RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesIOWA CITY, IA - OCTOBER 25: Defensive back Zach Lutmer #6 of the Iowa Hawkeyes scores a touchdown after an interception in the first half against the Minnesota Golden Gophers on October 25, 2025 at Kinnick Stadium, in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Big Ten Media Days kick off on Tuesday, July 28th in Chicago and with the annual event comes the official start of preseason poll season. The most notable one comes from Cleveland.com , which polls a total of 31 writers who cover the Big Ten across several different outlets. This year’s results come without a ton of surprises.
Your Iowa Hawkeyes are picked to finish 8th in the conference, which feels about right. There is some split in voting at the top with Ohio State receiving the most overall votes at 540, as well as the most 1st place votes (15). The Oregon Ducks come in second with 527 total votes and 11 for 1st place. Notably, defending national champion Indiana is picked to finish third with 509 total votes, while 5 people have them winning the conference.
Other notables include Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin, which are picked to finish behind Iowa in that order. The Purdue Boilermakers are this year’s pick to finish dead last in the conference standings.
Here’s a look at the full voting results for conference standings:
OHIO STATE (15) 540
OREGON (11) 527
INDIANA (5) 509
USC 446
MICHIGAN 430
PENN STATE 380
WASHINGTON 366
IOWA 361
ILLINOIS 304
MINNESOTA 268
NEBRASKA 246
WISCONSIN 207
UCLA 199
NORTHWESTERN 140
MARYLAND 137
MICHIGAN STATE 99
RUTGERS 97
PURDUE 45
While Cleveland.com is the standard with polling across the conference, the USA Today also put out their preseason polling on Monday ahead of Media Days and there weren’t a ton of differences. The national folks also have Iowa pegged to finish 8th in the conference with the top-11 identical to the conference media. The only two differences are at the bottom, where the USA Today has Wisconsin and UCLA flipped, ditto Rutgers and MSU.
Here’s the full poll from USA Today:
Ohio State (11 first-place votes)
Oregon (5 first-place votes)
Indiana
USC
Michigan
Penn State
Washington
Iowa
Illinois
Minnesota
Nebraska
UCLA
Wisconsin
Maryland
Northwestern
Rutgers
Michigan State
Purdue
Lutmer Leads the Way on Defense
Beyond the conference standings, the media also released their picks for the pre-season All-Big Ten teams and the Hawkeyes have some modest representation this year.
It should come as no surprise that Ohio State superstar WR Jeremiah Smith is the conference media’s pick to be offensive player of the year. He was one of three Buckeyes to earn votes for the honor – the same number of Hoosiers also received votes, led by incoming QB Josh Hoover.
Jeremiah Smith – WR – OSU – 82 (21)
Dante Moore – QB – Oregon – 62 (8)
Julian Sayin – QB- OSU – 25 (2)
Jayden Maiavia – QB – USC – 7
Josh Hoover – QB- Indiana – 5
Turbo Richard – RB – Indiana – 1
Demond Williams – QB- Washington – 1
Carter Smith – OL- Indiana – 1
Drake Lindsey – QB – Minnesota – 1
Bo Jackson – RB – OSU – 1
That lines up with the USA Today polling, which also has Smith as the offensive player of the year while Hoover was selected as newcomber of the year.
On the defensive side of the ball, things are a bit more wide open and the Hawkeyes actually have some representation. The Big Ten media is pretty split on which Oregon defender is best but the Ducks are well represented with five players earning votes, led by defensive back Brandon Finney.
While the Ducks are split, Minnesota saw votes consolidated around DL Anthony Smith, who led the way with 26 total votes. While he edged out Finney in the total vote count, Finney tied with fellow Duck Teitum Tuitoti (DL) with six 1st place votes.
Iowa DB Zach Lutmer finished 11th in the voting, receiving 4 total votes.
Anthony Smith – DL – Minnesota – 26 (2)
Brandon Finney – DB – Oregon – 25 (6)
Koi Perich – DB – Oregon – 22 (4)
Teitum Tuioti – DL – Oregon – 20 (6)
A’Mauri Washington – DL – Oregon – 20 (5)
Tyrique Tucker – DL – Indiana – 17 (3)
John Henry Daley – DL – Michigan – 15 (2)
Rolijah Hardy – LB – Indiana – 8 (2)
Matayo Uiagalelei – DL – Oregon – 7
Jamari Sharpe – DB – Indiana – 6
Zach Lutmer – DB – Iowa – 4
Earl Little – DB – OSU – 3
Anthony Jones – DL – Nebraska – 2
Amare Ferrell – DB – Indiana – 1
Kenyatta Jackson – DL – OSU – 1
Jaylen McClain – DB – OSU – 1
Isaiah Jones – LB – Indiana – 1
Interestingly, there’s quite a divergence here from the national media at USA Today. They have Indiana LB Rolijah Hardy picked as the conference’s defensive player of the year in the preseason. The Big Ten media had him second among Hoosiers and 8th in the total voting.
Three Hawkeyes Make Pre-Season All-Big Ten
We won’t get the Big Ten media’s full picks for preseason All-Big Ten teams until media days officially kick off, but that didn’t stop the national folks from weighing in ahead of Tuesday. The Hawkeyes had three players make the cut with a fourth named honorable mention.
On the offensive side of the ball, offensive linemen Kade Pieper and Trevor Lauck. That tracks with the DNA of the program as well as the mix of newcomers at the skill positions. The running back room figures to be well stocked, but with a workload split expected it’s difficult to see anyone making a preseason awards list from that group.
Budding star tight end DJ Vonnahme was the only other Iowa offensive player to receive votes for preseason All-Big Ten on the offensive side of the ball. He received honorable mention.
On defense, it’s just the aforementioned Lutmer to be honored by the national media. While it makes some sense to only see one Hawkeye on the list with so much talent consolidated at the likes of Oregon and Indiana, it is interesting that not a single other Hawkeye defender received a vote to earn honorable mention. History indicates that won’t hold in the final season ...
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