Ranking the Big Ten West after week 5

[cjbfbp]

Odd to reference a spread that assumed their QB was likely out and our RB was likely in.
It probably would’ve been a pick ‘em or gophers by 2-4 points at most if that was known.

None of that was known. OK, for the sake of argument, let's say Purdue was a 4 point underdog. They still beat that spread by 14 points.

 

[Xerxes_]

Line ‘em up and play. There are always the what-if’s after every game. PU beat us no matter how much some here spin it. IMO, the West lacks a dominate team and teams will beat each other up. If I were a betting man I wouldn’t spend a dime on any West team to win the top spot.

Yep. The West is going to be crazy. 48 hours ago the Gophers were the easy favorite and deserved to be. Now its wide open.

Last week Purdue struggled to beat a bad team and were looking at serious injury issues. Now they own a good division road win and a favorable schedule the rest of the way. Their toughest 2 games are behind them. What happens next week when they have to make a trip to Maryland?

A month ago Illinois lost to a bad Indiana team now they have a great division road win. If they get beat by Iowa does Iowa turn into the favorite? That maybe lasts a couple weeks until they get beat by 50 in Columbus.

There is a lot of football to be played and the only thing I'm confident in is that whoever ends the year on top of the West will be a sacrificial lamb in Indianapolis.

 

[cjbfbp]

Why does the spread matter?

Anyways....I'd put the Gophers over Purdue still as well.

The spread doesn't matter other than to provide another indication of the size of our fail.

I would not put the Gophers over Purdue at this point based on the game yesterday and, too a degree, based on the schedule they've played versus ours. They have two close losses to two undefeated teams. In a few weeks my rankings might change.

 

[Some guy]

None of that was known. OK, for the sake of argument, let's say Purdue was a 4 point underdog. They still beat that spread by 14 points.

Yeah. True. Gophers had the ball in a tie game with under 5 to play.


What I’m telling you is that unless you are an idiot there isn’t much difference between losing that game by 10 and 3
Would you feel better if we got a garbage touchdown at the end?

 

[cjbfbp]

I’m guessing you didn’t watch any other games that Purdue played this year. They don’t suddenly have a great defense and run game. They had one long run and had some success in the first drive, otherwise they didn’t do much on the ground.

Are you saying that Purdue didn't play very good defense against us? If you're saying that, I think you're blind. If you're not saying that, what is the point of your post and what does it matter whether or not I watched them earlier in the season. I know what I saw yesterday.

 

[cjbfbp]

Yeah. True. Gophers had the ball in a tie game with under 5 to play.


What I’m telling you is that unless you are an idiot there isn’t much difference between losing that game by 10 and 3
Would you feel better if we got a garbage touchdown at the end?

My claim was that they beat that hypothetical spread (which you suggested) by 14 points. Is that false? If that's not false, then what the hell are you talking about blowhard? If you're trying to get a shot in, then maybe you should have loaded up with better ammunition.

 

[btowngopher]

Are you saying that Purdue didn't play very good defense against us? If you're saying that, I think you're blind. If you're not saying that, what is the point of your post and what does it matter whether or not I watched them earlier in the season. I know what I saw yesterday.

Are you ranking off of this past week alone? One game of good defense does not mean you have a good defense. As we saw one game of amazing offense vs MSU did not mean we have an amazing offense.

 

[cjbfbp]

Are you ranking off of this past week alone? One game of good defense does not mean you have a good defense. As we saw one game of amazing offense vs MSU did not mean we have an amazing offense.

I'm ranking them based on the fact that they beat us and they've played the best schedule in the conference so far (by a fair amount) with two close losses to two undefeated teams. I think that's enough to rank them ahead of us (for now).

 

[btowngopher]

I'm ranking them based on the fact that they beat us and they've played the best schedule in the conference so far (by a fair amount) with two close losses to two undefeated teams. I think that's enough to rank them ahead of us (for now).

Fair enough, I’m just saying we helped make their defense look better than it is in this particular game. They executed a good game plan and we had no answer. I wish we would’ve pushed the ball down field more.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Look, weekly power rankings are not intended to capture the best team at year end. They're intended to capture good performances to date. If we perform better than them through the rest of the year, we'll surpass them on the power rankings. But, they've played the best schedule in the Big Ten (by quite a bit so far), they're 1-1 in conference (just like us and they lost to an undefeated team), and they clearly outplayed us yesterday.

"Dropped TD, missed chip shot, drive extending late hit."

Oh, I guess those having nothing to do with evaluating the quality of the team committing them. Mistakes count!

You can't defend your rankings because they're not based on logic. They're based on your wishful feelings. Too bad you don't ref our games.

Lol.....I can defend my rankings because they are MY rankings based on MY opinions of the teams in questions. You don't agree (that is your right) but that doesn't invalidate the opinions of others.

You think Purdue is better than us, I disagree. Guess we will get to see what happens over the remainder of the season.

 

[Some guy]

My claim was that they beat that hypothetical spread (which you suggested) by 14 points. Is that false? If that's not false, then what the hell are you talking about blowhard? If you're trying to get a shot in, then maybe you should have loaded up with better ammunition.

Lol you just called me a blow hard?

They did beat the spread by whatever you said.
And what I said is only an idiot would take spreads that serious in analysis.

Would you feel better about the gophers if they punched in a garbage touchdown and lost by 3?



I know you called me a blow hard but in fact it is you sir, who is a blow hard.

 

[Some guy]

By the way, the gophers were literally the last team in the nation to lose to a point spread this year

 

[MaxyJR1]

Illinois has become a must win with the way it's playing out. Purdue, Illinois and MN are the only teams that can play a balanced game (Mo Healthy). Nebraska will be a factor as well because they can play some offense. I would not bet on any games in the west except for Northwestern at this point.

Division
Illinois (1-0) will regret losing to Indiana (MSU and MI left)
Purdue (1-0) is a nice balanced team (Maryland and IN)
Minnesota (0-1) needs Mo or they need to start playing one of the young RB's (Penn State and Rutgers)
Iowa (0-0) (Ohio State)
Neb (0-1) (Rutgers and MI)
WI (0-1) (MSU and Maryland)
NW (1-0) (Maryland and tOSU)

 

[MaxyJR1]

Line ‘em up and play. There are always the what-if’s after every game. PU beat us no matter how much some here spin it. IMO, the West lacks a dominate team and teams will beat each other up. If I were a betting man I wouldn’t spend a dime on any West team to win the top spot.

I agree, Northwestern looks like the only thing close to a lock each week.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Illinois has become a must win with the way it's playing out. Purdue, Illinois and MN are the only teams that can play a balanced game (Mo Healthy). Nebraska will be a factor as well because they can play some offense. I would not bet on any games in the west except for Northwestern at this point.

Division
Illinois (1-0) will regret losing to Indiana (MSU and MI left)
Purdue (1-0) is a nice balanced team (Maryland and IN)
Minnesota (0-1) needs Mo or they need to start playing one of the young RB's (Penn State and Rutgers)
Iowa (0-0) (Ohio State)
Neb (0-1) (Rutgers and MI)
WI (0-1) (MSU and Maryland)
NW (1-0) (Maryland and tOSU)

I'm not sold on Nebraska being a factor just yet. I don't think Indiana is very good at all and they gave Nebraska all they could handle in Lincoln. I know that Indiana beat Illinois but that is looking more and more like one of those week 1 anomalies.

At this point I will be surprised if the West winner doesn't come from the Illinois, Purdue, Minnesota group. But anything can happen.

Iowa still worries me a little because of how good their defense can be. Just have to take care of the football though and they will have a tough time beating anyone with that crappy offense of theirs.

 

[cjbfbp]

Lol you just called me a blow hard?

They did beat the spread by whatever you said.
And what I said is only an idiot would take spreads that serious in analysis.

Would you feel better about the gophers if they punched in a garbage touchdown and lost by 3?



I know you called me a blow hard but in fact it is you sir, who is a blow hard.

I wasn't taking the spread so seriously. You proposed a lower spread and I simply said that they beat that one too. Then, you accused me of being in idiot for using your own input.

Do us both a favor and get lost. If you can only communicate in bad faith I'm not wasting any more time on you.

 

[cjbfbp]

Illinois has become a must win with the way it's playing out. Purdue, Illinois and MN are the only teams that can play a balanced game (Mo Healthy). Nebraska will be a factor as well because they can play some offense. I would not bet on any games in the west except for Northwestern at this point.

Division
Illinois (1-0) will regret losing to Indiana (MSU and MI left)
Purdue (1-0) is a nice balanced team (Maryland and IN)
Minnesota (0-1) needs Mo or they need to start playing one of the young RB's (Penn State and Rutgers)
Iowa (0-0) (Ohio State)
Neb (0-1) (Rutgers and MI)
WI (0-1) (MSU and Maryland)
NW (1-0) (Maryland and tOSU)

I agree that's the way the ranks should go after week 5 (although I might switch Wisconsin and Nebraska). Maybe not after weeks 6 and 7.

 

[Panthadad2]

The West is still a toss up and it should be wild here on out. I think Purdue and Minnesota still have the best path to win it as of this week. Either Iowa or Illinois probably effectively gets knocked out this next week when they play each other; both have likely cross over losses at Michigan and Ohio State on the schedule which would put next week's loser with at least 3 losses. Purdue will get tested hard next week at Maryland. No division leader has ever had more than two losses.

 

[MaxyJR1]

The West is still a toss up and it should be wild here on out. I think Purdue and Minnesota still have the best path to win it as of this week. Either Iowa or Illinois probably effectively gets knocked out this next week when they play each other; both have likely cross over losses at Michigan and Ohio State on the schedule which would put next week's loser with at least 3 losses. Purdue will get tested hard next week at Maryland. No division leader has ever had more than two losses.

View attachment 20949

Maryland is no gimme for a West team. Gotta beat Illinois and and if we pull off PSU would be huge. Problem is we can't end in a tie with Purdue at the end of the year.

Every week is going to change all minds on the rest of the season in the division.

 

[MNVCGUY]

The West is still a toss up and it should be wild here on out. I think Purdue and Minnesota still have the best path to win it as of this week. Either Iowa or Illinois probably effectively gets knocked out this next week when they play each other; both have likely cross over losses at Michigan and Ohio State on the schedule which would put next week's loser with at least 3 losses. Purdue will get tested hard next week at Maryland. No division leader has ever had more than two losses.

View attachment 20949

Nice breakdown of what each team has left on their schedule. Purdue at Maryland this weekend will be interesting to watch. Maryland was right there with Michigan on the road a few weeks ago and could pose some problems for Purdue with their offensive style.

With Purdue having the head to head against us we are going to need them to drop a couple and this weekend may be one of the better chances as Maryland can be one of those pesky teams that isn't ever a threat to win the division but can be dangerous.

 

[btowngopher]

Illinois has become a must win with the way it's playing out. Purdue, Illinois and MN are the only teams that can play a balanced game (Mo Healthy). Nebraska will be a factor as well because they can play some offense. I would not bet on any games in the west except for Northwestern at this point.

Division
Illinois (1-0) will regret losing to Indiana (MSU and MI left)
Purdue (1-0) is a nice balanced team (Maryland and IN)
Minnesota (0-1) needs Mo or they need to start playing one of the young RB's (Penn State and Rutgers)
Iowa (0-0) (Ohio State)
Neb (0-1) (Rutgers and MI)
WI (0-1) (MSU and Maryland)
NW (1-0) (Maryland and tOSU)

I don’t think Purdue is a balanced team. They’re run game is as bad as anyone in the West and their defense is average at best in the West.

 

[Go Gophs]

Yes, it is odd to place Minnesota over Purdue when they just lost to Purdue at home as a 12 point favorite. That's just preferring homerism over fair evaluation.

Purdue had nothing to do with us "playing as poorly as we could?" Our defense is good and they have earned a fair amount of respect around the conference. They played well again yesterday until they appeared worn down at the end. Based on what I saw yesterday, I would say that Purdue's defense is vastly underrated. Do you think that Mo's absence is the only reason we didn't run well yesterday? Why were we such a good running team last season then? Purdue's defense did a hell of a job closing up the running gaps. Our DBs are well regarded and they played a good game yesterday but Purdue's DBs might have been a little better. Finally, while we totaled 47 rushing yards on 26 carries, Purdue amassed 160 yards on 27 carries and they did that with running backs that no one ever heard of.

One of the commonest manifestations of homerism is the view that every loss is attributable to your own team's failures rather than the other team's performance. The reason homers feel this way is that they really don't watch what the opposing team is doing.

We may still win this division and end up with a better record than Purdue but, right now, Purdue deserves to be ranked ahead of us.

I can agree with you and this take, but I think overall, this team is better than Purdue.
Make a couple low end high school plays and we win this one pretty easy. Can't drop that TD and can't miss that FG. Those are 8th grade football plays.

I agree though, Purdue's defense did a fantastic job stopping our running game. It literally boggles my mind that we weren't able to move the ball on the ground against them. RB shouldn't matter that much, they flat out couldn't do anything at all with their front 7.

 

[Some guy]

I wasn't taking the spread so seriously. You proposed a lower spread and I simply said that they beat that one too. Then, you accused me of being in idiot for using your own input.

Do us both a favor and get lost. If you can only communicate in bad faith I'm not wasting any more time on you.

I didn’t accuse of you being an idiot? When did I do that?

I said unless you are an idiot you realize there isn’t much difference between the gopher game and a one score loss

 

[Xerxes_]

Maryland is no gimme for a West team. Gotta beat Illinois and and if we pull off PSU would be huge. Problem is we can't end in a tie with Purdue at the end of the year.

Every week is going to change all minds on the rest of the season in the division.

They are a 3 point favorite over Purdue. Boilermakers could have a trouble with Maryland's passing game.

I have a feeling your last statement is going to turn out very true. Fans bases will be excited and confident one week and then pissing and moaning the next.

 

[MNVCGUY]

They are a 3 point favorite over Purdue. Boilermakers could have a trouble with Maryland's passing game.

I have a feeling your last statement is going to turn out very true. Fans bases will be excited and confident one week and then pissing and moaning the next.

West is about as wide open right now as it has every been. At this point you could make a case that any of the 7 teams could win it if things break right over the remainder of the season.

Very different than the East where if you are not perfect you have little shot of getting past Ohio State and/or Michigan.