Big Ten Power Rankings Week 8

[andrewhfine]

We still have a pretty clear line between the top of the conference and the bottom. But Ohio State looks to have pulled away from the rest of the top half of the conference from the "look" test. We'll learn a lot this weekend though with Michigan/Michigan State, Iowa/Wisconsin, and to a lesser extent, PSU/Ohio State.

1. Ohio State – The Buckeyes look to be back on cruise control after another dominating win, this time over Indiana. They host the struggling Nittany Lions this week in a night game that was supposed to have more cache.
2. Michigan – Michigan moved to 7-0 with an easy win over Northwestern. There are still some concerns with this team, but they can quiet a lot of naysayers (mostly among their own fanbase) with a win in East Lansing over Top 10 Michigan State this weekend.
3. Michigan State – The Spartans enjoyed the week off and no doubt used all of it to prepare for Michigan and add some wrinkles. The winner of this weekend’s matchup has the inside track to a New Year’s Six Bowl and maybe Pasadena.
4. Iowa – The loss to Purdue from two weeks ago looks even worse now, but Iowa is still 6-1. They get to prove they are still a force when they travel this weekend to play a resurgent Wisconsin team.
5. Wisconsin – The Badgers have found their mojo and have reeled off 3 straight wins, including a dominating 30-13 victory over Top 25 Purdue in West Lafayette. They host Iowa this weekend and a win would put them back in strong contention to win the Big Ten West. Something that was unthinkable a month ago.
6. Minnesota – While Iowa, Wisconsin, and Purdue have been up and down all over the Big Ten West, the Gophers have been steadily rowing the boat. At 5-2 overall and 3-1 in the conference they still control their own destiny in the West. They are headed to Northwestern this weekend in a game that they need to win if they want to stay contenders.
7. Penn State – The Nittany Lions suffered one of the more surprising losses in the Big Ten this year, falling at home to Illinois 20-18 in a game that was bereft of offense. They’ll need a shocking upset of their own this weekend in Columbus in order to stay in the Big Ten East race.
8. Purdue – What the football gods giveth, the football gods taketh away. A week after surprising the college football world by beating Iowa, the Boilermakers got taken down at home by Wisconsin. With MSU and OSU still on the schedule, they may be left playing spoiler now. First they travel to Nebraska to take on the Huskers.
9. Illinois – There is a substantial falloff from the top half off the conference to the bottom half, but somebody has to be 9th. This week it is the Fighting Illini who had a shocking and frankly painful to watch victory over Penn State in Happy Valley. They’ll still need three wins in their final four games in order to be bowl eligible. They can start by beating Rutgers in Champaign this weekend.
10. Maryland – The Terps dropped their third straight to fall to 4-3 after a 34-16 loss at Minnesota. They’ll hope to get back in the win column this week hosting Indiana before a three game gauntlet of Penn State, Michigan State and Michigan.
11. Northwestern – The Wildcats were mostly dominated in a 33-7 loss to Michigan and fell to 3-4 overall. They host Minnesota this weekend and need an upset to stay on track to be bowl eligible.
12. Rutgers – After a 3-0 start the Scarlet Knights have lost four straight and probably welcomed their bye week. There is still a path to a bowl, but it requires a win vs Illinois this weekend.
13. Nebraska – The Cornhuskers had the week off as well. Hosting Purdue this week might be their last decent chance at a victory this season as they finish with OSU at home, at Wisconsin and Iowa at home.
14. Indiana – The Hoosiers ran into the buzzsaw that is Ohio State this weekend, getting stomped 55-7. They’ve played 5 teams ranked in the Top 20 now so the good news is that the schedule gets easier. The bad news is they have to win four of five to get to a bowl. It starts this weekend at Maryland.