Week 7 Big Ten Power Rankings

BleedGopher

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Buckeyes Wire first out of the gate:

#7. Minnesota

It’s been a bit of an inconsistent season in the Twin Cities, but the Golden Gophers now control their own destiny in the West. The way Nebraska was playing, the win last week was an impressive one that could keep the momentum going forward.


Go Gophers!!
 

Yahoo Sports chimes in:

7. Minnesota

Previous power ranking: No. 8 (up one spot)

Record: 4-2 (2-1 in Big Ten)

This week’s result: Win vs. Nebraska, 30-23

Minnesota has proven to be a solid team that has the ability to play with most teams in this league. However, that loss to Bowling Green will plague the Gophers all year long when it comes to these rankings — hence why they aren’t higher than No. 7 after another impressive victory this week.


Go Gophers!!
 


Land Grant Holy Land chimes in:


7.) Minnesota (4-2, 2-1) | 30-23 Win Over Nebraska | Previously No. 11

I was genuinely surprised by this result. I was very high on Nebraska — as evidenced by their No. 6 rank last week — and had more or less given up on Minnesota in recent weeks. However, they proved that they could still row the boat, even without their best player.


Go Gophers!!
 

Wolverines Wire chimes in:

8. Minnesota

You never really know what Minnesota you’re gonna get on a weekly basis.

The Gophers, mostly, controlled the game against Nebraska from start to finish, and while the defense bent at times, it didn’t break until the game was in-hand. Tanner Morgan set a school record with 16-straight completions, finally looking like the former NFL first-round pick he was projected as back in 2019. And even with Mo Ibrahim and Trey Potts out for the season, Minnesota managed to run the ball effectively with junior Bryce Williams managing 127 yards on 17 carries.

With Maryland, Northwestern, and Illinois up next, it’s a solid opportunity for the Gophers to get to bowl eligibility and beyond. Still, this is the team that lost to Bowling Green a week after blanking Colorado on the road, so there’s no telling what we’ll see from Minnesota any given week.


Go Gophers!!
 


“ However, that loss to Bowling Green will plague the Gophers all year long when it comes to these rankings “
Maybe it’s going to turn out to be a hidden blessing. Players and coaches had to take a good hard look at themselves. In spite of that horrendous loss this can be a very, very good year. Maybe I’m reading things wrong, but Fleck really sees it.
 

Buckeyes Wire first out of the gate:

#7. Minnesota

It’s been a bit of an inconsistent season in the Twin Cities, but the Golden Gophers now control their own destiny in the West. The way Nebraska was playing, the win last week was an impressive one that could keep the momentum going forward.


Go Gophers!!

On Purdue, the writer was incorrect "There’s still a lot of work to do, but Purdue also controls its own destiny now in the West Division." MN and WI control their own destiny. Iowa and Purdue do not at this point.
 

“ However, that loss to Bowling Green will plague the Gophers all year long when it comes to these rankings “
Maybe it’s going to turn out to be a hidden blessing. Players and coaches had to take a good hard look at themselves. In spite of that horrendous loss this can be a very, very good year. Maybe I’m reading things wrong, but Fleck really sees it.
I have been thinking along these lines as well for a while. Bowling Green game was probably a huge wakeup call to the coaches and also to the players that they can't just show up and go through the motions against anyone. The Purdue game was tricky with the weather, but we saw a very different offense against Nebraska in the first half.

These power rankings seem pretty consistent for the most part with some fluctuation of the teams in the top, middle, and bottom. The only part I don't really get are ones that put Purdue ahead of us. Yes their win against Iowa was impressive but we beat them head to head so seems like we should get the spot right in front of them and not the other way around. But it is a small issue. As with rankings....keep winning and things tend to take care of themselves.
 

Buckeyes Wire first out of the gate:

#7. Minnesota

It’s been a bit of an inconsistent season in the Twin Cities, but the Golden Gophers now control their own destiny in the West. The way Nebraska was playing, the win last week was an impressive one that could keep the momentum going forward.


Go Gophers!!
There has never been a point this season where we stopped controlling our own destiny in the west. We have only lost one conference game, and it was to an east division team. So it has always been the case that if we run the table in conference to get to 8-1, the worst possible scenario would have been a tie at the top of the West where we would own the tiebreaker.
 



There has never been a point this season where we stopped controlling our own destiny in the west. We have only lost one conference game, and it was to an east division team. So it has always been the case that if we run the table in conference to get to 8-1, the worst possible scenario would have been a tie at the top of the West where we would own the tiebreaker.
Well, now if we run the table, there can be no tie!
 

“ However, that loss to Bowling Green will plague the Gophers all year long when it comes to these rankings “
Maybe it’s going to turn out to be a hidden blessing. Players and coaches had to take a good hard look at themselves. In spite of that horrendous loss this can be a very, very good year. Maybe I’m reading things wrong, but Fleck really sees it.
Agree with this. The BG loss is starting to look like a true outlier. Gophers have now beaten CO, PU, and NE pretty decisively while not being favored in each. So yeah, Gophers learned from it, and other teams may discount us because of it.
 




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