Ohio State is projected to lead the Big Ten for the 2026-27 season according to several preseason polls. While wide receiver Jeremiah Smith has secured a massive lead in offensive player discussions, defensive honors remain highly contested among voters.
The 33-vote landslide for Jeremiah Smith
Jeremiah Smith, the Ohio State wide receiver, has established himself as the preseason heavyweight in the conference. According to the Bill and Doug Show poll, Smith captured 33 of the 46 available first-place votes for Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, creating a decsive margin over his peers.
The offensive voting gap extends significantly to the quarterback position as well. Oregon quarterback Dante Moore earned nine first-place votes to rank second, while Ohio State's true-freshman starter, Julian Sayin, finished third with only three first-place votes. the voting system utilized for these tallies awarded three points for first-place selections, two for second, and one for third.
A three-way split for Defensive Player of the Year
Defensive honors in the Big Ten lack a clear consensus, with three different players being named the top defensive talent across various publications. The Bill and Doug Show count favored Oregon defensive tackle A'mauri Washington, who edged out Minnesota defensive end Anthony Smith by a single voting point.
Other major outlets reached different conclusions regarding the conference's best defender. Cleveland.com named Minnesota's Anthony Smith as its preseason defensive player, while USA TODAY recognized Indiana linebacker Rolijah Hardy. This fragmentation leaves open the question of which defensive unit will actually dominate the 2026-27 season, as even Ohio State's own roster saw split interest between Kenyatta Jackson Jr., Jaylen McClain, Eddrick Houston, and Payton Pierce.
The debate over four College Football Playoff spots
The number of Big Ten teams qualifying for the 2026-27 College Football Playoff remains a point of contention among analysts. As the report says, just over half of the voters projected that the conference could deliver four teams to the postseason, reflecting high confidence in the depth of the Big Ten roster.
However, most voters remain skeptical of a massive conference takeover. While a single outlier predicted that five or more teams might make the cut, every other poll questioned the possibility of the conference sending more than three representatives to the playoff.
Oregon’s single-vote edge in the Bill and Doug Show
Oregon and Ohio State are locked in an incredibly tight race for the top spot in the conference standings. In the Bill and Doug Show poll, Oregon managed to edge out the Buckeyes by a single first-place vote,receiving 20 votes to Ohio State's 19.
This narrow margin was the result of a diverse voting pool consisting of 16 nationally-based writers and 30 Big Ten beat writers. Despite the razor-thin margin in that specific count, Ohio State maintained the highest average standing when aggregating the results of all three preseason polls.
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