Blog Ten Power Rankings – Week 9

Power Rankings may be completely pointless in most sports, but this is college football where they determine champions.  So every week on Blog Ten we’ll rank the teams in the Big Ten from best to worst.  Winner at the end of the season gets a high five.

As we reach November, a great division is now evident within the Big Ten.   There are four legit teams in the group, though only three of them have a chance to win the conference, and then there is everybody else.  Find out who is who after the jump.

1. Iowa 9-0, 5-0 (1) - The Hawkeyes are just insane.  That’s the only way I can describe what it’s been like to watch this team play all season.  One minute Ricky Stanzi is throwing interception after interception and you’re forced to face the reality that while they’re a good team, they’ve been getting away with an awful lot so far this year, and it’s finally catching up to them.  The next thing you know Iowa’s ripping off 92 yard and 66 yard touchdowns on consecutive plays to take a lead, and then they put up a few more scores to magically cover a 17.5 point spread and further destroy your record of picking games this season.  This Saturday they will flirt with death against Northwestern before going to Columbus for their date with Ohio State in two weeks.
2. Penn State 8-1, 4-1 (2) - The Nittany Lions were having trouble with the Northwestern Wildcats all afternoon this past weekend, but were finally able to pull away with some big plays in the fourth quarter.  The offense does seem to keep getting a little better every week as Evan Royster is finding lanes to run through and Derek Moye is emerging as a big time threat for Daryll Clark, but they get a huge test this week when the Buckeyes come to town.  If they win that game they should be going to a BCS bowl and will still be alive in the conference race.  If not, their chances of both shrink dramatically.
3. Ohio State 7-2, 4-1 (3) – Well you can’t really take anything the Buckeyes did to New Mexico State all that seriously, but it was a nice scrimmage for the team heading into the Penn State game.  The Buckeyes have looked their best the last two weeks which is a good sign, but I do wonder if Aaron Pettrey’s season ending injury could end up costing them a game against either Penn State or Iowa.
4. Wisconsin 6-2, 3-2 (4) - The Badgers looked very impressive coming off of their bye week and shutting out the upstart Purdue Boilermakers 37-0 on Saturday in Madison, and John Clay wasn’t showing any side effects of having to wear a boot on his foot.  It was the Badgers first shutout of a conference opponent in ten years.  They do play three of their final four games on the road, starting with a trip to Indiana this week, so they could still slip up at some point.
5. Minnesota 5-4, 3-3 (9) – The Gophers jump four spots thanks to their win over Michigan State, but make no mistake about it.  They may be #5 now, but the gap between #5 and #9 in these rankings is a lot closer than the one between #4 and #5.  Still, you had to be impressed with Adam Weber and the offense’s performance without Eric Decker, and with home games against South Dakota State and Illinois up next they should get to seven wins rather easily.
6. Northwestern 5-4, 2-3 (6) - The Wildcats don’t drop after their loss to Penn State this week.  They actually played pretty well for most of the game, but the loss of Mike Kafka was too much to overcome, as was Penn State’s talent on the offensive side of the ball.  Still, with a trip to Iowa this weekend and then a game in Madison to finish the regular season — with a home game against Illinois sandwiched in between –6-6 may be all they can hope for in Evanston.
7. Michigan State 4-5, 3-3 (5) - The Spartans haven’t gotten a lot of help from the officials the last few weeks in their losses to Iowa and Minnesota, but they haven’t helped themselves much either.  If they put points on the board against the Hawkeyes, or keep an Eric Decker-less Gopher team out of the end zone, the officials don’t matter.  The Spartans have been one of this season’s biggest disappointments in my eyes, but they still have a chance to get bowl eligible.
8. Indiana 4-5, 1-4 (10) - I’m moving the Hoosiers up a few spots because they’ve had some rough times the last few weeks.  First they blew a 28-3 lead against Northwestern, and then they blew a 21-3 lead against Iowa this weekend.  Don’t worry, I’m just as confused by my logic to move a team up after blowing 43 points worth of lead the last two weeks as you are, but really I’m just punishing the teams below them more than anything.
9. Illinois 2-6, 1-5 (11) – Look who is out of the cellar!  Hey the Illini should be proud of themselves for the way they took care of the Michigan Wolverines on Saturday.  They picked up their first conference win of the season and actually looked like the impressive offense we thought they would be.
10. Purdue 3-6, 2-3 (7) - Purdue falls three spots after being completely dominated in all facets of the game by the Badgers on Saturday.  All of the momentum they built up with their back to back wins over Ohio State and Illinois got thrown out the window as the Boilermakers lost their 11th consecutive road game.  The 37-0 shellacking was their worst loss since 1996.
11. Michigan 5-4, 1-4 (8) – Remember when this team started out the season 4-0 and we all thought that the Wolverines had turned thing around in Ann Arbor?  Since then they’re 1-4 with that lone victory coming against Delaware State.  Oh, and they lost to Illinois.  By 25.  What more reason do I need to put them in last other than that?