The season now is in some serious forward momentum in the Big Ten. We’re now eight weeks into the college football season, and we now have a fairly good feel about who’s in this thing, and who’s not. Wisconsin took a big hit, Penn State got a huge win, and the rest — well, it is what it is.
After a bit of a surprising week, we’re here to reset the pecking order in the Big Ten based on what we’ve seen from each team as of late.
As we do each week, here’s your Big Ten football power rankings after the latest round of games. As always, give me a break on these, I just recently discovered there’s another season of the The Purge that I didn’t know about, so I’m into it.
14. Rutgers – (Last week 14)
Do we even need to say anything? No. No we do not. How much do you think Ohio State would be favored over the Scarlet Knights if the game were today? Yikes.
13. Maryland – (Last week 12)
The Terps hung in there against Indiana, but it was still another loss to add to the tally of four of the last five. Basketball season anyone?
12. Illinois – (Last week 13)
What a huge win for the Illini over Wisconsin. Let’s pump those brakes though because it’s still just one win in the Big Ten. Do something at Purdue next week and we can talk.
11. Purdue – (Last week 11)
I tell ya, it was a respectable showing at Iowa this past weekend, but a loss nonetheless. There is still an outside shot at a bowl game, but the train (choo! choo!) has likely already left the station. Time to get this thing back on the rails against Illinois.
Next … 10 thru 6
10. Northwestern (Last week 10)
That was an absolute smackdown Ohio State put on the Wildcats this past Friday. Now the schedule gets easier though. Can Pat Fitzgerald rally the troops and finish strong? Listen, if you can put purple on and play an aggressive man’s game, there’s enough pride there right?
9. Nebraska (Last week 9)
It’s time to hit the gas after a bye-week because this is still a middle-of-the road team that will have to win some of those con-flip matchups to become bowl eligible. I’m out of corn jokes for now, so we’ll just leave it at that.
8. Indiana (Last week 8)
We can’t quite move the Hoosiers up before basketball season starts because that’s the rule in the state of Indiana right? But look, this team is just one win away from being bowl-eligible. I say it gets there, but we’re still on the fence as to just how good this team is. Let’s call this ranking a TBD.
7. Michigan State (Last week 6)
The Spartans also enjoyed an off week and suddenly the once untouchable Mark Dantonio has come under fire a bit. This team needs to use more than the swords and armor the real Spartans used before all the technological advances if it wants to find a real, live offense somewhere along the way.
6. Iowa (Last week 7)
It wasn’t pretty (Iowa games rarely are), but the Hawkeyes just found a way to keep it close and pull it off in the end. Time to trademark the ugly win if your the Iowa program. HawkeyUgly(™).
Next … 5 thru 1
5. Michigan (Last week 5)
The Wolverines now have two losses in the conference but it’s still a team that might be dangerous at the end of the year. But yeah, another big-game loss for Harbaugh. Each year is starting to become like shampoo label instructions. Rinse and repeat.
4. Minnesota (Last week 4)
We keep waiting for this team to fall off but it’s just not happening. If anything, the Gophers are getting more confidence and improving each week. Row, row, row that boat not so gently through the Big Ten Conference.
3. Wisconsin (Last week 2)
Such a bad loss against Illinois, but we’re not ready to call that a trouble-sign rather than an exception. That defense is still lights out and Jonathan Taylor is hard to stop. BUT, if teams can, do you really have faith in quarterback Jack Coan? That’s what I thought …
2. Penn State (Last week 3)
Now that the Nittany Lions took some white-out to the Michigan Wolverines, it appears to be the team with the next best chance of getting some playoff love. I say the game at Michigan State next week is a sneaky hard one. Hopefully Penn State fans won’t be saying “We are … Doh” Saturday.
1. Ohio State (Last week 1)
Another game, another dominating performance. It’s starting to feel like this could finish as one of the special years in program history, but there’s still plenty of tests ahead. The game at Wisconsin will be the start of a tough stretch to end the season. Time to see what this team is really made of.
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