Here’s a quick explanation of our voting methodology: We had 10 voters on our staff rank the conference 1-14 and awarded points in an inverted structure (first place gets 14 points, etc.) Without further adieu, here’s how that shook out.
1. No. 10 Michigan State (10 first place votes)—140 points
Congratulations to Michigan State on an unprecedented unanimous first place finish. The fact that this is our first poll might diminish the fact it was unprecedented.
It doesn’t matter how many players they lose on defense to the NFL Draft, defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi is one of those coaches who will simply not allow his unit to be sub-par.
2. No. 17 Wisconsin—125 points
Call it some home-cooking, but Wisconsin edges out Nebraska for the No. 2 spot by a very narrow margin. The Badgers don’t play a top five team in these rankings until their Nov. 15 home date against Nebraska, and also get the bottom two ranked teams of Illinois and Purdue in that span.
3. No. 19 Nebraska—123 points
Ameer Abdullah looked like a bona fide Heisman contender again last Saturday, rushing for 208 yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries. The Husker defense looked adequate against the Illini offense, but without Wes Lunt in for the Illini, that isn’t very impressive. Still, Nebraska has an offense at least on par with the Badgers, making that Nov. 15 date all the more important.
4. No. 20 Ohio State—113 points
They gave up 422 yards to Cincinnati, but Gunner Kiel’s presence in that Bearcats offense is a pretty nice excuse. If freshman quarterback J.T. Barrett can replicate his four-touchdown, 9.2 yards-per-attempt line from Saturday, this team’s ceiling could reach what it was pre-Braxton Miller injury.
5. Iowa—90 points
Sometimes, you get the feeling that three quarters of the Big Ten should be in the bottom half of these rankings. It’s… not a good conference. After Ohio State, there seems to be a massive drop-off until you reach a promising Iowa team that is still unfortunately run by Kirk Ferentz, a coach who elicits the excitement of a lukewarm bowl of porridge.
6. Maryland—89 points
Maryland opened its first ever season of Big Ten conference play by blowing out Indiana, who was coming off the biggest Big Ten win of the year at Missouri. Stefon Diggs and Deon Long could be the best receiver duo in the Big Ten, combining for 220 receiving yards against the Hoosiers.
7. Minnesota—80 points
The Gophers registered the biggest win that no one seems to give them credit for, a straw-that-broke-the-camels-back game for the credibility of Michigan’s brain trust. The Gophers, and especially running back David Cobb (183 rushing yards), deserve credit though. However, they might be the most run-dependent team in the Big Ten on offense, and that’s saying something.
8. Penn State—74 points
The Nittany Lions threw down 2.0 yards per carry against a very weak Northwestern defense, so unless Christian Hackenberg starts looking like a future No. 1 NFL Draft pick (which he most definitely did not last week), Penn State’s going to have some struggles; depth issues remain.
9. Rutgers—56 points
It seemed most of the Big Ten was expecting a train wreck from the Scarlet Knights, but they seem to be at least another mediocre Big Ten team. Quarterback Gary Nova is looking strong and the defense is 41st in FBS in points against, which is nothing to sneer at.
10. Indiana—51 points
One day you’re beating an SEC team that just took down South Carolina, another day you’re getting run off the field by Maryland. The Hoosiers seem paper thin on defense, which could lead to more performances where, and I’m quoting ESPN from last year’s Wisconsin game here, “[They get] hit in the face with a shovel.”
11. Northwestern—42 points
It seems a little unfair that Northwestern is three spots below a Penn State team they thoroughly beat on the road last week, but when you consider where the Wildcats were a few weeks ago, it’s going to take quite a few more wins before we think they’re anywhere near competitive in the conference.
12. Michigan—33 points
One of our voters had Michigan No. 7, so he must be really confident in whomever the Wolverines’ interim coach is going to be.
Michigan is bad and they should feel bad. Shane Morris playing even one snap after a possible head injury is a disgrace that transcends being awful at football, it’s being awful at a human level.
13. Illinois—24 points
Illinois is bad and boring, so here’s a list of NFL players that J.J. Watt has more touchdowns than: Andre Johnson, LeSean McCoy, Arian Foster, Matt Forte, Calvin Johnson, Victor Cruz, Montee Ball, A.J. Green, Eddie Lacy and Demariyus Thomas.
14. Purdue—11 points
Purdue was one last place vote away from shooting the moon. It’s going to take some pretty impressive performances for the spread of Purdue’s Nov. 8 game against the Badgers to below three touchdowns.
