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
2. Wisconsin 2. Wisconsin
3. Ohio State 3. Ohio State
J – My top 3 remains unchanged. I toyed with the idea of flipping Wisconsin and OSU since the Badgers have had some slow starts offensively (WIU and USF) but their lone lose is much more impressive than OSU’s. Splitting hairs, but these teams feel really even and the Huskers are just behind them. I want to see Nebraska’s defense against a good team before putting them in the top 3.
K – I didn’t change this either. MSU just looks like the dominate team in this conference. I can’t wait to watch them in conference play. UW, they just run over people. Would’ve liked to have seen them beat up on USF a little bit more, but I can’t argue with the win. The Buckeyes are surprising quiet. I think it could be because Michigan could be taking away some of the spotlight.
J – I think that OSU is a little off the national radar because Virginia Tech had zero momentum created from that win. OSU will get back on the radar if they blow out Penn State on the 25th. PSU has the name brand to get people talking again.
K – I think we are all just waiting for MSU OSU.
J – Oh, and having Michigan burst into flames also distracts people from a lot more than just OSU. Has anyone talked about Nebraska’s undefeated start? The only team still getting attention is MSU since they have been amazing outside a 2 quarter hiccup in Eugene. Speaking of the Huskers, I mentioned I have them 4th
4. Nebraska +1 4. Nebraska
5. Maryland +2 5. Maryland +1
6. Penn State -2 6. Rutgers +1
J – We know the Huskers and Maryland look good…let’s tackle the strangest game from Saturday, PSU’s loss. We knew the OL was a weakness and even tough they couldn’t run we sort of glossed over the weakness when they got to 4-0. So my question is…Is NU finally back to what we expected from them and it was just a bad day for PSU or did we sip the kool-aid too early and PSU is going to struggle in league play? They could be 0-2 in the league if Rutgers held on to the ball better.
K – When I watched them play Akron, I didn’t come away overly impressed like I did when I watched them play UCF. I think the inconsistency I saw within those games is clearly evident now. They are winning the close games, which is good, but there is nothing overpowering about them. As for the actual loss, crazy. Maybe Fitzgerald does have this team turned around JUST IN TIME for conference play. Initially I though Nebraska was kinda paired with PSU, a little gap back to top 3, but not anymore. Huskers have closed that gap. Ever since that McNeese State game, they have looked very good. How about Maryland? You had them pegged early and I jumped on the bandwagon a week later. Great win over Indiana who just seems so up and down, never know what you’re gonna get with that D.
J – Yeah, that had classic Indiana heartbreak written all over it before the game. Didn’t even get to heartbreak mode as it was never really in doubt since Maryland took it to ’em. Interesting you have Rutgers ahead of PSU. I kept the Knights behind the team they lost to head-to-head.
7. Rutgers -1 7. Iowa +1
8. Minnesota +2 8. Minnesota +2
9. Iowa 9. Penn State -4
J – My trio comes down to one position…quarterback. When Gary Nova holds onto the ball, they win. When Mitch Leidner is healthy and effective, Gophers can win. If Iowa can find someone to pass just enough to prevent 8 man boxes and let Jordan Canzeri and Mark Weisman have some real estate, Iowa can win. Rutgers in the East which means they won’t make it to Indy…but both Iowa and Minnesota’s hopes look better now than they did after their TCU and ISU losses. Stupid Big 12.
K – Minnesota showed me progress in the passing game and David Cobb is looking like an all-world back right now, even with defenses putting 8 or 9 in the box. Don’t forget, Leidner wasn’t all that good in the opening two games. I know the 1 for 7 showing wasn’t him but it wasn’t like he was Joe Montana to start the year. Iowa’s D is enough to get me to put them 7th. Purdue’s offense looked like they had a few things right and Iowa really put a stop to that giving up only 3 points on D…between the Gophers and the Hawks it’s like 7a and 8b.
J – I was glad to see Iowa starting out with pick-sixes again. That was the secret to the 2009 season. This is high praise since normally the two fan bases want nothing to do with being envious of the other but I wish Iowa had Maxx Williams. Kid’s a beast.
K – As for our ranking difference on PSU, I just think PSU needs to be punished for just a really bad loss.
J – Fair enough. Let’s look at the team they lost too in a rare solo focus spot since we each have NU 10th.
10. Northwestern +2 10. Northwestern +4
J – So i did a little Jaws this week and looked at the tape. The win gets them to .500 (2-2). Week 1 was against a vastly improved Cal team. Sloppy offense puts the d in a hole and they give up a million first half points. In the second they flipped the script and dominated the Bears. The hole was simply too big. If you could award half wins, they would get a half win there. Against WIU they held them to just 7 points and the game was never really in doubt. Sure 24-7 isn’t the sexiest score compared to MSU’s 70 point blowouts but WIU also gave Wisconsin some trouble. Perhaps the Leathernecks are just well coached and execute their stuff well enough to be pesky. Finally the PSU game, which they dominated both sides of the ball throughout. So we have 10 good quarters to six bad ones…and in this day and age with how they dominate the MAC, is there that much shame in a single score loss to Northern Illinois? I’m contemplating pulling a one-eighty and being a political flip-flopper, but when you breakdown Northwestern, they are really 2.5-1.5 which puts them over .500 in my insanity. Not saying Northwestern is now a contender in the west but I do think NU can beat Ill, Pur outright. Iowa, Minnesota and Michigan are doable. If they sweep all 5 they will be 7-5 at worse (the games I didn’t list are Wisconsin and Nebraska, both in Evanston). We were both pretty sour on ’em. Did this sway you at all?
K – No. I think they executed and caught PSU on one of their negative / inconsistent days. I think NU has the team that can maybe make it to six wins, but they still have a lot of work to do to get there. Also you aren’t awarded Ws for quarters silly.
J – If they did Iowa would be like 3-9
11. Indiana -3 11. Indiana -2
12. Illinois -1 12. Illinois
13. Michigan -7 13. Michigan -2
14. Purdue 14. Purdue -1
J – HA…wow, that’s funny. Guess the stinkers have sorted themselves out. So…riddle me this, if Kevin Wilson KNOWS his team cannot fall flat after a huge win, how come they did? KW said they need to sustain it and then oops, 15 points. Seems to me that is on the coach.
K – I think Maryland is that much better.
J – Three touchdowns better? I think it was a reflection on terrible coaching. KW just doesn’t take care of the little things week to week.
K – That D at Indiana isn’t any good. I think Maryland easily penciled in 30 before the game. Also in bad coaching, I’m convinced Hoke is gonna be done after this season.
J – I think all 4 of these guys are long shots to come back. KW has had more than enough time to turn things around. Beckman has a terrible record and fans wanted him gone to start this year. Hoke – goes without saying – the possible concussion to Morris and him still playing fueled the fire and Hazell can’t start 0-16 in the league (which they might if they don’t get better in a hurry). I go back to Kirk Ferentz’s first two years at Iowa – 1-10 followed by 3-9 – but the second year they went 3-5 in league and gave everyone hope. Hazell is the most likely to save his job since this is only year 2 for him, but 0-16 is not an option.
K – I would love to disagree and say one of these four will turn it around but they look like long shots. No point in beating a dead horse. See you next week.
Big Ten and Counting 