Hail Ohio State, new undisputed kings of the Big Ten. The Buckeyes have the inside track to the Big Ten championship and aren’t entirely eliminated from the College Football Playoff (although it’s going to require some very specific sequences of events to get them in). Now, we move onto the game that will likely decide the West.
1. No. 8 Ohio State (10 first place votes), 140 points
Last week’s offensive domination of Michigan State should leave no doubts: Ohio State is the best team in the conference. What’s even more scary is how young they are. J.T. Barrett is a freshman and is pretty much the best quarterback in the conference, every major skill player outside of Devin Smith is an underclassman and Joey Freaking Bosa is only a sophomore. Urban Meyer is ridiculous.
2. No. 12 Michigan State, 128 points
Even though they lost convincingly on their home turf, there’s good reason to believe the Spartans are still second best in the conference. The offense is still explosive (536 yards against Ohio State while holding Bosa to just 1 tackle) and if anyone can be trusted to shore up the defense heading into bowl season, it’s Pat Narduzzi. Enjoy the Capital One Bowl Michigan State fans, it probably won’t go as badly as 2011’s. Then again, the way the SEC West is looking, at least one very good, very angry SEC team is falling into Orlando New Years Day.
3. No. 11 Nebraska, 117 points
The Blackshirts might be one of the more underrated defenses in the conference at this point, led by a likely first round draft pick in Randy Gregory. The big worry is if the offense can remain anywhere near as explosive with Ameer Abdullah at less than 100 percent, because a new, more competent Tommy Armstrong isn’t walking through that door.
4. No. 22 Wisconsin, 115 points
Take away noted fast person Akeem Hunt’s 79-yard touchdown catch that came thanks to a linebacker covering him, and Purdue gained 159 yards against the Badgers last week. This success on defense might seem a little bizarre at first, but guys like Michael Caputo and Vince Biegel do give Wisconsin the explanatory star power.
5. Minnesota, 100 points
Okay Minnesota, we get it. You’re at worst the third best team in the West. You didn’t have to make Kirk Ferentz cry to prove that. The Gophers held Iowa to 205 total yards, a feat I’m going to go ahead and guess they won’t accomplish again this week against Ohio State. Still, that should be the second most important/entertaining game of the week in the Big Ten.
6. Maryland, 87 points
Here we have this week’s possible victims of a “We’re angry and going to take it out on the first mediocre team we see” Michigan State. The Terrapins haven’t broken 200 yards on offense since Oct. 18, and will be non-factor in the Big Ten until they relearn how to run the ball (77 total rushing yards in their last two games, averaging 1.3 yards per rush).
7. Iowa, 83 points
Goodbye, Iowa as a possible contender in the West. We were willing to overlook the Maryland loss as a single blip, but getting outclassed to such a severe degree by Minnesota means the Hawkeyes are going to be seen as staggering underdogs when they welcome Wisconsin and Nebraska to Kinnick Stadium.
8. Penn State, 63 points
By scoring, the Nittany Lions have the second best defense and the second worst offense in the Big Ten, averaging out to mediocre. It’s quite curious how they could be so defense heavy, considering current head coach James Franklin and previous coach Bill O’Brien both come from offensive backgrounds.
T-9. Rutgers, 52 points
Three weeks ago, the Scarlet Knights were looking solid and poised to compete with at least one of Ohio State, Nebraska and Wisconsin. They were then outscored by those three teams 135-41. They’ll get a respite this week against Indiana, but then it’s on to Michigan State.
T-9. Michigan, 52 points
Michigan’s win from last week came from Northwestern deciding to go for two when down 10-9, running the most telegraphed rollout to the right you’ll ever see, then having their quarterback, no joke, fall on his rear end. That could go down as the least impressive win of the season in the Big Ten.
11. Northwestern, 47 points
I’m willing to guess if it weren’t for a certain Badger offensive fiasco in Evanston, Northwestern would be unanimous last in the conference. They’ve gone from beating Mississippi State in the year 2013 and Pat Fitzgerald being one of those young, charismatic coaches every failing power program wants to, well, their quarterback ending a toxic game by falling on his caboose.
12. Purdue, 29 points
I’ll say this much for Purdue last week against Wisconsin, they were competitive. The challenging part of their schedule is now completely over. Their final three weeks go bye, Northwestern, Indiana. If you watch Purdue football again this season and aren’t an alum, God help you.
13. Illinois, 24 points
The real tragedy of the Illini somehow beating Minnesota is that without that victory, the Illini would have as many different starting quarterbacks as wins this season.
14. Indiana, 13 points
Take Wisconsin, make the rushing offense slightly worse, replace Dave Aranda with Lloyd Christmas and you pretty much have the 2014 Hoosiers. At least Indiana fans have their totally not suspended basketball team to look forward to.
