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The BSD Big Ten Power Rankings (Week 13): Conference Title Week

Any debate over which team is the best in the Big Ten will be solved on Saturday.

By Bill DiFilippo
Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports

Conference title week is in the air. It kind of sucks that there's only one Big Ten game this week, but my goodness is it a good one, as Michigan State and Iowa will basically be playing a College Football Playoff play-in matchup. I'm excited. You're excited. We're all excited. Except for Rutgers fans, they blew a 21-point lead at home to Maryland and are not allowed to be excited.

Let's get to the rankings:

Bill

  1. Michigan State (Last Week: 1)
  2. Iowa (2)
  3. Ohio State (3)
  4. Northwestern (5)
  5. Michigan (4)
  6. Wisconsin (6)
  7. Penn State (7)
  8. Indiana (9)
  9. Nebraska (8)
  10. Minnesota (10)
  11. Illinois (11)
  12. Purdue (13)
  13. Maryland (14)
  14. Rutgers (12)
First things first, what in God's name was that nonsense, Rutgers? You blew a 31-10 lead at home to Maryland. You deserve to be in last place. Feel bad, Rutgers. Keep this up and you will no longer be considered a powerhouse in the Big Ten.

The gap between my No. 1 team and my No. 2 team is still basically non-existent, as the Spartans and the Hawkeyes are right there with one another. The rest of the Big Ten is essentially the same this week, save for Northwestern jumping Michigan after the Wolverines got trounced by Ohio State, Indiana moving into the top-8 by becoming bowl eligible, and Rutgers getting last place.

Matt

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

With the season now, essentially, in the books, I went into this final regular season set of rankings with the idea of looking at the season as a whole. That mostly lead to a lot of laughing at Rutgers for allowing Maryland to avoid a winless B1G season. You will sit at the bottom of the league, and like it, BTPR. I also wanted to recognize Indiana's strong(ish) finish, and first bowl trip in 8 seasons. Good for you, hated #PUNTWEEK rivals.

The top of the league remained the same for a second straight week, with no real surprises in the last couple of weeks.

Nick

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

After seeing a fully-loaded Sparty attack against Penn State on Saturday, and seeing Iowa let Nebraska hang around a bit, I'm bumping Michigan State back up to the one spot. The good news is that this debate will be settled in the Big Ten Conference Championship game, at which point the question will become, "Is Ohio State better than the losing team?"

Speaking of Ohio State, they feasted on Michigan. Just dominated in every single way. It was something else to watch. In fact, the Wolverines got smacked so badly, that I put them below Northwestern this week. No part of me thinks Northwestern is really the fourth best team in the Big Ten, and I certainly don't think they're the No. 13 team in the country like the AP Poll does, but it's hard to argue with their track-record this season.

After that, things get boring. Wisconsin and Penn State are the most middling of middling Big Ten teams - they beat who they're supposed to beat, and they lose to who they're supposed to lose to. No give or take in either direction. Boring. Indiana is fun, but can't defend anything. Minnesota's awful start to the season buried them. Illinois will be the same, forever. Maryland and Rutgers are now head coach-less, and Purdue is coordinator-less. Sounds like it's time to relegate some teams to the MAC.

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