Power rankings for the Big Ten
Last week showed who the top dogs are in the Little 10, but the middle of the pack remains confusing. The more wins Michigan gets in conference, the worse the conference looks.
1. OSU (1): You can say that OSU only beat Kent State, but KSU can probably qualify as a Big 10 team right now. The Buckeyes are a clear-cut No. 1 in the Big 10 and that probably won't change.
2, Michigan (2): A dominating win over Purde proves that they are fairly back. Another big game looms this week at Illinois. A win, and a New Year's bowl wil await them.
3. Penn State (6): A dominating win over Wisconsin gets the Nittany Lions back in the mix. It also helps to have OSU at home at night. You all remember with happened the last time.
4. Illinois (3): The Illini back into the position thanks to all the other losses. The loss to Iowa is ugly, but they can redeem themselves with another big home win.
5. Wisconsin (4): A team with two losses and just got blown out is still in the top five in its conference. Wow. Such a promising season is going up in flames.
6. Indiana (5): Another team with a big loss, another small drop. The Hoosiers disappointed me greatly last week, but the young team has done the late coach Hep proud, and more of a focus should be on them.
7. Northwestern (8): The Wildcats struggled to meat lowly Minnesota at home, but they did. The offense is hot right now, but the defense remains brutal. I thought Fitzgerald was a defensive coach?
8. Michigan State (9): I thought Sparty was going to fall down, but they picked themselves back up. Can they beat an OSU team that may be looking ahead? Not quite, but it could get interesting.
9. Purdue (7): I though it was going to be the team to beat, and all it has done was fall flat, even if the losses were to the two top teams. I expect them to fight their way back up the rankings though.
10. Iowa (10): I don't care that the Hawkeyes beat Illinois. They are still a bad team and they need to prove that they can play on the road.
11. Minnesota (11): Horrible D, ok O. That is all.