3 vastly overrated and 3 criminally underrated teams from the Big Ten media poll

College football is one day closer to being here. We have a little over a month left to wait and see what happens. In the meantime, we can enjoy the fallout of the initial waves of talking season. While SEC Media Days came and went, Big Ten Media Days did its thing as well. It may not have been met with the same reverence as the former, but I am happy other leagues are as fired up about the sport.

Although the Big Ten does not do an official media poll at the conclusion of Big Ten Media Days (get a clue, y'all), USA TODAY Sports has us covered. 13 of their beat writers conducted their own sort of poll to help us get a better understanding of how the new 18-team league stacks up. As expected, Ohio State and Oregon are slated to meet at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis in early December.

Here is what the unofficial Big Ten Media Days pollsters from USA TODAY Sports decided was gospel.

• 1. Ohio State Buckeyes (8)
• 2. Oregon Ducks (5)
• 3. Michigan Wolverines
• 3. Penn State Nittany Lions
• 5. USC Trojans
• 6. Iowa Hawkeyes
• 7. Wisconsin Badgers
• 8. Nebraska Cornhuskers
• 9. Washington Huskies
• 10. Rutgers Scarlet Knights
• 11. Maryland Terrapins
• 12. Michigan State Spartans
• 13. Minnesota Golden Gophers
• 14. UCLA Bruins
• 15. Illinois Fighting Illini
• 16. Indiana Hoosiers
• 17. Northwestern Wildcats
• 18. Purdue Boilermakers

Ohio State and Oregon would be my No. 1 and No. 2 teams if I had a vote. I would have then had Penn State firmly as my number three. After that, this is where the real fun happens. Would I have had Michigan at No. 4? Would I have dropped the defending College Football Playoff National Champions down even more? The Wolverines would not have fallen all that far, but they would not be my No. 3.

Let's take a look at three teams USA TODAY vastly overrated and three they criminally underrated.

Overrated: Nebraska Cornhuskers

No, I don't think the Nebraska Cornhuskers are going to be terrible again this year. However, I don't know if they are for sure one of the 10 best teams in the new Big Ten. This may be Matt Rhule's second season in Lincoln, but it also isn't his third. His teams in year one usually stink to high heaven. While teams in year three go on to do extraordinary things, his teams in year two go to bowl games.

To be frank, Husker Nation should be doing cartwheels in the streets if UNL went 7-5 and won a bowl game. They are the Big Ten version of Tennessee. For that reason, I don't think they have earned the right to be ranked No. 8 in the Big Ten entering this season. I would have them like No. 10 or No. 11, but I cannot in good faith put a team firmly inside the top 10 that hasn't been to a bowl game in years.

The last time Nebraska went to a bowl game, President Barack Obama was still in the White House.

Underrated: Northwestern Wildcats

Make it make sense! I understand that Northwestern is essentially going to be playing on a rock in a windy lake, as if it were Azkaban Prison, while Ryan Field gets renovated. I do believe that will create quite a tussle inside the program itself, but to have Northwestern slated to finish 17th, I don't see it. David Braun showed us all last season that he can really coach. I think it gets them a few more wins.

While I may not see Northwestern being any better than a 7-5 team, having them slotted in at No. 17 suggests that this is a 3-9 squad. They might be 4-8, but I would take the Wildcats over probably three or four teams this season, including Purdue. The Boilermakers really need Ryan Walters to find his footing, but I don't see them being the worst team in the Big Ten. That would be Indiana, y'all.

If I swapped Northwestern with Michigan State coming in at No. 12, would that even really shock you?

Overrated: Iowa Hawkeyes

Iowa finds itself in the top third of the conference at No. 6. While I do think the Hawkeyes could be a top-25 team at various points this season, I sense there is a clear distinction between them and the three teams USA TODAY Sports had ranked immediately ahead of them in Michigan, Penn State and USC. I have the Nittany Lions as a playoff team. USC is on the fringe. We will wait and see on Michigan.

Although I think hiring Tim Lester was a huge help for the offense, mostly because he is not related to head coach Brian Ferentz, I remain skeptical that Iowa has the necessary firepower offensively to be anything more than slightly better than league average at best in the new Big Ten. Keep in mind that the old Big Ten West doesn't exist anymore. Nobody benefited more from the divisions than Iowa.

I would probably have Iowa at No. 8, but again, there is a strong line of demarcation after the top-five.

Underrated: Illinois Fighting Illini

Another one I don't fully understand. Illinois may have had a challenging season last year, but I feel like Bret Bielema's Fighting Illini caught a few bad breaks. Yes, doing away with divisions hurts former Big Ten West teams like Illinois, but I really like what Bielema is about as a head coach. To me, he is the type of guy Syracuse wished it had in Dino Babers, a guy who wins enough, but has those pop years.

I don't think Illinois is ever going to be better than a 9-3 team under Bielema, but I don't believe we will see the Illini be a sub-.500 team for much of the rest of his tenure in Champaign-Urbana. Having Illinois slotted in at No. 15 doesn't land well with me. If you were to swap them out with teams ranked a few spots above them like Michigan State at No. 12 or even Maryland at No. 11, would you be furious?

There is more talent in the Big Ten West outside of Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin than people realize.

Overrated: Michigan Wolverines

It goes without saying. Michigan is not in the same stratosphere as the top three teams in the Big Ten for this season. Ohio State and Oregon are College Football Playoff locks. The Buckeyes and Ducks are two of the four best teams in the country, along with Georgia and Texas out of the SEC. I would even say that Penn State is a borderline College Football Playoff lock. They are right there.

As for Michigan, they have to replace a ton of talent on offense as well as most of their coaching staff. While the defense should be strong under new coordinator Don "Wink" Martindale, I remain skeptical as to how the team will respond to new head coach Sherrone Moore when it truly hits the fan. Last year's team could have driven itself. Moore is a good coach, but this team will pull back.

I would probably have Michigan slotted in at No. 5 behind Penn State and USC, probably in that order.

Underrated: Rutgers Scarlet Knights

And we have arrived at the one team that definitely, maybe, might be good in the Big Ten this year. That would be the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Since Greg Schiano returned to Piscataway, the Knights have emerged as a perennial bowl team, one that usually plays up to its level of competition. The defense is back to what it was when he was first leading the program back in the old Big East days.

With divisions going away, Rutgers benefits tremendously. The Scarlet Knights no longer have to play the likes of Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State annually, only just every so often. With so many of their great players returning, if they get slightly better quarterback play, this could be an 8-4 team. If a team goes 8-4 in the new Big Ten, that is a top-25 team. This is much better than the 10th-best team.

It would not shock me if Rutgers had a better year than Washington, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Iowa.