Big Ten Football Power Poll: Week Eight

Week Eight in the Big Ten basically muddied anything we thought we knew. Parity is in full effect in the conference, and what team might look like a world beater one week, can look flat footed and like a middle of the pack team. Even the great teams or at least who we think are great now need to see if they can overcome injuries to remain great. Somehow we rank the teams here, but it’s a vague guideline. When Minnesota can go from getting destroyed at Purdue to defeating Iowa, when Indiana can be one toe away from upsetting Ohio State and then needing to get lucky to defeat Michigan the following week or when USC can walk into Madison and look awful…ok well that one wasn’t so hard to predict. So take Teams 2-14 as a general group, because on any given Saturday I think any one could win against another. We’ve seen it happen plenty allready and we still have five weeks more to go.

#1 Ohio State Buckeyes 6-1 (1)

BYE

Ohio State got one extra week to try and figure out what they are going to do at quarterback starting this Saturday with Julien Sayin likely out for at least the rest of the regular season if not longer. Will it be true freshman Luke Fahey who looked lost at the end of their game against Indiana two wees ago or will it be sophomore Tavien St. Clair? Luckily for OSU they get one of the more porous defenses in the country t kick off the post Sayin block heading to USC for a Saturday night primetime tilt. And Jeremiah Smith can erase many sins of the quarterback. But Vegas is wary putting OSU as just a 6.5 point favorite in LA to a team that just got boatraced by Wisconsin.

#2 Indiana Hoosiers 7-1 (2)

Win 13-6 (OT) @ Michigan

A week after nearly knocking off the Buckeyes Indiana goes to Ann Arbor and forgets how to play offense. Josh Hoover definitely appears hurt and Indiana is hoping they can just get past Minnesota this week and get to their bye. If Minnesota can play defense like they did last week, this game could be interesting. If Indiana is clicking on all cylinders, it could get ugly fast. Vegas thinks the latter is more likely as Indiana is a 20.5 point favorite, which is a huge number.

#3 UCLA Bruins 7-0 (3)

Win 28-10 vs Michigan State

The Bruins remain undefeated with an ugly 28-10 win over the Spartans. The UCLA running game won this one going for 245 yards on a whopping 48 carries. Ty Diffenbach got banged up and was not really effective, but when you can run like that you don’t need to be. The Bruins get the random mid-season non-conference finisher this week as they host Nevada as 22.5 point favorites. They almost assuredly will head to Minneapolis the following week at 8-0 and potentially a top-5 team in the nation.

#4 Northwestern Wildcats 7-1 (7)

Win vs Rutgers 42-14

Northwestern…yes THAT Northwestern jumps up to the #4 slot after the three teams ahead of them all lost last week. The Wildcats offense under Chip Kelly has been insanely productive. Aiden Chiles looks like a completely new player from what he was at Michigan State and the Wildcats are productive in the running game as well. But now the gauntlet starts. The season has been great thus far, but the Wildcats need to finish at Oregon, vs Iowa, @ Ohio State, @ Minnesota and vs Illinois. Not a complete murders row, but if Northwestern can go 4-1 or 5-0, a CFP berth is completely there for the taking. It starts in Eugene this weekend against a team in disarray, but yet Vegas still thinks they are better putting the Ducks as 3.5 point favorites.

#5 USC Trojans 6-2 (4)

Lose 24-7 @ Wisconsin

Not a good loss for USC as they go into Madison and their potent offense gets completely shut down by the Badgers. We allready know the USC defense is bad, and it only gave up 200 total yards to the bad Wisconsin offense. So what happened? Well a -17 rushing yard total for the Trojans once sacks are factored in sure doesn’t help. Add in a pair of Jayden Maiava interceptions and a pair of missed field goals, and there’s your point difference. USC now hosts Ohio State this weekend, which they get a break in the Buckeyes having a backup QB, but if their backup is any good, that defense will get shredded. OSU favored by 7.

#6 Iowa Hawkeyes 5-2 (5)

Lose 13-10 @ Minnesota

Minnesota out Iowaed Iowa. A pathetic offensive performance from the Hawkeyes ad both quarterbacks stuck it up with the exception of one drive late in the 4th quarter. Tons of turnovers and even though the Gophers could not cash in, they kept the Hawkeyes off the board and that was enough. Iowa needs to figure out how to do something—anything on offense this week when Wisconsin come to down. The Badgers defense is scary good and with Iowa’s best running back now out for the season, its going to need to be one one of the quarterback’s shoulders. Iowa is favored by 3.5 with a classic Big Ten West over/under of 36.5 points. Welcome back slugfest Iowa!

#7 Wisconsin Badgers 5-2 (10)

Win 24-7 vs USC

A dominant performance from the Badger defense shutting down USC. The offense wasn’t great, but they did enough on their three scoring drives to overwhelm the several other drives that went nowhere. Don’t look now but the Badgers are one win from a bowl, and if their defense plays like it did last week that could easily come in Iowa City this week. Hawkeyes are favored by 3.5, but it might be the first to 14 wins.

#8 Minnesota Golden Gophers 5-2 (11)

Win 13-10 vs Iowa

Floyd comes home as PJ Fleck finally out Iowas Iowa at home. Minnesota is at 5-2 but will likely be underdogs in their final five games which include three tough road trips and home games against what cold be a top 5 and top 15 team when they face them. This week it’s a trip to the defensing CFP Champs. Indiana is beat up and tired having not yet had a bye week, but Vegas doesn’t think that matters putting the Gophers as 20.5 point underdogs. Can Minnesota shock the world, or will what happened the last time they were in the state of Indiana repeat itself?

#9 Nebraska Cornhuskers 5-2 (8)

BYE

Nebraska gets a bye and drops one slot with all of the volatility in the conference around them. With a tough matchup for the Gophers, and Iowa and Wisconsin slugging it out its a great weekend for the Huskers to try and show their Quadrangle of Hate superiority and leap frog the others next week. But to do that they need to knock off a Washington team that may have figured some things out? Nebraska is a 7 point favorite and its a night game in Lincoln, so all bets are off.

#10 Michigan Wolverines (4-3) (9)

Loss 13-7 @ Indiana

Well the defense is good. The offense…less so. The chance was there for Michigan to pick up a huge win, but after shutting down Indiana for 60 minutes of offense the OT was a much different story. So the Wolverines fall to 4-3 and just 1-3 in Big Ten play. They do get a get right game this week heading to Rutgers which should help though.

#11 Oregon Ducks 4-3 (7)

Lose 21-10 @ Ilinois

Not a great showing from Orego as this season has been an unmitigated disaster for the Ducks. Defense has been mad, Dylan Raiola has been bad, and now we have the announcement from Dan Lanning this week that Dante Moore is likely out for the rest of the season. Right now Oregon just needs to find two more wins to get to a bowl and then pack it in and start over next year. They host Northwestern as surprising 3.5 point favorites in the Chip Kelly revenge bowl. I’m shocked by that number, but Vegas things they know something.

#12 Illinois Fighting Illini 4-3 (14)

Win 21-10 vs Oregon

Illinois pulled that out of nowhere knocking off the Ducks in a battle of backup QBs. Michael Clayton was decent but the Illini getting a 12 carries for 123 yards and a TD performance from Aiden Laugherty was the big help. Thats and two more fumbles from Dylan Raiola. The Illini head to Maryland this week looking to avoid the let down and get within a game of bowl eligibility. Its probably a must win for that as the November schedule gets significantly tougher.

#13 Washington Huskies 4-3 (12)

BYE

Washington comes off of their bye trying to figure out who their starting qb will be for the rest of the season. Will it be Desmond Williams, or will they return to Elijah Brown who got them a nice win at Purdue prior to the bye. Jedd Fisch isn’t saying, so we will need to wait to see who plays for the Huskies Saturday when they head to Lincoln for a huge game. Nebraska are 7.5 point favorites at home, but if Washington can put things together, a win is not too far fetched.

#14 Purdue Boilermakers 3-4 (12)

BYE

Purdue drops a spot on their bye week after Illinois gets a nice win. The Boilers need to win three more games to reach bowl eligibility, which with Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin left on the schedule means this game at Penn State is massive. Vegas likes the Nittany Lions to finally get a conference win at 7.5 point favorites. Can the Boilers find the Minnesota offense again?

#15 Rutgers Scarlet Knights 2-5 (15)

Loss 42-14 @ Northwestern

So begins the group of the obvious bottom four of the Big Ten. Teams 2-14 could all defeat one another on any given day, but these four are pretty much just beating up on each other. After Northwestern spanked the Scarlet Knights they return to host Michigan this week in what could be one of the final home games of the second Greg Schiano era. Wolverines are favored by two TDs.

#16 Michigan State Spartans 2-6 (16)

Loss 28-10 @ UCLA

Michigan State was down to QB’s #3 and #4 against the Bruins and predictably it did not go well. The Spartans get their bye this week to try and regroup t see if they can knock off big brother next weekend.

#17 Penn State Nittany Lions 3-4 (17)

BYE

Did Penn State figure out anything on their bye week? Matt Campbell is still looking for his first Big Ten win and will have a chance in hosting a bipolar Purdue team that killed Minnesota but then got killed by Washington. Make it make sense? Penn State are 7.5 point favorites at home. Which, I don’t really get, but sure.

#18 Maryland Terrapins 2-5 (18)

BYE

Well, Maryland finally did it. They fired Mike Locksley on their bye week. It had to happen with how bad things had been for the Terps. Can they use the new coach bounce when they host an Illinois team coming in off of a huge win over Oregon this Saturday? Maryland is just a 2.5 point underdog, so anything is possible.