Spartans overwhelming pick to win Big Ten

There's a lot more predicting to be done for the coming college football season than any before it.

We never had the College Football Playoff before. And with it comes a lot of doubt about the Big Ten.

Grantland.com, an ESPN spinoff, had 10 staffers predict the four teams that will make CFP1. Only two say a Big Ten team will be in the darn thing.

ESPN.com surveyed 23 of its college football broadcasters/writers/whozits. They were more charitable to the Big Ten, with 17 including a Big Ten club in their Final Four. Fifteen said that team would be Michigan State, two said it would be Wisconsin.

When it came to picking conference-champs, 20 of the 23 took Michigan State, two pegged Wisconsin, and one selected Nebraska.

Which means Iowa got as many votes as Ohio State. Zero. That surprised me. The Ohio State part, that is.

The Gazette's Scott Dochterman picks Michigan to win the Big Ten. I admire that. Anybody can pick Michigan State this year. But who went with the Spartans to win the league-title last August? Besides nobody, I mean.

Here are some other forecasters and their Big Ten title picks:

Gary Laney, NJ.com: Michigan State

Ari Wasserman, Cleveland.com: Michigan State (over Wisconsin in the league's title game)

Tom Dienhart, BTN.com: Michigan State (over Iowa)

Kevin McGuire, NBCSports.com: Michigan State (over Wisconsin)

Doug Lesmerises, Cleveland.com: Michigan State (over Iowa)

Bruce Feldman, FoxSports.com: Michigan State (over Nebraska)

Stewart Mandel, FoxSports.com: Ohio State (over Nebraska)

Me? I'm taking Ohio State over a team that resides west of the Mississippi.

Comments? (319) 368-8840; mike.hlas@thegazette.com