B1G Power Rankings: Week Eight

While we saw chaos reign throughout college football this weekend, things basically went according to plan in the Big Ten. Yes, Michigan had a lot of trouble with Indiana, and Michigan State struggled with Purdue a lot more than any team should, the only upset to take place was Minnesota knocking off Northwestern.

And that's why the top seven teams are the same this week, though some are now a lot closer to others.

And at the top there's Ohio State, which week in and week out seems to flirt with disaster only to get its shit together in the fourth quarter. It's going to catch up to them eventually. Maybe. No, probably not. The Big Ten sucks.

TEAM RECORD (LAST WEEK) -- POINTS

1. Ohio State 7-0 (1) - 156 -- Ohio State is still on top and it has the same amount of points that it did last week. And as I mentioned in the intro, once again Ohio State made you think it was possible that it would lose to Iowa before taking the game over in the fourth quarter. Simply put, this team is good, but it's really not that good. But, also like I said above, you really don't need to be that good in the Big Ten to run away with this conference. This Week: vs. Penn State

2. Wisconsin 5-2 (2) - 139 -- So we all got to see how good this Wisconsin offense is first-hand on Saturday night, and while we did hold the Badgers under their season averages, like I mentioned in The Day After on Sunday, that was just as much about Wisconsin's field position than anything else. If Chris Borland misses a lot of time the Badgers could find themselves losing another game this season, but I tend to think they're looking at a 10-2 finish and a possible BCS bowl. Birkhead will tell you that's not going to happen, but keep in mind I also saw Birkhead tweet last week that he didn't realize so many people hated St. Louis Cardinals fans. This Week: Bye

3. Nebraska 5-1 (3) - 126 -- Nebraska doesn't drop in the rankings after its bye week, but it did lose 10 points in the standings. Not much to say about the Huskers this week since they didn't play, but there's a good chance that Taylor Martinez is returning this week, and that's a good thing for them. This Week: at Minnesota

4. Michigan 6-1 (4) - 125 -- I think it became pretty obvious why Michigan fired Rich Rodriguez. It was because Michigan wanted a team that could put up 751 yards of offense and 63 points while giving up 572 yards and 47 points. Because that's what Michigan football is supposed to be, damn it. Maybe the Wolverines can figure out who exactly they're trying to be this week. This Week: Bye

5. Michigan State 6-1 (5) - 123 -- If Michigan State's offense was just an average Big Ten offense it would be in third place right now. However, it's ranked in the bottom third of the conference in points per game, yards per play, red zone touchdown percentage and explosion plays. And those missing points are why it's here. Maybe the Illinois defense can fix that for Sparty. This Week: at Illinois

6. Iowa 4-3 (6) - 100 -- The bye week did you good, Iowa because you looked like the team I was seeing before that Michigan State game again. Keep playing like you did against Ohio State and you'll find yourself having a very respectable season. Of course, that respectable season will result in yet another contract extension for Kirk Ferentz, but you take the good with the bad. This Week: vs. Northwestern

7. Penn State 4-2 (7) - 98 -- Could Penn State be the team to finally knock off Ohio State? Well, I know that it has a true freshman quarterback, but Penn State also had a bye week to prepare for the Buckeyes. And the Nittany Lions are still pretty solid on defense. It's also an offense that's capable of making big plays, and Ohio State is certainly suspect in the secondary at times. I'm not saying, I'm just saying. This Week: at Ohio State

8. Minnesota 4-2 (11) - 84 -- Finally! A change! Yep, the Gophers jump up three spots this week thanks to their win over Northwestern on Saturday. Sure, Minnesota didn't even manage 300 yards of offense, committed a ton of penalties and converted only 4-of-13 third downs, but it took advantage of those three Northwestern turnovers. Sometimes you don't have to be good, you just have to be there. This Week: vs. Nebraska

9. Indiana 3-4 (8) - 78 -- I'm assuming everybody on the Hoosiers can at least spell the word defense, but they certainly can't play it. Which is a shame for them because, honestly, what would this team's Big Ten record be if it could stop somebody? We'd likely be looking at a team that was going 5-3 in conference at worst. This Week: Bye

10. Northwestern 4-3 (9) - 74 -- Hey there, Northwestern Fan. Remember all summer when you were talking about how your football was awesome? Remember how when you started out 4-0 and you had Game Day coming to town I could count on you to show up in our Twitter mentions talking shit and yelling "50-14!" repeatedly? Well where have you gone, Northwestern Fan? You've gotten awful quite the last few weeks. I'm worried you might have eaten a peanut or died in an unfortunate tarp accident. Please respond, Northwestern fan. We want to know you're okay. This Week: at Iowa

11. Illinois 3-3 (10) - 64 -- Yes I realize I just talked a whole bunch of shit to Northwestern Fan when his team is ranked higher than ours. But I don't care. Three wins was our ceiling coming into the season, and we're already there. Northwestern Fan thought that one 10-win season and a bowl win meant it was going to happen forever because Northwestern Fan wasn't a Northwestern fan in 1995 and 1996. He wasn't even a Northwestern fan in 2011. This Week: vs. Michigan State

12. Purdue 1-6 (12) - 26 -- Almost, Purdue! Almost! Keep playing like you did on Saturday and Purdue ticket prices will sky rocket to $2! This Week: Bye

Last week's rankings can be found here.

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