Big Ten Power Rankings - Week 1

Well, there certainly was football played this week. Let’s see how the rankings stack up after 1 week of action.

1. Ohio State

The Buckeyes started out shaky, trailing Nebraska, before ultimately blowing the doors off them, 52-17. Easy first place here.

2. Wisconsin

The Badgers avenged their 2019 loss to the Illini, winning 45-7. After this weekend, a solid #2 (NOT UNLIKE PENN STATE AMIRITE).

3. Michigan

I actually picked against the Wolverines, and they went ahead and beat preseason darling Minnesota 49-24. The top 3 are set for the time being, in my opinion.

4. Penn State

Hey, remember when I wrote that chaos is fun when you’re not part of it? Next time I jinx us I want one of y’all to break my kneecaps with a metal bat.

5. Purdue

The Boilermakers took down Iowa 24-20 without Rondale Moore, and that should worry some teams.

6. Iowa

The Hawkeyes could maybe do with a drop in the ranks, but there was so much fluctuation in the bottom half of these rankings they ended up just hanging out.

7. Minnesota

More like Row the Nope! . . . Nope the Boat? I’ll work on it. The Gophers find their season in the same spot as Penn State - seemingly over before it had a chance to start.

8. Indiana

Should the Hoosiers be higher on this list? Maybe. Stats aside, they ended the game with more points than Penn State. But I have to feel that if that game were played 100 times, the Hoosiers win less than a quarter of them.

9. Nebraska

This should be a fun team to watch going forward. Decent offense, atrocious defense.

10. Northwestern

Oh man, I would not have been surprised by a Wildcat win, but a 43-3 drubbing of the Terrapins was honestly eye-opening .

11. Rutgers

RED ALERT! I REPEAT, RED ALERT! THE RUTGERS SCARLET KNIGHTS ARE CURRENTLY NOT THE WORST TEAM IN THESE POWER RANKINGS! Seriously though, Michigan State is #bad but that was a solid 38-27 win.

12. Illinois

You ever see a team lose 45-7 and rise in the rankings? Says a lot about the teams yet to come in the last two spots.

13. Michigan State

Look, I figured MSU would be rough this year, but I didn’t think they’d get manhandled by Rutgers like that. Things could be really, really bad for Sparty.

14. Maryland

Congratulations Maryland! You are the weakest link!

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Well, a whole bunch of weird games jacked up my rankings rather nicely:

OSU at the top, with Wisconsin and Michigan rising, while Penn State falls. Purdue is the big riser before chaos sets in. Iowa stays put, while Minnesota drops. Indiana on the rise, with Nebraska falling. Northwestern, Rutgers (!!!), and Illinois all rise, while Michigan State drops.

Maryland.

On to Week 2!