What a weird week in the Big Ten.
- Two teams (Ohio State and Purdue) played better than expected in losses while several winners (Wisconsin and Northwestern, in particular) left more questions than answers after their close wins.
- Two teams (Penn State and Michigan) won games that makes the conference look good and two teams (Indiana and Minnesota) barely won games in which most BCS teams should be expected to win (but neither team was expected to have an easy victory).
- Michigan State, a popular sleeper pick in the conference, fell victim to the Jr. Big Ten conference.
- Illinois and Iowa beat up on their school's namesake+State (Illinois State and Iowa State, respectively).
For a week in which all but Purdue played home games, this conference still is figuring out its identity. Can it compete with the big boys (SEC, Big 12) or is it falling behind even the weaker BCS conferences (Big East, ACC)? We'll see with one more week of non-conference games, notably Michigan State vs. Notre Dame.
Anyways, on to the power rankings. Just follow the jump.
Rankings (last week's rank in parenthesis)
1. (1) Penn State (0-0, 2-0) - One touchdown per quarter was more than enough for Penn State to blow by Syracuse. PSU QB Darryl Clark is on pace for 36 touchdowns and 3,500 yards this season after throwing 3 TDs in each of the first two games. Two notes of concern: red zone efficiency and turnovers. Clark fumbled at the 1-yard line on 4th-and-1 and threw an interception later in the second quarter. These kinks can be worked out in the next few weeks with an easy schedule.
2. (5) Michigan (0-0, 2-0) - Michigan looked good in the first week against Western Michigan. But that was Western Michigan. Facing a good Notre Dame team this week, freshman quarterback Tate Forcier came of age (to be very cliche) with his 2 TD performance, including the game-winner. Suddenly, Michigan moves to the top of the conference, but watch for a trap game next week against Eastern Michigan (Why? Three letters - MAC) before the Big Ten season begins.
3. (3) Ohio State (0-0, 1-1) - Not many expected Ohio State to compete with USC, especially after their struggles against Navy. Here's the problem, though. Ohio State doesn't have a whole lot left for which to play. Having lost a "must-win" game, suddenly winning the Big Ten is the best they can do. This year, that might not mean a whole lot. Even if they win the rest of their games in the regular season, the Buckeyes can't get rid of their big-game, non-conference losing streak until next season.
4. (7) Iowa (0-0, 2-0) - Last week, the Hawkeyes barely squeaked by Northern Iowa. This past Saturday, the team looked like the top 25-team it was supposed to be. QB Ricky Stanzi threw a TD for every 25 yards and on 22 percent of his completions. Defensively, the team grabbed five interceptions, including three for Tyler Sash. Stanzi did overthrow several passes and the team had nine penalties totaling 79 yards.
5. (2) Michigan State (0-0, 1-1) - Is it really a shocker when a MAC school beats a Big Ten team? A hotbed for quarterbacks and young coaches, the MAC (er, Big Ten Jr.) stayed competitive in three Big Ten games this week. While the Spartans offensive stats weren't terribly impressive (215 passing, 101 rushing), the team committed no turnovers and were fairly efficient on third down. The reason they lost? CMU QB Dan LeFevour, who torched the Spartans for 328 yards and 3 TDs.
6. (10) Purdue (0-0, 1-1) - The good news: Purdue knows how to score the football, at least so far. And RB Ralph Bolden has put up monster stats. In fact, he leads the NATION in rushing yards, 32 more yards than second place. But the Boilers will need to do more than score points to keep up the pace in the Big Ten. The Boilers have allowed 69 points in two games. Further, look for a tough game against Northern Illinois who nearly beat Wisconsin and won easily against Western Illinois this week.
7. ( 6) Minnesota (0-0, 2-0) - With the opening of Minnesota's new football home, some people are saying the Gophers will have a distinct home-field advantage in cold-weather games. But seriously, Big Ten teams are plenty used to playing in cold weather. So, no, the stadium won't help much. It does look good, though. WR Eric Decker is third in the nation in receiving yards after the first two games, but the only one in the top 12 without a TD.
8. (9) Illinois (0-0, 1-1) - Illinois State is not a good football team, allowing 76 points in its first two games. A 45-17 Illini win should be expected. So, this was the perfect rebound win after a pasting by Missouri. A big concern for Illinois early in the season has been injuries, including a quadriceps injury to QB Juice Williams. While it doesn't appear serious, this follows a line of health concerns in the first two games. The problem with injuries is they only get worse as the season progresses.
9. (4) Northwestern (0-0, 2-0) - There are good MAC teams that any BCS school should worry about. Eastern Michigan is not one of them. The program has only won 22 games since 2002, including a 3-9 record last season. But Northwestern needed a last-second field goal to get by the pesky Eagles. Syracuse is next, and QB Greg Paulus doesn't want to go 0-3 in its second conference (The Orange play its first three games against Big Ten schools. Interesting scheduling move.)
10. (8) Wisconsin (0-0, 2-0) - Wisconsin is 2-0, yes. But the Badgers have not looked very good in either win. After winning by eight against Northern Illinois, Wisconsin needed two overtimes to beat Fresno State. Even if it was a loss, this could be considered an "asterisk" game with up to 40 Badger players suffering flu-like symptoms this past week.
11. (11) Indiana (0-0, 2-0) - Wisconsin almost fell to this 11th spot with similarly close games against non-BCS opponents, but as I said last week, IU has to earn its way out of the bottom position. A four-point win against Western Michigan following a six-point win against an FCS school isn't quite enough. If the running game shows up against Akron like it did agaisnt WMU, a 3-0 record will get the Hoosiers up at least a spot or two.
There you go. What do you think? Does a 2-0 Hoosier team belong at the bottom? Has Michigan earned its 2nd spot? How does the muddle in the middle of the conference sort itself out?
