Big Ten Power Rankings: Week of 11/1

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Saturday Tradition first out of the gate:

11. Minnesota (0-2, lost to Maryland 45-44 in OT)
Did we mention last week that special teams is a problem area for the Golden Gophers? That area was the difference in the game (well, that and a defense that squandered a 17-point lead) as a missed extra point in overtime cost Minnesota a chance to extend overtime. Minnesota’s 11-win season in 2019 seems a distant memory now.

B1G Power rankings after Week 2

Week 2 in the B1G saw more upsets, more NCAA football programs dealing with COVID-19 and more dramatic comebacks. But at the top, it was more of the same for Ohio State. The Buckeyes fended off a challenge from Penn State to remain No. 1 in our power rankings, to the surprise of pretty much...

saturdaytradition.com

Go Gophers!!

 

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Detroit News chimes in:

11. Minnesota (0-2) – The Golden Gophers can score points, there’s no doubt about that. But with their kicking game ravaged by illness and a defense that is getting run over, it doesn’t seem the Gophers can ever score enough. After giving up 49 to Michigan in the opener, Minnesota allowed 45 to Maryland and lost it on a missed extra point. This isn’t where anyone expended the Gophers to be heading to Illinois. Last week: 6.

The Detroit News

www.detroitnews.com

Go Gophers!!

 

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SI chimes in:

13. Minnesota (0-2) *** Last Week: 8

• Last week: Lost to Maryland 45-44 in OT (Friday)
• This week: Minnesota at Illinois, 3:30 p.m. ET (TV: Big Ten Network)
• Preseason ranking: No. 4
• The skinny: Minnesota got pounded at home by Michigan, and then got shredded for more than 600 yards by a Maryland team that scored three points in its opener. There's no doubt they are the league's most disappointing team thus far, dropping from No. 4 to No. 8 to No. 13. Be interesting to see if they turn it around quickly, are start to pack it in. Guessing the former.

Big Ten Power Rankings, Week 2: A Stunning Order After Ohio State

There are only four teams with 2-0 records in the Big Ten, and three of them are surprising. That's why the Week 2 power rankings will generate plenty of debate.

www.si.com

Go Gophers!!

 

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Penn Live chimes in:


12. Minnesota

Back in the era of my youth in the ’80s, the Big Ten’s two most notorious abusers of running backs were Michigan State’s George Perles and Indiana’s Bill Mallory. Partial to paleozoic stratagem, they ran the ball and defended the run and all else was foreign matter. Their two most prized blunt implements were Lorenzo White and Anthony Thompson who carried the ball an insane 1,082 and 1,161 times, respectively in their Big Ten careers. Those were the days when seeing a running back carry >40 times in a game was not so rare.

But Pepboy is bringing it back, baby! In attempting to soak the clock with a seemingly unblowable 17-point fourth-quarter lead on Friday night at Maryland, he turtled up and had Tanner Morgan keep slapping the ball into poor Mo Ibrahim’s belly. Had the Gophers merely run their standard offense, they doubtless hit 60 points. Instead, they depended on perhaps the worst defense in the league to protect the 38-21 lead and ended up losing 45-44 in overtime. It doesn’t get much worse.

It wasn’t Ibrahim’s fault. He scored 4 TDs in the first half alone and finished with 207 yards rushing. But he was gassed by the middle of the fourth quarter. Had Morgan merely kept a couple of times on the read-option, he’d have run to Beltsville.

We expressed skepticism about Michigan’s offense in this space last week precisely because it looked so easy against the Gophers' totally overhauled front seven, missing a lot of key parts from last year. This, as much as the Wolverines' home loss to Michigan State, was confirmation. The Maryland Terrapins, mind you, ran for 394 yards and piled up 675 total. Now that Pepboy’s coaching his own defenders and not Jerry Kill and Tracy Claeys' recruits, life’s become more challenging.

Big Ten Power Poll: Ohio State rumbles; Michigan stumbles; Penn State, Minnesota, Iowa start 0-2

Some of the Nittany Nation might feel their season is over almost before it's begun. And can anybody challenge #1? Maybe only their own boredom can stop the Buckeyes.

www.pennlive.com

Go Gophers!!

 

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Daily Nebraskan chimes in:

13. Minnesota Golden Gophers (0-2)

Week 2 Big Ten football power rankings

So much went on in the Big Ten this week that it was easy to forget Nebraska had the conference’s first canceled game of the season.

www.dailynebraskan.com

Go Gophers!!

 

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Inside NU chimes in:

13. Minnesota
Last ranking: 6

Last result: Loss @ Maryland (45-44)

Next: @ Illinois

When Minnesota lost to Michigan in Week 1, they didn’t take that massive of a hit in our power rankings, only falling from fourth in the conference to sixth, on account of the fact that perhaps Michigan was simply a top tier opponent that got the better of the Gophers in the season opener. Then, the Wolverines lost to rival Michigan State in Mel Tucker’s second game coaching the Spartans, and Minnesota fell — on a missed extra point in overtime — to Maryland, a team many thought was so bad that it was impossible to determine whether or not Northwestern had grown from its 3-9 season after beating the Terps by 40 to start the year. That embarrassing loss has earned the Gophers a trip to the bottom of the conference, where they join the aforementioned Illini before the two teams battle for who is worse in Urbana-Champaign this Saturday.

Big Ten Football Power Rankings, Week 2: Minnesota falls, Indiana’s rise continues

Because this is certainly what’s most important right now.

www.insidenu.com

Go Gophers!!