Four weeks into the oddest football season of my lifetime, and the Big Ten Power Rankings definitely are on brand for 2020, where up is down, dogs and cats are living together, mass hysteria....you get the picture. While I think this is a fair assessment, I openly admit that any team ranked between 8 and 14 is probably interchangeable.
- Ohio State - The one constant continues to be the Buckeyes. Due to their cancelled game with Maryland, the Buckeyes apparently spent the weekend engaged in a high stakes game of dodgeball in which they all earned a pair of gold pants and a $500 handshake. Still #1 in the conference until proven otherwise.
- Wisconsin - The Badgers beat up on a hapless Michigan team after a two week hiatus from football. It is tough to tell if they are good or if Michigan is just that bad, but two wins by 38 points is still good enough for the number 2 spot.
- Indiana - Yes, the Hoosiers wins over Michigan and Penn State looks a lot less impressive than they did before, but they are still 4-0. They handled a MSU team that returned to their usual form with ease on Saturday.
- Northwestern - 4-0 after dispatching with Purdue in a battle of the unbeatens. We'll see if Northwestern is for real this week against Wisconsin.
- Purdue - The Boilermakers win over Iowa is looking more impressive as the Hawkeyes have won two straight, and they played Northwestern tough. They could win their next three to setup a true showdown with Indiana to end the season.
- Iowa - The Hawkeyes have rebounded from an 0-2 start with back to back convincing wins. I'd expect them to handle PSU this week as well.
- Maryland - The Terps escaped their OSU game with a Covid bye (Michigan should take notes), and their PSU win looks less impressive and their NW loss more understandable. They'll probably be 3-1 after this week, but I'm not sold.
- Nebraska - The Cornhuskers survived a comeback by Penn State for their first win of the season. They'll get a chance to pull themselves up to .500 vs Illinois this week. ***I honestly don't know what to do with the next 6 teams. They feel interchangeable in a way that is not good. I could be convinced that any of them deserve to be higher or lower based on their play.*****
- Illinois - The most important thing to know here is that once again Illinois has a run first QB named Isaiah Williams. They also snuck out a win vs Rutgers on Saturday for their first win of the season.
- Michigan State - We're at the part of the rankings where the transitive property of college football is useless. MSU beat Michigan but lost to Rutgers. Rutgers beat MSU but lost to Illinois who lost to Minnesota who lost to Michigan. MSU sucks the least this week but I have no justification for it.
- Rutgers - They just lost to previously winless Illinois and they play fellow 1 win Michigan this weekend. But the win over MSU somehow still looks more impressive than Michigan's win over Minnesota.
- Michigan - It's a mess in Ann Arbor. Luckily its Rutgers week and they can try and get back in the win column.
- Minnesota - The Gophers looked slightly better for two weeks, barely losing to Maryland and then beating Illinois. Iowa brough them back to where they rightfully belong. Near the bottom of the Big Ten.
- Penn State - The only thing giving Michigan fans any solace is that at lesat they have a win. Things are really bad in State College as they are 0-4 without much help on the horizon. They get an improving Iowa team and likely will fall to 0-5.
