The Big Ten hasn’t had the best three weeks in the nonconference season, with all teams going a combined 1-10 against Power 5 conferences. Of course, we now play the “Power rank the Big Ten” game, also known as “How embarrassing was your out-of-conference loss?”
1. No. 11 Michigan State (1-1)
Yeah, the Spartans lost at Oregon, giving up 28 unanswered points to allow a Ducks comeback that sparked this year’s “Jesus, that offense is actually going to score 100 points on someone” whispers. But that’s the thing, it was a comeback.
Michigan State went into Eugene and outplayed the Ducks for an entire half of football and the sad fact is that makes them the class of the Big Ten.
Given Ohio State’s struggles and Penn State’s eventual depth issues, Michigan State is likely going to be the class of the West. Collapsing to a top five team on the road doesn’t change that.
2. No. 19 Wisconsin (1-1)
There’s a similar reason for this to the Spartans’ ranking, the Badgers outplayed LSU for half of a football game in front of a hostile Houston crowd. This is what the Big Ten is now. There are no impressive wins in this conference, just differing degrees of non conference humiliation.
The Badgers don’t have a tough game until Nebraska at home Nov. 15, which means they very well could be top 15 or even 10 that date. Even with the collapse, the LSU loss could still look pretty okay come bowl selection time.
3. No. 23 Ohio State (2-1)
What’s worse, getting manhandled by Virginia Tech or having that same Hokies team going down 21-0 early in a home loss to East Carolina? The answer is you are not that good a football team without Braxton Miller.
Beating Kent State 66-0 is encouraging, but you just can’t put the Buckeyes in the top two until their offense shows it can score on real opponents.
Through three games, redshirt freshman quarterback J.T. Barrett has nine touchdown passes, five interceptions and eight sacks. Against Virginia Tech, he rushed 24 times and averaged 2.9 yards.
4. Penn State (3-0)
Hello one of only two undefeated teams in the Big Ten. Sure, not losing yet can be pretty attractive, but when the Nittany Lions’ best win, Central Florida, gets shellacked 38-10 by Missouri, it kind of rings hollow. Depth issues brought on by scholarship limits also means this team could wear down in the future.
Of course, given the choice between being the top team in this year’s Big Ten or having their postseason ban and scholarship limits revoked (which happened last week), Penn State fans would scream for the latter.
5. No. 24 Nebraska (3-0)
Beating FCS opponent McNeese State on a superhuman play by possible superhuman Ameer Abdullah probably shouldn’t count as a win. Call it undefeated with an asterisk.
Abdullah is probably headed to a Melvin Gordon-esque year, but Nebraska might also be headed to a seventh consecutive four-loss season under head coach Bo Pelini, which might just be the most hilariously sad and eerily consistent streak in sports.
If they want to do better than four losses, Randy Gregory needs to get healthy and play like the top-five draft prospect he was projected to be in preseason.
6. Maryland (2-1)
Giving up 511 passing yards to West Virginia is rough, but the Terrapins also hung around with the Mountaineers, only losing 40-37. Considering West Virginia played Alabama close, that could be evidence enough Maryland belongs in the top half of the Big Ten, ugly Star-Spangled Banner uniforms and all.
7. Michigan (2-1)
Devin Gardner remains an enigma. Getting shut out in possibly the final game of the Notre Dame rivalry, with the Irish also having initiated the break-up, remains embarrassing. Having your quarterback constantly wear number 98 in some weird honor of team history remains stupid. For conference pride, hope and pray the Wolverines beat Utah.
8. Rutgers (2-1)
It might be time to be cautiously optimistic about Rutgers being a quality football team. The Scarlet Knights beat Mike Leach’s Washington State on Week 1 in a 41-38 thriller and played Penn State to a 13-10 loss. They very well could still go 1-7 or 0-8 in conference play, but there’s hope for now.
In the interest of time, I’m not going to go into the specifics for these following teams’ past performances. I’ll instead list what game led to each low ranking.
9. Indiana (1-1)
Not too embarrassing, lost 45-42 to a Bowling Green team with its backup quarterback, sophomore James Knapke. Then again, we might find out Bowling Green is no joke in Camp Randall.
10. Iowa (2-1)
Lost 20-17 at home to a bad Iowa State team, their biggest rival.
11. Minnesota (2-1)
Got spanked 30-7 at Texas Christian. Outgained 426-268 and watched its powerful rushing attack limited to 2.5 yards per carry.
12. Illinois (2-1)
They were roughed up 44-19 in Seattle by a then struggling Washington team.
13. Purdue (1-2)
Dominated 38-17 by a mid-tier MAC team, Central Michigan. Sophomore quarterback Danny Etling was 17-for-32 for 126 yards and two interceptions.
14. Northwestern (0-2)
Dual losses to California and Northern Illinois. It’s insane to think this program convincingly beat a decent Mississippi State on 2013 New Years Day.
