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. Ohio State 2. Ohio State
3. Nebraska 3. Nebraska
J – Here’s a big shocker, with MSU winning and Ohio State/Nebraska idle my top three is unchanged. Hats off to Purdue for making that thing look closer than it was but the Spartans had a sizable lead the majority of the time. Got close before half with a late TD and then close again with that incredible rally but I was pretty confident even when Purdue got the ball back late. Good teams have goofy games. Remember during OSU’s title run in the olden days of (god 12 years ago) they had the head-scratcher against Illinois? It happens.
K – Same here on my end. MSU OSU Nebraska stay 1 2 3 due to wins and idleness. Again, I think we see a top 3 separation until someone here losses.
J – Let’s get to the fun stuff then…
4. Minnesota +4 4. Iowa +2
5. Rutgers 5. Rutgers
6. Iowa +3 6. Minnesota +3
J – Nearly identical. Obviously we have the Hawks and Gophers making big leaps and Rutgers was idle but now gets a mammoth task in Ohio State…I want to ask you about that match-up but wanted to get your thoughts on the Gopher game. I loved that game. It was like a heavyweight bout with body blow after body blow played to a stalemate with the deciding scoring being the wild-card that is special teams. I would have felt bad to see anyone lose but since I despise NU and UM I was fine with one of them dropping the game.
K – Clearly Jerry Kill has established himself as one of the top coaches in the big ten. This guy does a lot more with less. The fact that this game was won on special teams was a reflection on the coach. Coaching fundamentals and inserting the right personnel on the field got that win.
J – Okay let’s go to the huge date Rutgers has. We’ve seen big time offenses (Cinci, Maryland) fail to do much against Ohio State but the best defensive team they faced – Va Tech – stunned them. Any hope for the upset with Kyle Flood’s squad? I like Rutgers but struggling to see them getting it done, especially with the history of turnovers Gary Nova has – even with him coming off the game of his life against Michigan.
K – Agreed, tough to see. Virginia Tech got to take advantage of a shaky J.T. Barrett but he has been lights out. Bucks are also coming off a bye and when you have a top team being able to rest – combined with the game being in the Shoe – I wouldn’t put my money on Rutgers. Rutgers being on the bye might help them play a cleaner game of football but I think skill is gonna win out here and win by double digits. It could even be a Maryland-sized beat-down.
7. Northwestern -3 7. Maryland +3
8. Maryland +2 8. Northwestern -4
9. Wisconsin -2 9. Wisconsin -2
J – I’m still really impressed with NU taking down PSU, UW and then nearly beating a team that we both think very highly of on the road. Maryland was idle and looked bad the last time out, but OSU does that to everyone. That brings me to the most interesting storyline in this group: the god awful QB situation in Wisconsin. Looking at their schedule, I’m a tad worried about making a bowl. Should happen, but I can see the losses mounting. A testament to 10-14 that I can say that about Wisconsin and still have them 9th.
K – I think heads up, Maryland is better than Northwestern. The offense is just good enough to outscore the Wildcats. Northwestern….You know I’ve never heard of a quality loss against Minnesota…STILL HAVEN’T.
J – In 1940 UM would have been a quality loss.
K – As for your rage about Wisconsin’s qb situation…Kind of a shame. Really could have made a jump with Maryland idle and Northwestern losing but falling behind Illinois early and just managing to get by despite Melvin Gordon…just not impressive enough.
J – So I think Wisconsin can squeeze at least two more wins from having a good defense and the rushing game but their remaining schedule is Maryland, at Rutgers, at Purdue, Nebraska, at Iowa, Minnesota. All but Purdue are teams you and I have ranked above the Badgers.
K – Yeah but we have seen rankings get flipped upside down. See: Northwestern.
J – Still not an ideal place to be mid October.
10. Michigan +2 10. Michigan +3
11. Indiana 11. Penn State -3
12. Penn State -6 12. Indiana -1
J – I’m all out on Penn State. That is when you are playing poker, pick up your chips and peace out. ZERO line and ZERO running game. Not a recipe for success.
K – Not that a win against PSU is going to put out the fires in Ann Arbor, but a win is a win. For PSU the inconsistent play that I thought might catch up to PSU has, they still need to grow and develop, they will be good in time. Indiana might be foreshadowing an even bigger drop in the rankings with Sudfield out but man, that defense is just the same old trash heap we’ve always seen.
J – I don’t see how Indiana has any prayer of a bowl without Sudfeld. It could be a card Kevin Wilson might play though. His squad was 3-2, with that Missouri win and going toe to toe with Iowa before Sudfeld went out. I think Wilson is a good offensive mind, but he isn’t the OC. I saw a lot of coaching gaffes against Iowa. That late fourth quarter punt was a joke. Talk about quitting. Then not using any timeouts after the punt was equally egregious.
13. Purdue 13. Purdue -1
14. Illinois 14. Illinois
K – Both Boilermakers and Illini had hard fought losses but still, these teams (specifically the defenses) are clearly bottom barrel.
J – That was nice of you to build them up before crushing them.
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