Penn State Tops Major Big Football Preseason Poll for First time

Penn State heads to Big Ten Football Media Days this week as the conference favorite, according to one major media poll. Cleveland.com released its 15th annual Preseason Big Ten Football Poll on Monday, and the Nittany Lions topped it for the first time.

Penn State received 11 first-place votes from the 25-member media panel, one more than defending national champ Ohio State. Since the Big Ten no longer releases its own poll, the Cleveland.com poll serves as the conference's primary preseason bellwether. Penn State's James Franklin also was voted the conference's preseason coach of the year.

Franklin enters his 12th season at Penn State with arguably his best team, returning about 20 fourth- and fifth-year players from last year's College Football Playoff semifinalist. The Nittany Lions were a handful of plays from defeating Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl and setting up a rematch with Ohio State in the national championship game.

Penn State edged Ohio State in the Cleveland.com poll voting, receiving 435 votes to Ohio State's 431. Oregon was third with 403 votes, including two for first place. The rising Illinois Illini finished fourth in the poll.

Coming off a 13-3 year, Penn State spent the offseason in talent-retention mode. The Nittany Lions return multi-year offensive starters in quarterback Drew Allar and running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen. They bring back five offensive linemen with starting experience, including left tackle Drew Shelton and center Nick Dawkins.

In the Cleveland.com media poll, Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith was the overwhelming pick for Big Ten preseason offensive player of the year. Penn State, though, had three of the top five picks with Allar, Singleton and Allen. Allar was the only player besides Smith to receive a first-place vote.

Defensively, Franklin hired coordinator Jim Knowles away from Ohio State in the biggest offseason staff move in the country. Knowles will coach potential All-Big Ten selections on the defensive line (tackle Zane Durant, end Dani Dennis-Sutton) and in the secondary (cornerback A.J. Harris, safety Zakee Wheatley). Dennis-Sutton finished second to Ohio State safety Caleb Downs in Cleveland.com's Big Ten preseason defensive player of the year voting.