all nine games last fall by single digits. Scott Frost got aggressive this offseason, bringing on offensive play-caller Mark Whipple from Pitt and a solid transfer class.

4. Purdue. Top receiver David Bell is gone, as is the next man up Milton Wright, too, after being ruled academically ineligible. Aidan O'Connell is back under center as one of the Big Ten's most solid passers, good for 72% of his throws and who didn't have a turnover in seven games.

3. Minnesota (2). Lead back Mo Ibrahim returns from injury in tandem with quarterback Tanner Morgan, and both reunite with offensive play-caller Kirk Ciarrocca. This team has some decent perimeter speed to exploit if it can work out its protection up front.

2. Iowa (3). This team often has the defense to take it places — like last season when the Hawkeyes were in the top 5 of the AP poll and seemingly destined for the College Football Playoff — but patching together a consistently threatening downfield offense remains a question.

1. Wisconsin (31). There are some holes to fill on what last fall was the No. 1 ranked defense in college football, but still plenty to work with, in addition to youngster Braelon Allen, who might already be one of the best backs in the nation. But what can the Badgers get out of quarterback Graham Mertz? So far, not much.

Big Ten East

7. Indiana. It looks like the Hoosiers' moment has truly passed after a magical 2020 run, losing quarterback Michael Penix and lead receiver Ty Fryfogle. IU brings on transfer QB Connor Bazelak from Missouri, but put up under 11 ppg in Big Ten games and allowed over 35, not a formula for success.

6. Rutgers. The third-worst scoring offense in the Big Ten was good for just about 19 points each time out last fall, while giving up almost 25 per game to opponents, and needs to dramatically improve its physicality at both lines of scrimmage.

5. Maryland. The Terps should put up some good numbers after posting the fourth-best offense in the Big Ten a year ago, retain quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa and added Florida transfer WR Jacob Copeland to pair with Dontay Demus.

4. Michigan State. Payton Thorne returns under center along with thousand-yard receiver Jayden Reed, but power back Kenneth Walker was the engine of this offense. We'll see if Sparty can recover from losing him, and what they can do with one of the worst pass defenses in college football.

3. Penn State. Sean Clifford is back at QB and he'll get WKU transfer wideout Mitchell Tinsley, who had over 1,400 yards and 14 TDs last fall in a record-breaking offense, but this team has to rebuild its rushing attack to balance things out.

2. Michigan. No first-place votes for the Wolverines after winning the Big Ten and making the College Football Playoff a year ago. There are some notable losses, especially at edge rusher, but plenty of offensive skill to keep this team in contention.

1. Ohio State (36). No surprises here as the Buckeyes retain the core of an offense that ranked No. 1 in college football, led by its Heisman finalist quarterback, but Jim Knowles needs to tighten the screws defensively before we can say OSU is back to being a playoff team.

(h/t Cleveland.com)

---

Follow College Football HQ: Bookmark | Rankings | Facebook