Big Ten Power Rankings - GH's Noel Thompson

[NoelarBear]

Noel’s Big Ten Power Rankings.

What a crazy week it was for the Big Ten. The first week of the season, when every Big Ten team played a conference foe, sure provided a lot of entertainment. Not for all the teams, though. We have a new number one at the top of the power rankings this week. A few teams made some big jumps and drops too. How did your team fare?

Where do the teams stand after week 5?

1.Michigan (5-0)
Last Week’s Spot: #2
The Wolverines traveled down to the place that eats up the top five teams and came out with an impressive victory. The Hawkeyes couldn’t stop Michigan running back Blake Corum, who rushed for 133 yards and a touchdown.
Next Up: @ Indiana

2. Ohio State (5-0)
Last Week’s Spot: #1
Bad news: Ohio State star running back TreVyon Henderson missed the game due to injury. Good news: His backup, Miyan Williams, rushed for 189 yards and five touchdowns Must be nice Ohio State
Next Up: @ Michigan State

3. Penn State (5-0)
Last Week’s Spot: #4
The Nittany Lions committed five turnovers and had seven penalties against Northwestern. It wasn’t the prettiest game for both teams as the weather didn’t help much. Penn State is 5-0 as they head into a bye week before they play Michigan.
Next Up: Bye

4. Maryland (4-1)
Last Week’s Spot: #5
The Terrapins handed the Spartans their third consecutive loss as Taulia Tagovailoa threw for 314 yards and a touchdown. Maryland held Michigan State scoreless in the second half and gained only eight yards in the third quarter.
Next Up: Purdue

5. Illinois (4-1)
Last Week’s Spot: #7
On his first return to Camp Randall, Bret Bielema’s Illinois team beat Wisconsin so badly that they decided to fire their coach the next day. Running back Chase Brown continues to shine, and the defense held Wisconsin to TWO RUSHING YARDS. I don’t think I have ever typed those words in a sentence before.
Next Up: Iowa

6. Purdue (3-2)
Last Week’s Spot: #12
The Boilermakers jump up six spots after they go to Minneapolis and take down the undefeated Golden Gophers. Jeff Brohm finally gets a win against P.J. Fleck after waiting so long. Purdue has an inside track to win the Big Ten West.
Next Up: @ Maryland

7. Minnesota (4-1)
Last Week’s Spot: #3
Costly mistakes haunted the Gophers as they lost for the first time this season. The Minnesota rushing attack was non-existent without Mo Ibrahim and the offensive line struggling most of the day. The Gophers will gladly welcome their bye week before they travel to Illinois.
Next Up: Bye

8. Iowa (3-2)
Last Week’s Spot: #6
The Hawkeyes' four-game winning streak of beating Michigan at home ended as the Wolverines beat Iowa 27-14. The Hawkeye offense couldn’t do much in the first three quarters against Michigan. By the time they did put something together in the fourth quarter, it was too late.
Next Up: @ Illinois

9. Wisconsin (2-3)
Last Week’s Spot: #9
The Badgers have been outscored 86-31 in the last two games. Sure, they played Ohio State, but they sure didn’t respond well at home against Illinois last week. Wisconsin’s performance in the first five games of the season was bad enough to fire head coach Paul Chryst. Chryst leaves Wisconsin with a 67-26 record.
Next Up: @ Northwestern

10. Rutgers (3-2)
Last Week’s Spot: #10
I let Wisconsin and Rutgers keep their spots in the rankings mostly because I can’t stomach the thought of putting the teams below them over them at this point. How about Greg Schiano walking across the field yelling at Ryan Day for running a fake punt in the fourth quarter? More of that, please.
Next Up: Nebraska

11. Nebraska (2-3)
Last Week’s Spot: #13
Congratulations Huskers, you are no longer at the bottom of the power rankings. Nebraska ended a nine-game losing streak against FBS opponents as they beat Indiana 35-21. Every Husker fan right now is taking pictures of the Big Ten West standings and telling people they are tied for first.
Next Up: @ Rutgers

12. Indiana (3-2)
Last Week’s Spot: #8
Going into Lincoln and playing a night game is always tough; but not having your top two receivers makes it even tougher. The Hoosiers scored 21 points in the second quarter to tie the game heading into halftime, but didn’t score at all in the second half as Nebraska pulled away in the fourth quarter.
Next Up: Michigan

13. Michigan State (2-3)
Last Week’s Spot: #11
The Spartans' season is slipping away from them fast, as they lost their third straight game and had their four-game winning streak over Maryland snapped. It's hard to see the Spartans making a bowl game this year, considering they won 11 games a year ago.
Next Up: Ohio State

14. Northwestern (1-4)
Last Week’s Spot: #13
The Wildcats went into State College as 25-point underdogs against Penn State. The rainy weather and sloppy play by both teams kept them in the game for most of the day. Northwestern was limited to 241 total yards and converted only four-thirds of its own attempts in sixteen attempts.Northwestern is still winless on US soil.
Next Up: Wisconsin



Follow Noel on Twitter: @N0etthompson

 

[RememberMurray]

Purdue @ Maryland this weekend. Iowa @ Illinois.

It will be interesting to see how this shakes out.

 

[Live in the now]

Michigan is a paper tiger. Not even close to a 4. Penn state and Ohio state are both better.

 

[Xerxes_]

Michigan is a paper tiger. Not even close to a 4. Penn state and Ohio state are both better.

They have the best OL in the conference and a powerful RB to go with it.

I'm not sold on their D yet but they will be able to control a lot of teams with their running game.

 

[cjbfbp]

Michigan is a paper tiger. Not even close to a 4. Penn state and Ohio state are both better.

I think you mean not even close to a #1. They're clearly at the very least a #4.

 

[cjbfbp]

I think these are pretty fair power rankings after Week 5. This early in the conference season you have to weight head-to-head results strongly because you don't have enough other information to deviate strongly from that presumption.

I think, like Nebraska, Wisconsin may have a short-term boost from its coach's firing. I'm not saying that I think Chryst was a ball and chain to his team's success. I just think a "fresh start" sort of perspective could have at least a short-term positive effect. Whether that translates into Wisconsin having a better season than expected at this point, I don't know.

 

[Otis]

I think now that the Boilers have woken the sleeping on their laudates Gophers, PJ will win the next 2 and they will be ranked even higher than they were last week.

Only this time there won’t be another let-down.

Michael Brown Stevens got some stickem sent to him by Lester Hayes! Problem solved.

 

[cjbfbp]

Purdue @ Maryland this weekend. Iowa @ Illinois.

It will be interesting to see how this shakes out.

Yes, those games will be of significant interest.

Iowa v. Illinois

It wasn't hard to think that Illinois would be better this year and have a good chance of being bowl eligible but, with the exception of the Indiana loss, they've been better than most would have expected so far. We still have to see more to get a sense of how good they might be. They beat both us and Penn State last year but still finished only 5-7. They had a four game conference winning streak including victories over Wisconsin and Michigan State in 2019 but still finished only 6-7 after losing to Cal in their bowl. We also don't know how subpar Iowa is yet. They've had a number of seasons under Ferentz where they started slow but got stronger as the season progressed.

Purdue v. Maryland.

This should be an entertaining game: two teams who have earned a new-found respect with two quarterbacks who are happy to sling the ball all over the place. I was very impressed by Purdue's defense last week. The defense will have another tough challenge this week.

 

[Live in the now]

They have the best OL in the conference and a powerful RB to go with it.

I'm not sold on their D yet but they will be able to control a lot of teams with their running game.

Guess we will see. I hope your right because I can’t stand O$U

 

[Live in the now]

I think you mean not even close to a #1. They're clearly at the very least a #4.

Number 4 in the top 25 poll guy.

 

[cjbfbp]

Number 4 in the top 25 poll guy.

Well, if you're going to refer to a ranking other than the one on this page, then you need to say that. I don't think anyone here is a mind reader. Communication 101.