CHICAGO -- As Penn State tries to separate itself from the middle of a very crowded Big Ten, the program will have to do so in a conference many Big Ten coaches are calling a level playing field.
"There is Penn State, there is Michigan, there is Purdue...on and on and on," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said.
The Ohio State Buckeyes were chosen to repeat as Big Ten Conference champions.
Wisconsin and Illinois were voted Nos. 2 and 3 respectively. Penn State will play the Buckeyes, the Badgers and the Illini this coming fall.
Ohio State has won back-to-back conference titles, but lost big in the national championship game each of the last two years.
Tressel said his team won't feel any pressure, but being the conference front-runners doesn't ultimately lock up the conference for them.
He noted his squad's game against Penn State wouldn't be easy and dismissed the notion of being the frontrunners for the conference title.
Tressel said every team has a shot.
"You get to lineup against eight folks in your league to see who the champion can be," Tressel said.
"Outside of this week or two, there's not much discussion of the preseason poll."
Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema had to look twice when he saw the newest poll results.
He wasn't surprised to see his squad at No. 2, instead he was shocked at what he didn't see at the top.
Bielema said he thought it was a typo when he didn't see Michigan in the top three. The Wolverines have been ranked in the Top-25 at the end of the year 22 of the last 23 years.
This year, Michigan has a new head coach and will have to find a way to replace offensive stars Jake Long, Mike Hart, Chad Henne and Mario Manningham.
"That's probably a misprint," Bielema said.
"I think that Michigan [will be fine], because of the way they can recruit, because of the way they have recruited under Coach [Lloyd] Carr and the coaches he had there.
"I've been fortunate enough to get to know Rich [Rodriguez] over the last couple years and know that he's a very, very high quality coach."
The Wolverines have beaten Penn State nine times in a row dating back to 1996.
Arguably the most memorable matchup came back in 2005, when a last second touchdown for Michigan gave the Wolverines a 27-25 win over Penn State.
The two teams will meet in the middle of the season on Oct. 18 in Happy Valley.
Of the top three teams, Illinois made the biggest turnaround last year, going from 2-10 in 2006, to 9-4 in 2007.
The Illini were beaten by USC in the Rose Bowl.
Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio also noted the parity of the conference, saying his team has a good shot to improve from it's record last year of 7-6 in which it won just three conference games.
Dantonio used the example of one of his own players, junior wideout Devin Thomas, to describe how teams improve as their players get more experience.
"[He] didn't catch a pass last year in our spring football game," Dantonio said. "He caught six passes last year for 60 yards, so the transition that he made, the turnaround he made is just as indicate as the turnaround that Illinois made and that another team can make in 2008."
