A fellow football junkie and I compare our weekly power rankings. If you missed last week’s, catch up here. Changes are marked by +/- the number of rankings. These are real emails back and forth.
Josh Kam
1. Michigan State 1. Michigan State +1
2. Michigan +3 2. Ohio State -1
3. Ohio State 3. Michigan +1
J – We agree, these teams separated themselves after just a week. We were worried about the Big 10 becoming the old Big 12 where the South owned the North…there’s a ton of football left but I’m sure the league didn’t want people’s power rankings to look like this.
K – I think the impressive win from Michigan cements them as a legit challenger to MSU and OSU is the race for the East. I have OSU at 2 because I was impressed that they were able to put the pieces together against a very good Navy team. Every game Barrett plays that are successes like this are going to be crucial to OSU’s chances.
J – Completely agree. Navy made me nervous when I thought Miller was starting. Navy will 8 to 10 games this year. Solid team.
4. Iowa 4. Wisconsin -1
5. Wisconsin -3 5. Nebraska +1
6. Nebraska 6. Penn State +1
J – Woah, Penn State? Alright, tons of thoughts. First, call me a homer…but Iowa’s issues are more solvable than Wisconsin. UW has no play-makers catching the ball and no one who can throw. I’m worried about the badgers. As for Nebraska, I’m sorry but FAU was possibly the worst opening day opponent. I think Jacksonville State (11 game winners a year ago) and UNI (nationally ranked) would beat FAU from the FCS division. FAU and Indiana State were by far the weakest teams the Big Ten scheduled last Saturday. I can’t bump up Nebraska based on that. Still a team of unknowns for me.
K – Wisconsin was very good against a top tier SEC team for three quarters with a new QB and an inexperienced defense. Yeah they didn’t close it out but this tough early season challenge is going to groom them a lot faster. Nebraska did enough to put them into my top 5, no struggles early with the inferior opponent. No love for Penn State’s trans-Atlantic win?!
J – Here’s my problem with Penn State, they barely beat a UCF team who lost a legit star in Blake Bortles and they need a school record in passing to win by just 2. What did you see in that game (that I did not watch, I believe it was at 4 am pacific time) that has you guying Franklin stock?
K – Penn State is a good team, I don’t think they get enough respect. Guess what? They have a QB that can throw for a school record, that’s big in the big ten. Hackenberg is going to be a top 3 QB in the big ten this year. They exacted revenge from last year, and I don’t care if UCF is rebuilding, they are a lot better than a lot of the opponents other big ten teams played.
J – You have me re-thinking how low I have PSU…get ready to laugh.
K – I think that I do give bonus points for clutch wins too.
J – That’s true.
7. Indiana 7. Maryland +3
8. Penn State 8. Iowa -3
9. Maryland +1 9. Indiana
Note – we had a good ten minutes (a very long break for us) of stunned silence. Me shocked with Iowa’s standing and Kam laughing at where I put Penn State.
J – I don’t know where to start with that Iowa slotting. I think UNI is a really good team. They would probably beat Illinois, Purdue and have shots against Rutgers, Northwestern and Minnesota (as well as obviously Iowa). Since I don’t know where to start, I’ll say this, I have BOTH Indiana and Maryland bowling. What do you think of that knowledge bomb?. I feel like a moron this week.
K – Well I wasn’t so sure on Maryland at the start of the year, you made a case for them that I didn’t believe in, but they handled James Madison with ease, JMU isn’t horrible either. Maybe they are an ok team! Indiana should’ve beaten ISU by about 35 pts. Only 28 pts from the supposed prolific Indiana offense against a bottom barrel FCS team is sad.
J – Yeah, Indiana’s result is puzzling. I’m wondering if last year’s MO (dropping 70 on ISU followed by a loss) had Kevin Wilson just taking it easy. Don’t inflate their heads too much.
K – AS FOR IOWA, they looked awful. Rudock showed some promise throwing the ball around to a ton of different receivers but Iowa’s bread and butter in non-conference games is their ability to pound the ball on the ground, look at those yards per carry averages!! Weisman 3.4, Canzeri 3.1, Daniels 1.9 on 8 carries which included that 13yard TD run. I was very puzzled that they didnt dominate running the ball. They won by 8 pts, UNI has 16 penalties!! Kollmorgen threw for 380 yards!!! The LBs looked like they hadn’t even played HS ball!!!!!
J – Wear out that exclamation point key yet? Here’s how I breakdown Iowa:
- Defense was awful. The LBs were inexperienced and that seemed to make the line and secondary overcompensate. That unit needs to step up in a hurry.
- Greg Davis continues to be the shittiest coordinator in the league. I’d rather pull Gerry DiNardo from the Big Ten Network desk
- I’m still hopeful…..what?!?!
Let me elaborate…UNI is a good team. Tons of returning offensive talent. A legit factor. Maybe they won’t dethrowne NDSU but they won’t be an easy out. UNI had all season to prepare for what iowa “throws” at them (refer to point 2) and finally, this is one of UNI’s biggest games – I wouldn’t say super bowl since if they were to win the FCS title, an opening day loss to Iowa is a mere footnote, but it is a big one for them. From Iowa’s perspective they needed to survive and advance. I’m not saying this will be a repeat season but 2009, Iowa shouldn’t have beaten UNI – that was all luck, no skill – and we know how that season turned out.
K – Bullet points, really? Send me a power point next time. Your “time” argument is garbage. Iowa had just as much time. They know UNI can scare them, I just don’t get how the Iowa staples weren’t ready. I think Iowa barely holding on to an FCS team like they did, 8 seems like a good spot for now. Also David Johnson Walter Payton award winner 2014, DO IT!!!
J – Full disclosure (i.e. Disney owns ESPN) – you went to UNI. What is the end result of their year? I’m assuming they make the tourney…should I pencil them into the final four?
K – No, not for the final four, I think they win a playoff berth, NDSU at home helps. Johnson and Kollmorgen and Lemaster have a bad history of injuries. If they stay healthy, 9-10 wins and a at-large berth.
J – NDSU repeating? Also, what the hell Iowa State? up 14-0 and losing 34-14? I know NDSU is good and ISU had a crucial injury but that was bad-bad. Real bad.
K – This year is in question for NDSU, new head coach, new QB, we will see. EWU is going to be good.
J – It helps when your field is painted blood red. I think Kinnick should paint their field black. Full-on stealth mode. Alabama could do a hounds-tooth field. Well now that we scared off any readers with an in-depth FCS look, bringing up a god-awful Big 12 team and talking paint jobs on fields let’s return to our basement.
10. Minnesota +1 10. Minnesota +1
11. Rutgers +3 11. Rutgers +3
12. Northwestern -3 12. Northwestern -4
J – The team of this trio that I think has the highest ceiling might be Rutgers now. That was a great game out in Seattle.
K – I agree, Northwestern was a ugly loss at home, wasn’t expecting that but a nice win from newcomer Rutgers.
13. Illinois -1 13. Purdue +1
14. Purdue -1 14. Illinois -2
J – I’m not sure which is worse. Purdue giving up 34 points to a dreadful Western Michigan team or Illinois struggling with Youngstown State. YSU gets bonus points for the butt-punt.
K – I like Purdue putting up 43 against a MAC team just a bit more than Illinois having to fight off a FCS opponent.
J – We like to joke around a lot so this is a serious question. Why is Illinois so bad more often than not? Chicago metro produces plenty of talent. The state borders Missouri and Kentucky which produce some faces. It seems like based on recruiting alone, they should be better than Iowa most years and maybe even Michigan State (since MSU has to battle Michigan for so many kids) or Wisconsin / Nebraska which don’t have as many recruiting advantages on paper. I know their coaching hires have left a lot to be desired but is it really that simple? What am I missing?
K – Yeah it is that simple, because when you bring in bad coaches, you bring in bad or inexperienced coordinators and assistants more often that not.
J – So let’s say Illinois somehow gets Pat Narduzzi or one of Clemson’s million dollar assistants…big stretch, but you get the idea…is this job a sleeping giant if they ever get their act together?
K – I don’t see it. I think Nebraska joining the big ten makes that harder too. Until Ferentz retires, Wisconsin falls off, just a lot to ask for right now. Gotta take it one team at a time, got to be better than northwestern and minnesota consistently first, they arent a school built for a quick turnaround in my opinion.
J – Red Grange ain’t walking through that door.
K – Haha so true. Catch you after week 2.
J – Sounds good.
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