Ohio State again looks like team to beat in Big Ten

CHICAGO  — The Big Ten, unlike other conferences, doesn't do a preseason poll. But when the first national rankings come out in a few weeks there's a real good chance Ohio State will be second, behind Alabama. Penn State and Michigan should also be in the top 10. Possibly so could Wisconsin, which is in the weaker West Division. While the conference isn't as deep top to bottom as the Southeastern, or perhaps even the Atlantic Coast, the biggest boys look like they can hang with just about anybody. Once again.

The Buckeyes have gone 61-6 for Urban Meyer. They lost twice in 2016, with what was not necessarily supposed to be a national-title kind of team. One was at Penn State, on a late blocked field-goal return, and it cost them the East title. What it didn't cost them was a spot in the four-team college football playoffs, because they had one fewer loss than the Nittany Lions. They then got rolled by eventual champion Clemson in the semifinals, the first time a Meyer club had ever been shut out. Penn State, Michigan, and Wisconsin made it to New Year's Six bowls, the first such trifecta for any conference. They went 1-2, with the losses coming by 1 and 3 points.

The Bucks have made it to only two of the six Big Ten title games, in 2013 and '14. They won once, on their second try, en route to that national-title run three years ago. And they did so with a backup quarterback.

Now they appear to be well-equipped once more. So what else is new? But there are many teams that for whatever reasons don't reach the expectations, although sometimes that means going 11-2 instead of running the table.

When you're Meyer, that's the world you live in. He's Nick Saban with two fewer rings.

All it takes is one misstep to end up in, say, the Cotton Bowl. The Buckeyes needed overtime to get by Michigan at home. And they host Big 12 favorite Oklahoma on Sept. 9, after winning by three touchdowns in Norman a year ago. They do host Penn State in late October, and like the Lions, they will not play Wisconsin. Michigan, which beat PSU by 39, has to go to Madison the week before it hosts OSU in the finale. The Wolverines lost all but one starter from the country's top defense, but Jim Harbaugh is Jim Harbaugh, right?

Remember when Michigan State was a big part of this kind of talk? And Penn State/Michigan weren't?

In the first three years of the college football playoffs, the Big Ten has had a team in the field. There's little reason to believe it can't make it 4-for-4, with OSU obviously the likeliest candidate. But there are rarely any guarantees.

"We all want to maximize the opportunity that is this season," said Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst on Monday at the annual Big Ten media availability sessions. "That's what's great about the season. You have to go play it. Then all the talk doesn't matter."

He would not be wrong. Ask Penn State, which outkicked the coverage last season. Still, there has to be a starting point.

"Last year we were the youngest team in college football," Meyer noted. "This year we're not. I'm very anxious to get going. I like where we're at with this team."

In Columbus there's going to be pressure, regardless of the projections.

"Ohio State is always going to be [up] there," he went on. "It should be one of the top schools in the conference. That's just respect."

He has a new offensive coordinator. And maybe a new perspective, coming off the Clemson fiasco. "It was awful," Meyer acknowledged. "You reevaluate everything you do, to make sure that doesn't happen again.

"We haven't used it as motivation, as we've been known to do in the past. It's gone. But it has changed how we do some business moving forward."

He has a prolific fifth-year senior quarterback in J.T. Barrett, who holds the keys.

"It's one thing to have seniors, when the seniors play their best ball," Meyer emphasized. "If I can say that about this group …

"It's incredible the amount of growth [Barrett] still has in front of him. That's the challenge."

Collectively as well.

So what do you plan to be doing come Dec. 2? Or beyond. It's a nice problem to have. Once more.