Big Ten Power Rankings per GopherHole's Noel Thompson

[NoelarBear]

Noel’s Big Ten Power Rankings
Every Monday, I’ll release my weekly Big Ten Power Rankings.
Every team in the Big Ten has now played at least one game. How do the teams stack up after heading into Week 2?



1. Michigan (1-0)
The reigning conference champs started their season with a victory over Colorado State, 51-7. Michigan quarterback Cade McNamara didn’t sound too happy after the game when asked about sharing quarterback duties with J.J. McCarthy. How will Harbaugh handle this for the rest of the season?
Next Up: Hawaii

2. Ohio State (1-0)
It was the Buckeyes defense that stole the show from the offense as Ohio State shut out No.5 Notre Dame over the final 42 minutes in a 21-10 victory. Without his top WR for most of the game, C.J. Stroud still threw for 223 yards and two touchdowns.
Next up: Arkansas State

3. Minnesota (1-0)
Minnesota out-grained New Mexico State on offense 485 to 91 in total yards. The Gophers defense was only on the field for less than 16 minutes as they shutout the Aggies. Mo Ibrahim looked great as he scored twice and ran for 132 yards.
Next Up: Western Illinois

4. Wisconsin (1-0)
Braelon Allen rushed for 148 yards, including a 96 yard touchdown, as the Badgers shut out Illinois State. The Badgers first score was a 100 yard interception return by John Torchio.
Next Up: Washington State

5. Penn State (1-0)
With 57 seconds left in the game, Sean Clifford hooked up with Keyvone Lee to lead Penn State over Purdue, 35-31. Battling cramps in the second half, Clifford led the Nittany Lions with 282 yards in the air and four touchdowns.
Next Up: Ohio


6. Michigan State (1-0)
The Spartans beat a good Western Michigan team 35-13. Wisconsin transfer Jalen Berger ran for 120 yards and a touchdown. Bad news for Michigan State is the loss of linebacker Darius Snow, who is out for the season with a leg injury.
Next Up: Akron


7. Purdue (0-1)
Quarterback Aidan O’Connell threw for 356 yards and a touchdown. His favorite target was Charlie Jones, who had 12 catches for 153 yards. The Boilermakers start their season with a conference loss to Penn State, 35 - 31.
Next Up: Indiana State



8.Maryland (1-0)
Remember the name of Roman Hemby. The Maryland running back had 114 yards and two touchdowns on just seven carries. Maryland starts the season off with a win over Buffalo, 31-10.
Next Up: @ Charlotte

9. Northwestern (1-0)
The Wildcats were off this past weekend but started the season well in week zero over Nebraska in Dublin, Ireland. Running back Evan Hull had himself a day, rushing for 119 yards along with five catches for 55 yards. Northwestern's offense puts up over 500 yards in an upset victory.
Next Up: Duke

10. Rutgers (1-0)
The Scarlet Knights scored the last ten points of the game to rally past Boston College, 22-21. It wasn’t the prettiest game for Rutgers as they had 10 penalties and were 4-14 on third down. Rutgers entered the game as nine-point underdogs.
Next Up: Wagner



11. Indiana (1-0)
Great start of the season for Tom Allen and the Hoosiers as they beat Illinois to start the season 1-0 in conference play. Connor Bazelak threw for 330 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Next Up: Idaho

12. Iowa (1-0)
The Hawkeye defense scored more points than the offense 4-3 as Iowa hung on to beat South Dakota State 7-3. Not the best day for Spencer Petras as he finished the day with a quarterback rating of 1.1. Iowa’s defense looked great but a lot to worry about in the offense.
Next Up: Iowa State

13. Illinois (1-1)
After dominating Wyoming 38-6 in week zero, Illinois couldn’t hold off Indiana as the Hoosiers scored with 23 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Keep an eye on running back Chase Brown, who is already averaging 150 yards on the ground.
Next Up: Virginia


14. Nebraska (1-1)
The Huskers offense may have finally found their running back in Anthony Grant, but they have yet to find a defense that can play consistently. Nebraska couldn’t stop Northwestern in week one and struggled against North Dakota this past week.
Next Up: Georgia Southern



**For the record, hard to really judge these teams after week one. Although Iowa and Nebraska's performance was pretty uninspiring.

 

[jonnyganas]

MN at #3? I must not be drinking as much Kool Aid as you.

 

[Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0]

MN at #3? I must not be drinking as much Kool Aid as you.

How they're not #1 baffles me personally!

 

[restovich]

Just want them to beat the Hawkeyes this year!

 

[Ron Johnson Super Fan]

Noel doesn’t register a reading on even the most sensitive dinkmeters.

 

[UpAndUnder43]

Noel Thompson is the man.

 

[Panthadad2]

A #3 ranking is very optimistic at this point, but I won't overly criticize the opinion. Honestly, once you get past #1-#2 Michigan/Ohio State, it's a crap shoot. Pick a name from a bucket that includes WI, MN, PSU, MSU and IA. We'll see in a few weeks.

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

I put mine down on "paper" earlier and they matchup pretty much the same.
TIER 1 – THE CREAM OF THE CROP
1. Michigan – To be the man you gotta beat the man. Wooooo.
2. Ohio State – Nothing wrong with beating the Irish at home. People criticizing OSU are stupid.

TIER 2 – VERY GOOD TEAMS THAT CAN DO SOME DAMAGE
3. Minnesota – Probably not this high but what the heck
4. Penn State – Didn’t see the game but a win at Purdue is pretty solid.
5. Wisconsin – They had 3 HUGE plays but other than that it was pretty pedestrian.
6. Michigan State – Good win against Western.
7. Purdue – Strong outing. Purdue is going to knock off some good teams this season.

TIER 3 – STRONG IN PLACES BUT NOT COMPLETE
8. Iowa – I’m probably being too harsh but considering the talk all offseason was how the offense would need to be addressed…not a good showing. Yes, SDSU is a decent FCS team but still not a good showing on offense.
9. Maryland – I have no idea how to rank this team. They can start in Tier 3 for now.

TIER 4 - STILL WORK TO DO
10. Northwestern – Yeah they beat Nebraska but the Huskers are just awful right now. Fitz needs a few more W’s to make me a believer. He’s capable though.
11. Rutgers – Rutgers isn’t the gimme they used to be.
12. Indiana – Nice win over Illinois. Especially considering Illinois already had a warm-up game to shake the rust off.
13. Illinois – I do think Illinois is going to be much improved….but they should have beaten Hoosier-Daddy. I think Bret is a year away yet from making noise.
14. Nebraska – It will be a long time before Gameday is back in Lincoln.

 

[Word]

A #3 ranking is very optimistic at this point, but I won't overly criticize the opinion. Honestly, once you get past #1-#2 Michigan/Ohio State, it's a crap shoot. Pick a name from a bucket that includes WI, MN, PSU, MSU and IA. We'll see in a few weeks.

If you're only going by week 1 results and not past performance, recruiting rankings, etc., it's probably a fair assessment. MN, MSU, WI all could be in the 3-5 range in that regard.

 

[NoelarBear]

Love all the responses!

Creating a power rankings after week one is tough Not all heroes wear capes.

I do think 3-5 are in the same boat and you could put whoever you want in that part of the list.

Watched the Wisconsin game, their defense struggled more than the box score shows. Two huge plays sunk the morale out of Illinois State.

Not sure what to think about Penn State, they go the way Clifford goes.

Michigan State looked alright, played a good team.

I was just really impressed with the Gophers defense. Granted NMSU is not a good team. You can tell that Fleck wanted to keep the offensive playcalling pretty vanillia, even so, they dominated.