College football is set to see a revived Ohio State team in the 2026 season. Despite their disappointing CFP campaign in the 2025 season, the Buckeyes have been ranked highest in an annual Big 10 prediction. Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith is also predicted as the leading candidate for a major Big Ten award.

The 16th annual Big Ten preseason poll from Cleveland.com has been released, and the Buckeyes have been projected to finish first in the Big Ten conference. The conference does not release an official preseason poll, making Cleveland.com’s poll widely accepted as the standard.

This time, OSU received more first-place votes than any other Big Ten program, including defending national champions, the Indiana Hoosiers. The Buckeyes had 15 first-place votes out of 31 votes. The Oregon Ducks received 11 votes, while the Indiana received five first-place votes. Only these three were tipped by the folks at Cleveland.com to finish as league leaders.

On the other hand, there were also votes for the Big Ten preseason Offensive Player of the Year. Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith was tipped for another brilliant season, winning the prediction with 21 first-place votes out of a possible 31. Oregon quarterback Dante Moore came second with eight votes, while Smith’s teammate, quarterback Julian Sayin, had two first-place votes.

In what looks like a redemption from the setback of the 2025 season, where the Buckeyes had an undefeated regular season only to lose the Big Ten Championship game to Indiana and the CFP quarterfinals to Miami, Ryan Day and his players have been tipped to lead the Big Ten again, despite not winning it since 2020. This is despite their having one of the toughest schedules in college football. The program is ranked eighth in the nation by ESPN’s College Football Power Index.

Objectively, there is no doubt that the Buckeyes have the roster to finish atop the Big Ten and even win the national championship. However, Indiana taught the college football world a lesson with predictions last season. Counted out by many analysts, the Hoosiers shocked the world by posting an undefeated regular season and winning the national championship without losing a game. Besides, the preseason poll by Cleveland.com before the 2025 season had Penn State leading the Big Ten. In an unexpected twist, the Nittany Lions fired their head coach after a 3-3 start.

The Buckeyes’ offense features top talents, like Jeremiah Smith, who became a prominent college football star from the moment he arrived as a freshman. Last season, he recorded 87 receptions for 1,243 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns across 13 games. It was his second consecutive season of having over 1,000 receiving yards. His consistency is part of the reason the Buckeyes are ranked so highly and why he has been tipped to win the Offensive Player of the Year award.

Joining Smith in the offensive is the team’s signal caller and Heisman finalist, Julian Sayin, who finished the 2025 season with 3,610 passing yards, 32 touchdowns, and a 77% pass completion rate.

Other Big Ten programs ranked in the top ten 

After the first three programs that scored above 500 points and have been tipped to finish first, other Big Ten programs were also ranked by Cleveland.com. OSU is first with 540 points; Oregon comes next with 527 points, while Indiana has 509 points.

The USC Trojans, with 446 points, were ranked fourth, while the Michigan Wolverines, under new head coach Kyle Whittingham, are fifth with 430 points. Penn State, which was predicted to lead the Big Ten in 2025, is sixth on this list.

With 366 points, the Huskies are next, followed closely by the Hawkeyes with 361 points. The other two programs in the Big Ten’s top ten are the Fighting Illini, with 304 points, and the Golden Gophers, with 268 points.