Big10 Weekly Power Rankings

[OSUBuckeye4Life]

With all the games done we can now do our own "power rankings." We can do this week after week to see how much progress, or otherwise, teams have made in your eyes.

#1 Ohio State. I didn't see a performance from any team in the Big 10 to make me dethrone Ohio State from this spot.

#2 Michigan. Defense looked like they are ready to play this year. Offense needs some work, but still an nice overall showing.

#3 Iowa. Took a bit of time to get the ball rolling but once they did they put it out of reach quickly. Offense looked a bit "off" at times but still a solid effort.

#4 Penn State. Solid showing in all areas. Morelli took what Akron gave him and I'm interested in seeing what he can do.

#5 Minnesota. That offense looked like vintage Minnesota. Tons of questions still about them considering who they beat, but they looked IMPRESSIVE.

#6 Purdue. They edge out Wisconsin for this spot. Defense HAS to improve because the offense looks potent, but not potent enough to cover up for mistakes like they had today against a quality opponent.

#7 Wisconsin. They beat a solid team in Bowling Green and hopefully Stocco gets healthier and better as the season progresses.

#8 Michigan State. Stanton played a bit deeper than expected and Idaho wouldn't go away. Credit for keeping them at bay.

#9 Northwestern. Played a scrappy Miami OH team with emotions that had to run rampart. Hopefully that had something to do with the execution on offense.

#10 Illinois. Not a good enough team to really make them go higher than this for me. I had them pegged as the next to last team and they will need to do more to move up.

#11 Indiana. I had them as the lowest, and they proved it to me today.

[jlb1705]

Purdue should be scraping bottom with Indiana and Illinois on that list. Indiana State is not a good team, and they gave up five TDs to them.

[Bucklion]

If we are going on what has happend so far this year alone i.e. this weekend), I would put Purdue 11th...giving up 5 TDs to Indiana State ranks below beating a I-A foe like Indiana or a blowout over a I-AA like Illinois. I'd put Wisconsin/NW/Michigan State as 6-7-8.

[JonathanXC]

1. Ohio State - Rolled early then looked ahead to Texas, most explosive team in the conference. The defense was bend don't break, and is young...but it did a lot of good things and made a lot of big plays.

2. Minnesota - Very solid win, the opponent was weak, but Minnesota didn't play down to their opponent like a lot of the other Big 10 teams did this week, so I give them props.

3. Penn State - Beat a decent Akron team, struggled some, but solid.

4. Michigan - Didn't look that great on offense, and there are still a lot of questions surrounding the whole team.

5. Iowa - Took awhile to get going and though the score wasn't close, they didn't look impressive.

6. Wisconsin - BG isn't that great this year, Wisconsin is okay, but it looks like the gap between them and the other five teams in huge, I think the top five have a chance to win the Big 10, the rest don't.

7. Northwestern - Emotional win against Miami, OH. Miami isn't great this year, but the Northwestern defense looked good, and that's something they've lacked in recent years.

8. Michigan State - They can only be dissapointed about this game. It's a win, but not a good one.

9. Indiana - Right now at Indiana, a win is a win.

10. Illinois - See above

11. Purdue - Most dissapointing team this week, what a joke. This game was close in the 3rd quarter, and Indiana State is a joke of a team. 35 points??? This looked like the worst defense in the big 10 this week.

[Dryden]

14 of the points against Purdue came on botched punts. Purdue was up 26-7 with less than 3 minutes to go in the half when they had a punt blocked and returned for a TD. After being held to a 3-and-out on their next possession, their punter mishandled the long snap and was tackled at the 14.

The halftime score of 26-21 did not reflect how much Purdue dominated; and their defense should not shoulder two of those surrendered TDs. I'd have Purdue at #8. Northwestern is a feel good story, but they're going to miss Basanez.

1. Ohio State
2. Iowa
3. Michigan
4. Penn State
5. Wisconsin
6. Minnesota
7. Michigan State
8. Purdue
9. Northwestern
10. Illinois
11. Indiana

[jlb1705]

Originally Posted by Dryden

14 of the points against Purdue came on botched punts. Purdue was up 26-7 with less than 3 minutes to go in the half when they had a punt blocked and returned for a TD. After being held to a 3-and-out on their next possession, their punter mishandled the long snap and was tackled at the 14.

The halftime score of 26-21 did not reflect how much Purdue dominated; and their defense should not shoulder two of those surrendered TDs. I'd have Purdue at #8. Northwestern is a feel good story, but they're going to miss Basanez.

1. Ohio State
2. Iowa
3. Michigan
4. Penn State
5. Wisconsin
6. Minnesota
7. Michigan State
8. Purdue
9. Northwestern
10. Illinois
11. Indiana

So you're moving Purdue up because they're practically inventing ways to give up points? Why didn't they just throw a couple pick-6s so they could give up double-digit points in all three facets of the game? I'm sorry, but what they did against a I-AA opponent is LEGENDARY suckitude.

Meanwhile, Northwestern pitched a shutout in their season opener on the road against a decent (read: way better than Indiana State) opponent. I don't know whether the unfortunate Walker situation will buoy them or drag them under, but I think that by any measure Northwestern played a much better first game than Purdue did.

[OSUBuckeye4Life]

*Last weeks rank in ()

#1 Ohio State (1) Solidified the #1 ranking in the Big 10, and America, with the win over Texas in Austin on Saturday night. The offense looks scary and the defense is showing rapid improvement.

#2 Michigan (2) Did what they were supposed to do with an inferior opponent. We will find out more about Michigan with it's upcoming battle with ND. If Michigan loses the Big 10 will look rather weak after the top spot.

#3 Iowa (3) Here for a couple of reasons. I do not put much stock into a game on the road with your best player, senior QB Drew Tate, not in the game. The Dline showed me something in overtime as well. Throw in that NO ONE else was very impressive and here we are.

#4 Wisconsin (7) Shows how weird, or bad, this weekend was. Wisconsin was the most impressive "winner" this weekend [not in the top two spots and that is 2-0] and therefore gets this spot. Oh, YES I think Penn State looked THAT bad.

#5 Penn State (4) Looked pretty bad against Notre Dame. The fanatics will point out that offensively they were right there, if not higher, than ND but I'm not buying it. Penn State was exposed but I expect steady improvement.

#6 Michigan State (8) Started slow again but turned it on in the second half. If they can put together a whole game they will rise in these rankings. Also, Pitt will be a good test/gauge of their ability this year.

#7 Minnesota (5) Crushed by a superior team on the road. I still feel like they are easily better than any team listed below them.

#8 Purdue (6) Here over Indiana ONLY based on the strength of Week 1 [which wasn't THAT great but better than Indiana. 2-0 is 2-0 I guess.

#9 Indiana (11) Crept out of the basement with an 1 point victory over Ball State. LOL. Goes to show how much I think of the bottom 2 at this moment in time. As I said above with Purdue....2-0 is 2-0 I guess.

#10 Northwestern (9) Handled by New Hampshire.......enough said.

#11 Illinois (10) Embarrassed the Big 10 with their display against Rutgers. Not that Indiana didn't but Illinois was on national television......