Media Poll Has Grim Outlook for Michigan State in Big Ten

With the kickoff of the Big Ten Media Days on Tuesday, it officially means the 2025 season is right around the corner. The three-day event taking place in Las Vegas will help give the media and the fans insight as to how their favorite team will look this fall.

Cleveland.com released its Big Ten preseason media poll, just it does every season at this time. In a vote of 25 league media members, the Michigan State Spartans were picked to finish in a tie for 13th.

The preseason favorites to win the league are the Penn State Nittany Lions. They received 11 first-place votes, just one more than the Ohio State Buckeyes, who are the defending national champions. The defending conference champion Oregon Ducks received two first-place votes for good measure.

Penn State will be led once again by quarterback Drew Allar and 1,000-yard running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen. Their defense is led by edge rusher Dani Dennis-Sutton.

Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith was the runaway winner of the preseason Offensive Player of the Year Award. He received 21 of 25 first-place votes. Following Smith were Allar and Singleton, who came in second and third, respectively.

The defensive side of the football also had an Ohio State player taking off with the award in a big way. Buckeyes safety Caleb Downs is the presumptive favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year as he received 21 first-place votes as well.

Penn State’s Dennis-Sutton finished second, followed by Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman. Indiana edge rusher Mikail Kamara finished fifth despite receiving two first-place votes.

2025 will bring a clean slate for the Spartans, who are looking to compile a winning record. They finished 5-7 last season under first-year head coach Jonathan Smith. The Spartans have not been to a post-season bowl game since 2021.

Sparty returns quarterback Aidan Chiles and wide receiver Nick Marsh. This gives fans some room for optimism and improvement.

Michigan State is tied with Rutgers to finish in 13th place in the conference. It is expected to be better than UCLA, Maryland, Northwestern and Purdue.

Smith and three of his players, Marsh, Stanton Ramil and Jordan Hall, will address the media at Big Ten Media Days on Thursday.

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