Big ten power rankings post 10/16

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Pretty clear to me now Nebraska is not in the mid tier…it is in the bottom tier.
As is Rutgers

Ohio state
Michigan
Penn state (with healthy QB)

still don’t believe in Michigan state so
This tier is all really close

Michigan State (3-0 vs bottom tier, 1-0 vs mid tier, 0-0 vs top tier)
Minnesota (1-0 vs bottom tier, 1-0 vs mid tier, 0-1 vs top tier)
Purdue (1-0 vs bottom tier, 1-1 vs mid tier, 0-0 vs top tier)
Iowa (1-0 vs top tier but QB hurt, 1-1 vs mid tier, 0-0 vs bottom tier)
Wisconsin (0-2 vs top, 0-0 vs mid, 1-0 vs bottom)
Maryland (0-1 vs top, 0-1 vs middle, 1-0 vs bottom)
Indiana (0-1 vs top, 0-2 vs middle, 0-0 vs bottom)

this tier is clearly worse than the rest of the conference even with an anomaly win or two later (none so far)

Rutgers
Nebraska
Northwestern
Illinois



I also see it very likely that the loser of the Maryland/Indiana in two weeks drops to the bottom tier.
 
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MNVCGUY said:
I would add a third tier of Nebraska, Maryland, Indiana which would be above the bottom tier of Rutgers, Northwestern, and Illinois but also below the second group.

otherwise I agree with your layout.
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Except Nebraska is 1-1 against the bottom tier and 0fer against everyone else.
I don’t reward Nebraska for losing to everyone else pretty

If Nebraska beats someone else, you could.
 

MNVCGUY said:
I would add a third tier of Nebraska, Maryland, Indiana which would be above the bottom tier of Rutgers, Northwestern, and Illinois but also below the second group.

otherwise I agree with your layout.
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Yes. Nebraska doesn't belong with Rutgers, NW, and Illinois. And Indiana.....at 2-4 (wins over Idaho and Western Kentucky) and Maryland (4-2 with best win over WVU and blown out last two weeks) belong one tier down. Third tier.
 

Some guy said:
Except Nebraska is 1-1 against the bottom tier and 0fer against everyone else.
I don’t reward Nebraska for losing to everyone else pretty

If Nebraska beats someone else, you could.
Click to expand...
That’s fair, in spite of their record though I still think Nebraska is closer to the middle of the conference than the bottom. But can totally understand why others would rank them closer to the bottom.
 


Some guy said:
Except Nebraska is 1-1 against the bottom tier and 0fer against everyone else.
I don’t reward Nebraska for losing to everyone else pretty

If Nebraska beats someone else, you could.
Click to expand...

Indiana is 2-4 and doesn't have a Big Ten win.
 

I would have 4 tiers.

Top in East:
1.) OSU
2.) Mich
3.) PSU
4.) MSU

Top in West
5.) Iowa
6.) Minn
7.) Purdue
8.) Wisconsin

Play hard - will get a few wins.
9.) Nebraska
10.) Indiana

will be lucky to get more than 1 more win:
11.) Rutgers
12.) Maryland
13.) Illinious
14.) Northwestern
 
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I wonder if "Indinia" should be included. They were spotted at a game.
 




Some guy said:
They haven’t played anyone bad yet
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Iowa and Penn State smoked them. Their two wins are against Idaho and WKU. The WKU game by two points. Nebraska has been quite a bit more impressive than Indiana.....imo.
 



Think my take on the conference as a whole is pretty similar to others but here is how I would break things out:

Tier 1 - Best of the Best
1 - Ohio State - I think there was a small window where they were vulnerable, that window is now closed. Haven't seen them against a good team for a while so a little tough to say if they really have their defensive issues figured out. But that offense is so stacked it might not matter against most teams.

Tier 2 - Have a shot at taking down #1
2 - Michigan - Not totally sold on this team but this is probably Harbaugh's best shot to finally get a win against Ohio State.

3 - Penn State - But only if Clifford is healthy. If he is out I don't know that they are good enough to compete with the top 2.

Tier 3 - Good but probably not good enough to be a realistic threat for the top spot
4 - Minnesota - Potentially one of the more well rounded teams in the conference if they can find a way to harness the first half of the Nebraska game and run that kind of offense for the remainder of the season.

5 - Michigan State - Don't buy them as a top 10 team at all. They are going to crash hard sooner rather than later

6 - Purdue - After Minnesota might be the next most well rounded team outside of the top squads in the conference.

7 - Iowa - this might be a little low for them but Purdue exposed them big time and showed what happens if you protect the ball and force Iowa's anemic offense try to beat you.

8 - Wisconsin - I have yet to see anything from this team that makes me think they can contend. The defense is good but the offense is not. Similar to Iowa, if you can score on them they are very very beatable.

Tier 4 - Spoiler teams with no shot of contending
9 - Nebraska - Some will knock them due to their record but they have played well against good teams. They are unlikely to make a bowl and they are a very flawed team but they may have enough weapons to sneak up on someone and hang a loss on a team when they least expect it.

10 - Maryland - Similar to Nebraska in that they have weapons that can hurt you but are not a good team overall

Tier 5 - Better Luck Next Year
11 - Indiana - Schedule hasn't done theme a lot of favors but got destroyed by Penn State and Iowa. Played Michigan State tough but from what I saw that confirms to me way more that MSU is a fraud as opposed to Indiana being good.

12 - Northwestern - Pat Fitzgerald teams have a way of sneaking up on people. I don't think this year's squad is any good at all but if you give them a chance to hang around in a game they could be trouble.

13 - Illinois - Toss up with these last two spots but Illinois just isn't a talented team right now

14 - Rutgers - When you lose by 14 to a bad Northwestern team you get the last spot.

Bowl season is going to be interesting. This feels like a really soft Big Ten this year but maybe it won't play out that way when they go head to head with other good teams in bowl games.
 



Some guy said:
.
Click to expand...

Ohio state
Michigan
Penn state (with healthy QB)

Michigan State (3-0 vs bottom tier, 1-0 vs mid tier, 0-0 vs top tier)


Iowa (1-0 vs top tier but QB hurt, 1-1 vs mid tier, 0-0 vs bottom tier)
Minnesota (1-0 vs bottom tier, 1-0 vs mid tier, 0-1 vs top tier)
Nebraska
Purdue (1-0 vs bottom tier, 1-1 vs mid tier, 0-0 vs top tier)

Wisconsin (0-2 vs top, 0-0 vs mid, 1-0 vs bottom)

Maryland (0-1 vs top, 0-1 vs middle, 1-0 vs bottom)
Indiana (0-1 vs top, 0-2 vs middle, 0-0 vs bottom)

Northwestern
Rutgers
Illinois
 

We better be worried about not winning all the games. Upsets can happen. The important tier is the final one at the season's end.
 
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hungan1 said:
We better be worried about not winning all the games. Upset can happen. The important tier is the final one at the season's end.
Click to expand...
Why do I have to worry about anything. I’m just a fan
 


Some guy said:
Why do I have to worry about anything. I’m just a fan
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Yeah, I get a kick out of it when fans tell other fans not to look ahead or lose focus on the next game. Part of the fun of being a fan is dreaming big and projecting things out.

Obviously, internally the team has to stay focused on one game at a time, but for the rest of us we can do whatever and it isn't going to affect the outcome on Saturday.
 

Wisconsin has a historically bad offense. The best they will go is 3-3 to finish the season.

That means they would have to beat Minnesota, Iowa, Purdue or Nebraska. I am not going to hold my breath on any one of those.

The Iowa game may be 3-0. If the Gophers can’t beat them this year, it may never happen again.
 

Marooned said:
I miss Boomtime telling us why we’re all irrational not placing Iowa #1.
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Hey....come to think of it where is our good buddy? He has had his fingers crossed for us to get some victories....seems like he would be around to celebrate and you know....uncross his fingers.
 

GVBadger said:
Wisconsin has a historically bad offense. The best they will go is 3-3 to finish the season.

That means they would have to beat Minnesota, Iowa, Purdue or Nebraska. I am not going to hold my breath on any one of those.

The Iowa game may be 3-0. If the Gophers can’t beat them this year, it may never happen again.
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Wisconsin has a statistically better offense than Iowa this year in terms of efficiency…at least it was last week. I can only assume it still is
 

Some guy said:
Wisconsin has a statistically better offense than Iowa this year in terms of efficiency…at least it was last week. I can only assume it still is
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If you like offense that Is 20% on third down, turns the ball over at an absurdly high rate and commits multiple dead ball penalties per game, the Badgers offense is for you.
 

GVBadger said:
If you like offense that Is 20% on third down, turns the ball over at an absurdly high rate and commits multiple dead ball penalties per game, the Badgers offense is for you.
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I didn’t say it was any good. I’m just saying everyone else in the division sucks too and they’re still alive
 


Some guy said:
I didn’t say it was any good. I’m just saying everyone else in the division sucks too and they’re still alive
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That is true. But any Badgers fan knows we really aren’t alive. I am hoping for a miracle win against Minnesota to save our season.

Now I know how a Gophers fan feels every year.
 

I’m going to join the rest of you in trying to prop up the gopher loss by ranking OSU 1, yet again.
 

gophernut1 said:
I would have 4 tiers.

Top in East:
1.) OSU
2.) Mich
3.) PSU
4.) MSU

Top in West
5.) Iowa
6.) Minn
7.) Purdue
8.) Wisconsin

Play hard - will get a few wins.
9.) Nebraska
10.) Indiana

will be lucky to get more than 1 more win:
11.) Rutgers
12.) Maryland
13.) Illinious
14.) Northwestern
Click to expand...
Closer to present reality. I think Nebraska, if it has the right Martinez at QB, could beat Wisconsin. If Nebraska’s offense can operate mistake free, and pull a Purdue = beat Iowa, Frost’s job will be saved.
 

btowngopher said:
I’m going to join the rest of you in trying to prop up the gopher loss by ranking OSU 1, yet again.
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Last 3 games - 59-7, 52-13, 66-17.... The opponents were weak but that level of total domination is not common regardless of who it is against. Putting Ohio State #1 isn't done to prop up the Gophers loss, it is done because they are a super talented team with an offense that can score at will against pretty much anyone.

They might not coast to the East title but it won't shock me one bit to see them end up on top when it is all said and done.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Last 3 games - 59-7, 52-13, 66-17.... The opponents were weak but that level of total domination is not common regardless of who it is against. Putting Ohio State #1 isn't done to prop up the Gophers loss, it is done because they are a super talented team with an offense that can score at will against pretty much anyone.

They might not coast to the East title but it won't shock me one bit to see them end up on top when it is all said and done.
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I know, I’m poking fun at boomtime for accusing people of that.
 

btowngopher said:
I know, I’m poking fun at boomtime for accusing people of that.
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Got it....it is funny that Boomtime loves to insist he isn't a troll yet after a win is shockingly nowhere to be found. Probably hanging out with GopherGangsta somewhere.
 

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