The BSD Big Ten Power Rankings (Week 10): Iowa Moving Up?

Have you ever had to do power rankings after a team got hosed out of a win? It's brutal. Poor Sparty. I would feel bad for them, but they gave us Pat Narduzzi and his merry band of NARD DAWG MEN WOOF WOOF WOOF.

Pitt is bad.

Bill

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

Really, I think you could make a case for Sparty being No. 2 since they got hosed against Nebraska, but they lost, so whatever. Also: Nebraska moved way out of the almost gutter because I wildly overreacted, so go Nebraska!

Really, not much changes in the top half, save for Northwestern moving above Penn State. The gap between the top half and the lower half, however, is massive. Sure, on any given day, an Illinois or below team can beat a Penn State or above team, but if everyone in the top half played everyone in the bottom half 100 times, I think the teams in the top half win at least 85 of them, usually. The Big Ten is just really top heavy this year, and can be grouped as "the four best teams, the three good teams, the four mediocre teams, and the three bad teams."

Basically what I'm saying is Iowa and Ohio State should both win out, but I'll be surprised if one of the teams on their remaining schedules (Iowa - Minnesota/Purdue/Nebraska, Ohio State - Illinois/Sparty/Michigan) doesn't ruin everything.

Matt

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

It was a pretty quite week for me, with just a couple of teams switching spots. Michigan State's loss in Lincoln, however questionable it may have been, knocks them from the ranks of the unbeaten, and into the third spot. Northwestern swaps spots with PSU after the come from behind win on Saturday. And Illinois' big win in West Lafayette moved them to where I probably should have had them, based on the total body of work.

Barring a total collapse by someone in the top half, or a massive close to the year by someone in the bottom, I think the line between seven and eight is pretty significant, as PSU's 39-0 drubbing of Illinois showed. Sure, anyone can win on any day, but the "haves" and "have nots" have shown themselves by now.

Nick

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

Ohio State retains the top spot thanks to their win over Minnesota with the clearly inferior quarterback option as the starter. I'm keeping Michigan State at No. 2, because even though they had a fluky loss to Nebraska, even undefeated team has a near-scare along the way, and this probably should have been that near scare. I also still am keeping in mind that they beat Michigan, in an equally heartbreaking, but controversy-free win.

Iowa had some trouble with Indiana, so they drop below Michigan. Northwestern beat Penn State, and although the Nittany Lions only really played for 1/4 of the game, Northwestern's defense was mostly great, and they won with their backup quarterback. Indiana gets a bump for playing Iowa close, Illinois moves up for bouncing back with an easy win, and Maryland looks better than their record.

Minnesota is quickly coming down from the emotional high of the Michigan game, Nebraska isn't quite as bad as their record says, Rutgers is Rutgers and Purdue is Purdue.