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The BSD Big Ten Power Rankings, Week 9

Oh, Nebraska.

By Bill DiFilippo
Sandra Dukes-USA TODAY Sports

The top two teams had byes, there were a lot of blowouts, Michigan almost lost to Minnesota, and Nebraska looks horrific. LET'S POWER RANK:

Bill

  1. Ohio State (Last Week: 1)
  2. Michigan State (2)
  3. Iowa (3)
  4. Michigan (4)
  5. Wisconsin (5)
  6. Penn State (7)
  7. Northwestern (6)
  8. Minnesota (10)
  9. Illinois (9)
  10. Indiana (12)
  11. Rutgers (11)
  12. Purdue (14)
  13. Nebraska (8)
  14. Maryland (13)
The big thing for me this week is the free fall of Nebraska. I've been on the "Mike Riley shouldn't get axed" train, namely because I think he should stick around until Oregon's Scott Frost is ready to become a head coach somewhere, but good God, how do you lose 55-45 to Purdue? The Huskers need to win out to become bowl eligible. That would require beating Michigan State and Iowa. No.

Elsewhere, Minnesota and Illinois moved up this week, namely because we have established the five worst teams in the conference, but the gap between Minnesota and the No. 7 team is pretty large. Penn State would have jumped Wisconsin if the Badgers didn't mollywhop Rutgers, but alas.

Nothing changed in the top four, namely because Ohio State and Sparty had bye weeks, while Iowa took care of business against Maryland and Michigan squeaked by Minnesota. As always, the gap between OSU and MSU is almost non-existent, while the gap between MSU and Iowa is getting a little closer every week.

Nick

  1. Ohio State (1)
  2. Michigan State (2)
  3. Iowa (3)
  4. Michigan (4)
  5. Wisconsin (5)
  6. Penn State (7)
  7. Northwestern (6)
  8. Minnesota (11)
  9. Indiana (10)
  10. Illinois (9)
  11. Maryland (12)
  12. Rutgers (13)
  13. Purdue (14)
  14. Nebraska (8)

I agree with both Bill and Matt about the top eight teams. Ohio State will only be without JT Barrett for a game (which is a joke), while nothing has changed about my thoughts on Michigan State, Iowa or Michigan (despite the near loss to Minnesota). Wisconsin showed signs of life this week, and getting Corey Clement back on the field is a HUGE addition to the offense.

Penn State finally showed me enough on offense to warrant them moving up a spot, although this weekend's game is going to be the true deciding factor. Northwestern still has a strong defense, so it will be interesting to see if Hackenberg and Barkley can unlock them as they did with Illinois.

After that, these are power rankings, so I rank the teams as I see them right now. The only big standout I have in the rest of this list is Nebraska at No. 14. Is Nebraska the worst team in the Big Ten? Probably not. But they just lost to the team that has "Worst Team in the Big Ten" branded on their foreheads. Hard to rank them higher than dead last after that.

Matt

  1. Ohio State (1)
  2. Michigan State (2)
  3. Iowa (3)
  4. Michigan (4)
  5. Wisconsin (5)
  6. Penn State (7)
  7. Northwestern (6)
  8. Minnesota (10)
  9. Illinois (8)
  10. Nebraska (9)
  11. Rutgers (11)
  12. Purdue (14)
  13. Indiana (12)
  14. Maryland (13)

Not much change this week, but plenty to come over the next four weeks with plenty of big time games in the top half of the league. Penn State's 39-0 victory over Illinois allowed them to creep back ahead of Northwestern, but the margin remains slim. That gets settled on the field this Saturday. Wisconsin stays just ahead of PSU with a little more consistency.

Further down, Nebraska's free fall continues, after somehow giving up 55 points in West Lafayette to Purdue, while Minnesota's close loss against Michigan was enough to sneak ahead of the Illini. I rewarded Purdue's first B1G win with a leap to 12th, ahead of the two winless teams at the bottom.

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