After the fifth week of college football, it sure looks like the Big Ten is falling back into the trap of the Big Two and Little 12. Eh. Here’s how I rank the Big Ten teams after five weeks of play.
Big Ten East
#1 Ohio State Buckeyes (LW #1)
58-0 over Rutgers. what can you even say. Better not get complacent with Indiana in town this weekend.
#2 Michigan Wolverines (LW#3)
It wasn’t pretty, but a 14-7 win over Wisconsin keeps everything on a plane for the Big Game to be a really big game. Michigan gets to go to Jersey this weekend and don’t think Harbaugh won’t try and top 58 if he can.
#3 Indiana Hoosiers (LW #3)
Indiana bounced back after their first loss of the year and won the Brass Spttoon for the first time in ten seasons. Very impressive. Unfortunately all that momentum goes bye bye in Columbus this Saturday.
#4 Michigan State Spartans (LW #3)
It never fails that this is the year the Spartans don’t appear on the Gophers schedule. I’m sure Dantonio will have them back to juggernaut proportions before we seem them in 2017. BYU comes to town this weekend in what is by no means a gimmie.
#5 Maryland Terrapins (LW #6)
Yes I know its Purdue. But 50-7 against Purdue is still impressive. Impressive enough to jump PSU. They now get to play the Nittany Lions for this spot on Saturday.
#6 Penn State Nittany Lions (LW #5)
A win and they drop? Well yeah...that was an ugly win. Beat Maryland this week and I’ll move you back up. If not....I was a week ahead of schedule in my picks.
#7 Rutgers Scarlet Knights (LW #7)
I’ve seen less gory mob murders in Jersey than what Ohio State just did to Rutgers. Michigan’s turn this week. On national TV too. Yeesh.
Big Ten West
#1 Nebraska Cornhuskers (LW #2)
Nebraska moves back into the top spot, though you can argue Wisconsin played well enough not to drop. Frankly its fairly obvious they are 1A and 1B and the rest are all lagging way behind. They enjoy a bye week watching Iowa and Minnesota slap fight each other into oblivion.
#2 Wisconsin Badgers (LW #1)
As I said above, Wisconsin probably played good enough to not drop in a 14-7 loss in Ann Arbor. But I’ll give the edge to Nebraska for the moment. Wisconsin also gets to enjoy bye week watching the two other Quadrangle of Hate teams try not to set football back a decade or two.
#3 Northwestern Wildcats (LW #5)
Do they deserve to be this high? Its questionable. But the teams below them aren’t dong a damn thing to argue against it...so here we are. They also enjoy bye week watching....well you get it by now.
#4 Iowa Hawkeyes (LW#3)
Another home loss, this time to Northwestern does not project confidence this week coming into TCF for the Battle for Floyd. I just really hope the Gophers win so hear the Iowa fans freak out about Kirk’s contract again.
#5 Minnesota Gophers (LW # 4)
Lost a game they should have won. Unfortunately a familiar sentence around here. Hopefully another familiar sentence applies to this week....Floyd is staying in Minneapolis.
#6 Illinois Fighting Illini (LW #7)
The less train-wrecky of two train wrecks. At least they don’t have a hole in their end zone. Purdue comes to town to try and defend its honor.
#7 Purdue Boilermakers (LW #6)
Darrell Hazel still has a job. I’m guessing by the end of the month this sentence will not be accurate. If he can’t beat the Illini, its time to go bye-bye.
My Rank 1-14
- Ohio State Buckeyes (LW #1)
- Michigan Wolverines (LW #2)
- Nebraska Cornhuskers (LW #4)
- Wisconsin Badgers (LW #3)
- Indiana Hoosiers (LW #8)
- Michigan State Spartans (LW #5)
- Northwestern Wildcats (LW #11)
- Penn State Nittany Lions (LW #9)
- Iowa Hawkeyes (LW #6)
- Maryland Terrapins (LW #10)
- Minnesota Gophers (LW #7)
- Illinois Fighting Illini (LW # 14)
- Purdue Boilermakers (LW #12)
- Rutgers Scarlet Knights (LW #13)