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Oh Nebraska....oh...oh no. Paging Scott Frost on the red courtesy phone please....Scott Frost?
As a reminder I rank the teams both 1-7 in their respective divisions, and then 1-14 overall in the Big Ten.
Here are my Week 3 Big Ten Football Power Rankings;
Big Ten East:
1. Penn State Nittany Lions
Penn State shut out Georgia State 56-0. Way to make that one interesting guys. The Nittany Lions get their first big test this week when they have to play a night game at Kinnick against Iowa. Iowa has defeated #3 and #5 Penn State at Kinnick before....and this time the Lions come in at #4. Should be fun.
2. Ohio State Buckeyes
Ohio State easily took care of Army to move to 3-0 2-1 (whoopsie). Yawn. UNLV comes to the Shoe this weekend to finish off the non-conference part of the schedule. Yeah I don’t think that will be a problem.
3. Michigan Wolverines
Air Force made it a game in the Big House, but once again Michigan pulled away in the second half to get a victory to move to 3-0. This Saturday they get to go to arguably the most hyped Big Ten team right now in Purdue. If they start slow, will they be able to finish strong this time?
4. Maryland Terrapins
Maryland won the bye week and will get ready to take on Central Florida this Saturday to try and set up a 3-0 vs 3-0 battle against the Gophers next weekend.
5. Michigan State Spartans
Michigan State also took last week off getting ready to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish this Saturday. will this be the game that really shows us what this years Spartans are like?
6. Indiana Hoosiers
Indiana has the weekend off thanks to Hurricane Irma, but found out that they added a game on October 7th against Charleston Southern. This week they get another Southern—Georgia Southern in what should be an easy win.
7. Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Rutgers finally beat up on a very bad team in Morgan State. I mean they are a really bad team but 65-0 is 65-0. Now they get to head to Lincoln to face Nebraska. This could be fun...or could be a disaster.
Big Ten West
1. Wisconsin Badgers
The Badgers might be for real this season as much as it pains me to say it. That or BYU might not be very good. Either way Wisconsin looked at ease beating up on them 40-6 last week. As a reward they get to enjoy their bye week this week near the top of the rankings.
2. Iowa Hawkeyes
Iowa got a quick scare from North Texas but pulled away for a comfortable 31-14 win. They are jazzed up for their big game Saturday night against Penn State—can they pull the upset once again?
3. Minnesota Golden Gophers
The Gophers took advantage of a wounded Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders team and picked up an easy 34-3 win to move to 3-0. This get to enjoy their bye week this week scouting Maryland.
4. Purdue Boilermakers
I think most people thought Purdue would be better this season, but this fast—no way. Raise your hand if you had Purdue beating the Missouri Tigers at Missouri 35-3. Yeah...no you didn’t. They currently are the darlings of the Big Ten and are getting a little upset steam for this weekend’s game against Michigan. Will it happen? Not likely but it isn’t as ludicrous at is sounded before the season.
5. Northwestern Wildcats
The Wildcats got back on track with a big 49-7 win over Bowling Green last Saturday. They still have a way to go to get back to darlings, but a bye week to prepare for Wisconsin can’t hurt.
6. Nebraska Cornhuskers
The Cornhuskers lost at home to Northern Illinois last Saturday. Not good. Tanner Lee looks awful, the running game is missing, and Mike Riley might want to start looking at moving services. They open the Big Ten against Rutgers this week in what basically is a must win—even more than any game against Rutgers is.
7. Illinois Fighting Illini
Illinois was no match for South Florida. A 47-23 loss and almost combining for a NCAA record number of penalties in a game is not a good way to go into your bye week. Enjoy practice boys!
Big Ten Teams Ranked 1-14
- Penn State Nittany Lions (Previously #2)
- Ohio State Buckeyes (#1)
- Wisconsin Badgers (#4)
- Michigan Wolverines (#3)
- Iowa Hawkeyes (#5)
- Maryland Terrapins (#6)
- Minnesota Gophers (#8)
- Michigan State Spartans (#7)
- Purdue Boilermakers (#10)
- Northwestern Wildcats (#11)
- Nebraska Cornhuskers (#9)
- Indiana Hoosiers (#12)
- Rutgers Scarlet Knights (#14)
- Illinois Fighting Illini (#13)
As always, if you disagree, let me know in the comments.