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With the holiday week there wasn't a whole lot of action around the Big Ten since our last set of rankings on Friday, and because of that there aren't many changes in the rankings this week. In fact, only two teams are in different spots this week and that's because they swapped with each other.
Is it Illinois that fell a spot after losing to Missouri? Well why would I tell you here instead of making you continue reading to find out? Come on, don't be an idiot. That's my job.
I will tell you this much, though, as you can gather by the headline, it wasn't Michigan falling anywhere. Nor should it be.
Team (Points, Last Week) -- This week's games
1. MICHIGAN 12-0 (139, 1) -- 12/29 vs Central Michigan, 1/3 at Northwestern
2. INDIANA 11-1 (130, 2) -- 12/28 vs Jacksonville, 12/31 at Iowa
3. OHIO STATE 9-2 (111, 3) -- 12/29 vs Chicago State, 1/2 vs Nebraska
4. MINNESOTA 12-1 (110, 4) -- 12/31 vs Michigan State
5. ILLINOIS 12-1 (104, 5) -- 12/29 vs Auburn, 1/2 at Purdue
6. MICHIGAN STATE 11-2 (103, 7) -- 12/31 at Minnesota
7. IOWA 11-2 (99, 6) -- 12/31 vs Indiana
8. NORTHWESTERN 9-4 (93, 8) -- 1/3 vs Michigan
9. WISCONSIN 8-4 (87, 9) -- 12/29 vs Samford, 1/3 vs Penn State
10. NEBRASKA 8-4 (67, 10) -- 12/29 vs Nicholls State, 1/2 at Ohio State
11. PURDUE 5-6 (58, 11) -- 12/29 vs William & Mary, 1/2 vs Illinois
12. PENN STATE 7-4 (57, 12) -- 12/29 vs Duquesne, 1/3 at Wisconsin
So the only two teams to move this week were Michigan State and Iowa, as the Spartans jumped past the Hawkeyes after beating Texas last week. You also may have noticed that Michigan State is now right on Illinois' ass, only a point behind and on the verge of dropping the Illini to sixth.
Other than that there isn't a lot of change, though if you pay attention to the points you see that Minnesota is a lot closer to Ohio State this week and on the verge of taking over third after the Buckeyes lost to Kansas for roughly the hundredth time in the last 12 months. And for those five or six Penn State fans that give a shit about basketball, the Nittany Lions are almost out of the basement.
Hopefully the Illini can beat Purdue and help make that happen for you. Maybe then you can get over the whole TIM BECKMAN IS STEALING OUR PLAYERS WHAT A HORRIBLE PERSON HE IS NO I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT JOE PATERNO IS A FUCKING SAINT thing.
GAME OF THE WEEK
I'll be busy with work on New Year's Eve watching the footballs, but I will have to DVR Michigan State at Minnesota as it's the biggest game amongst the Big Ten openers.
Last week's rankings can be found here.