Here’s where Rutgers football landed in 2023 Big Ten preseason poll

Between bringing back a majority of a potential-laden defense and having high hopes in first-year coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca’s abilities to fix a disastrous offense and unlock quarterback Gavin Wimsatt’s potential, there is cautious optimism in Piscataway that Rutgers can take a leap forward this fall.
But given their major struggles for stretches last season, those around the Big Ten seem to have a familiar stance on the Scarlet Knights: prove the improvement.
For the third consecutive year, Rutgers is predicted to finish sixth in the league’s seven-team East Division in Cleveland.com’s annual preseason Big Ten poll. The 13th edition of the poll — which NJ Advance Media beat writers Brian Fonseca and Pat Lanni voted in — was released Tuesday ahead of the conference’s media days in Indianapolis this week.
As for the rest of the league, Cleveland.com’s poll projected Michigan to win the conference for the third consecutive season, ending a stretch of three consecutive offseason championships for Ohio State. The Buckeyes did see their star wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. get elected as the preseason offensive player of the year and Iowa defensive back Cooper DeJean as the defensive player of the year.
On the other end of the league, Wisconsin is projected to win the West in head coach Luke Fickell’s first year, while Iowa is projected to finish second in the division. Rutgers faces both the Badgers and the Hawkeyes on the road this season, which is a major reason the Scarlet Knights have one of the harder schedules in the Big Ten. On the flip side, season-opening opponent Northwestern is projected to finish last in the West as they navigate the horrendous hazing scandal that has engulfed its program in the past month.
It is worth remembering that preseason picks are not prophetic. Last season, Ohio State was picked to win the league (Michigan won it for the second consecutive season), Wisconsin was picked to win the Big Ten West (the Badgers finished in fifth place with a 4-5 conference record, leading to the stunning firing of Paul Chryst and hiring of Fickell) and Illinois was picked to finish sixth in the Big Ten West (they finished second with a 5-4 record).
Here are the full projections:
Big Ten East
1-Michigan (27 first-place votes) 248
2-Ohio State (8) 226
3-Penn State (2) 192
4-Maryland 143
5-Michigan State 105
6-Rutgers 74
7-Indiana 48
Big Ten West
1-Wisconsin (20 first-place votes) 233
2-Iowa (16) 232
3-Minnesota (1) 176
4-Illinois 152
5-Nebraska 116
6-Purdue 89
7-Northwestern 38
Big Ten championship game predictions
Michigan over Wisconsin (15)
Michigan over Iowa (11)
Michigan over Minnesota (1)
Ohio State over Iowa (4)
Ohio State over Wisconsin (4)
Penn State over Iowa (1)
Penn State over Wisconsin (1)
PRESEASON OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR (1st-place votes / 2nd-place / 3rd-place)
1-Marvin Harrison Jr., WR, Ohio State (27-5-3) 94
2-Blake Corum, RB, Michigan (4-21-2) 56
3-J.J. McCarthy, QB, Michigan (5-2-8) 27
4-Braelon Allen, RB, Wisconsin (0-5-11) 21
5(tie)-Nick Singleton, RB, Penn State (0-1-4) 6
5(tie)-Taulia Tagovailoa, QB, Maryland (0-1-4) 6
7-Kyle McCord, QB, Ohio State (1-1-0) 5
8(tie)-Olu Fashanu, OT, Penn State (0-0-2) 2
8(tie)-TreVeyon Henderson, RB, Ohio State (0-1-0) 2
8(tie)-Donovan Edwards, RB, Michigan (0-0-2) 2
11-Emeka Egbuka, WR, Ohio State (0-0-1) 1
PRESEASON DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
1-Cooper DeJean, DB, Iowa (6-9-6) 42
2-Jer’Zhan “Johnny” Newton, DT, Illinois (7-4-12) 41
3-Tommy Eichenberg, LB, Ohio State (6-4-3) 29
4-J.T. Tuimoloau, DE, Ohio State (5-4-5) 28
5-Kalen King, DB, Penn State (1-7-5) 22
6-Abdul Carter, LB, Penn State (5-2-1) 20
7-Chop Robinson, DE, Penn State (3-2-0) 13
8-Denzel Burke, CB, Ohio State (1-2-0) 7
9(tie)-Junior Colson, LB, Michigan (1-0-2) 5
9(tie)-Will Johnson, CB, Michigan (1-1-0) 5
11-Mike Hall Jr., DT, Ohio State (1-0-0) 3
12(tie)-Cal Haladay, LB, Michigan State (0-1-0) 2
12(tie)-Jack Sawyer, DE, Ohio State (0-1-0) 2
14(tie)-Maema Njongmeta, LB, Wisconsin (0-0-1) 1
14(tie)-Tyler Nubin, DB, Minnesota (0-0-1) 1
14(tie)-Nick Scourton (formerly Caraway), LB, Purdue (0-0-1) 1
Bonus question: What is the Big Ten’s toughest road environment?
1-Beaver Stadium 17
2-Ohio Stadium 9
3-Kinnick Stadium 7
4-Michigan Stadium 3
5-Camp Randall 1