Big Ten Football Power Rankings: Week 7
Big Ten regular season football in December is a rarity. In fact, Saturday's Ohio State vs. Michigan State game is the first OSU regular season football game in December in nearly 130 years.
The Buckeyes are scrapping and clawing their way to what will hopefully be a Big Ten title, but they need to either play each of the first two Saturdays this month or they need some help from the league's athletic directors.
Just about every team in the league has been impacted by CoVID one way or another so far this year, although undoubtedly some have had it worse than others. Two games have been cancelled this weekend: Northwestern vs. Minnesota and Michigan vs. Maryland. Oddly enough, even by not playing this weekend, the Wildcats have clinched a spot in the Big Ten title game. And with Maryland not playing on Saturday, only Ohio State and Indiana could still win the East Division.
Here are our power rankings heading into this weekend's games, in reverse chronological order. Our rankings are based on what we see when watching these teams play each week:
Big Ten Power Rankings
14) Michigan (2-4)
Michigan lost again last week, this time handing Penn State its first win of the season. They needed triple overtime to survive Rutgers and frankly should have lost, they lost to a sub-par Michigan State team at home and suffered embarrassing losses to good Indiana and Wisconsin teams ... and now CoVID has the team pausing this week, with next week's game reportedly not looking good in Columbus.
Every time you think it can't get worse this year for the Wolverines, it does. The calls for Coach Harbaugh's job have gotten louder and louder in recent weeks. What happened to the team that looked so good Week 1 at Minnesota? They look absolutely lost right now.
13) Nebraska (1-4)
I realize Michigan has one additional win than the Cornhuskers, but I truly believe Nebraska would beat Michigan if they played each other this week. That's why I have them ranked this way.
This has been the season from hell for Nebraska. They were at the forefront of the Big Ten's fight to return to action and from the moment the revamped schedule came out, it's been major blow after major blow. They got smoked by Ohio State in the opener, couldn't play Wisconsin Week 2 because of CoVID in Madison AND they were denied the chance to schedule a non-conference game. Then they lost to Northwestern before finally registering a win over Penn State. But the Huskers followed that with a loss to Illinois at home for the first time in 96 years and then lost for the sixth consecutive year to rival Iowa.
"I don't think our record is indicative of where we are and the improvements we've made," Nebraska coach Scott Frost said after the Iowa game. "Sooner or later we need to be buttoned up and detailed enough to make sure these close games go our way."
That may be true, but it's been a brutal year in Lincoln.
12) Penn State (1-5)
Penn State finally got in the win column against Michigan up at the Big House last weekend. The Nittany Lions have probably had the most disappointing season of any team in the conference, and perhaps in the country. A preseason Top 10 team expected to contend for a title, this year has been brutal for James Franklin's team. But with Rutgers and Michigan State left on the schedule, they have a chance to salvage the season.
11) Rutgers (2-4)
Rutgers continues to show signs of life. They are competitive almost every week and that's not something that's been said about the Scarlet Knights in many years. The won their second road game of the season last week at Purdue after not winning on the road in Big Ten play since 2017 prior to this campaign.
Greg Schiano's team is moving in the right direction. Michigan gift-wrapped a game two weeks ago that the Knights just couldn't finish it off and they essentially lost at the gun against Illinois. The only two games they didn't play well enough were against the two best teams in the league. They're not far away from being solid.
10) Michigan State (2-3)
This Michigan State team seems to be a Jekyll and Hyde kind of team. Their wins over Michigan on the road and an unbeaten Northwestern team that was riding some serious momentum were both solid victories. But they've gotten very inconsistent quarterback play and losing to Rutgers in Week 1 couldn't have been a worse start for the Mel Tucker era. They were also blown out by Iowa and Indiana. Which team is going to show up Saturday against the No. 4 Buckeyes?
9) Purdue (2-3)
The Boilermakers started the year without their best player and their head coach, but won consecutive games. Since then, a CoVID-cancellation and three straight competitive losses.
They also found out this week that quarterback Aidan O'Connell who started the team's first three games, will miss the remainder of the season with a foot injury that will require surgery.
Jack Plummer has started their last two games (both losses) and is expected to start this week against Nebraska. Making matters worse, Jeff Brohm said this week Purdue is dealing with several players who are opting out for the rest of the season.
"It's all personal reasons and there's always a little of this and a little of that to it, so I don't want to get into the specifics," Brohm said. "But yeah, we've had multiple people."
Not a good time to be a Boilermaker fan. I give them credit for the way they've competed during so much turbulence.
8) Illinois (2-3)
The Fighting Illini have been sitting on that great road win at Nebraska now for two weeks after their game with Ohio State evaporated less than 24 hours prior to kickoff. But if you take the 10,000 foot view of the season, things still haven't gone well for Lovie Smith. CoVID has wrecked their locker room this year and they've started four quarterbacks in the last five games. This week they are a 2-touchdown underdog against Iowa, who is arguably the hottest team in the Big Ten West.
7) Minnesota (2-3)
The Gophers have been hard to get a read on lately because they haven't played in a couple weeks. After starting the season with a bad loss that looks worse as the season progresses, they dropped a controversial game against Maryland, pounded Illinois, got pushed around by Iowa and snuck past Purdue on a blown call.
Game Preview: No. 4 Ohio State at Michigan State
Their games against Wisconsin and Northwestern have now been cancelled on back-to-back weeks - the first of which was because of the Badgers' CoVID problems and this week because of their own. Hopefully they can get healthy enough to play next weekend against Nebraska.
6) Maryland (2-2)
The Terrapins have arguably been more impacted by the virus than any team in the conference. They had to cancel back-to-back games against Ohio State and Michigan State before Michigan cancelled on them this week. They've played once game the last four weeks - a 27-11 loss to Indiana.
But despite playing just four games, the Terps look noticeably better this year. They were badly out of sync with a new QB in Week 1, but their three games since then have been better. It has to be next to impossible for those guys to feel like they're in any kind of rhythm right now though.
5) Wisconsin (2-1)
What a disappointing season this has been for the Badgers, who have only played three games the first six weeks. Their opening-night win over Illinois looked so impressive, especially from back-up quarterback Graham Mertz. But a win over a terrible Michigan team and a frustrating loss to a good Northwestern team hasn't helped their resume. They've gotten some national praise and they're still ranked No. 16 in the country, but their dreams of a Big Ten title are officially gone.
4) Iowa (4-2)
Iowa's brutal start to the season had Hawkeye fans in a bad place mentally. After an offseason filled with program turmoil, they opened with two really tough losses in games they felt they should have won. Give credit where it's due - four straight wins since then and the season isn't lost after all. While they can't win the Big Ten West anymore, the Hawkeyes have had remarkable good fortune to play every Saturday and they've gotten better each week.
Only four teams in the league have played every Saturday (Indiana, Rutgers and Penn State are the other three). I expect the Hawkeyes to beat Illinois on Saturday and before a huge game with Wisconsin next week.
3) Northwestern (5-1)
Give the Wildcats credit for the great season they've had to date. Strangely enough, they won the Big Ten West Division title this weekend by never taking the field. They will be in Indianapolis in two weeks playing for a league championship.
But since a 5-0 start, the Wildcats have taken it on the chin the last few days. An inexplicable offensive performance against Michigan State cost them a legitimate chance at a College Football Playoff spot and now they will sit and watch other teams play this weekend instead of try to get back on track against Minnesota. Still a year for them to be proud of after such a head-scratching 2019.
2) Indiana (5-1)
Perhaps no team got worse news this week than Indiana when Tom Allen announced that starting quarterback Michael Penix Jr. suffered a torn ACL and would miss the rest of the season. Outside of a very competitive loss at Ohio State, the Hoosiers have rolled to four after an OT win in Happy Valley to start the season. There is still a chance they'll play in the Big Ten title game, but they need a miracle. Perhaps more likely on the line is a New Years Day bowl game, which could be a huge boost for a program already on the rise.
1) Ohio State (4-0)
After dealing with a significant CoVID scare this past week, the Buckeyes are dancing along the edge of a cliff while flying a kite during a thunderstorm.
How's that for an analogy?
The Buckeyes are expected to win in East Lansing and to do so convincingly on Saturday, but the team still hasn't released its game day status report - so we don't even know who is available to play and how badly CoVID really infiltrated the locker room.
The OSU offense looks national championship-caliber, the defense has had moments of brilliance and others of frustration. But this team is so clearly the best in the league from top-to-bottom ... and yet they are dangerously close to not playing enough games to qualify for Indianapolis.
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