Monday, October 17, 2011

B1G power rankings: Week 8

1. Wisconsin: The Badgers will get their first real test this weekend in East Lansing.

2. Michigan State: The Spartans are doing something that they have struggled with historically - improving as the season progresses.

3. Nebraska: The Huskers home wins over Ohio State and Washington all of a sudden look like solid W's.

4. Michigan:  Brady Hoke, Denard Robinson, and company ran into a buzz saw in East Lansing.  I still like the Wolverines despite the loss.  They have already exceeded my expectations.

5. Ohio State: The Buckeyes defense has been spectacular this year.  They shut down the high octane Illinois passing attack in Champaign, which was very impressive.  I think the Buckeyes offense will continue to improve as the season grows older.

6. Penn State:  Don't sleep on the Nittany Lions, they like TOSU have a spectacular defense and an less than stellar offense.  The Nittany Lions schedule does get significantly toughter, however.

7. Illinois: Offensive coordinator Paul Petrino really misses Mikel Leshoure.  The Illini lack a feature back and Nathan Scheelhaase, A.J. Jenkins, and the Illini offense has become one dimensional, which is throw the ball up in the air and hope Jenkins comes up with it. 

8. Iowa: The Hawkeyes finally got the Wildcat off their back putting up 41 points on an awful Northwestern defense.  The Hawkeyes went from scoring 3 points in State College against PSU to scoring 41 at home against Northwestern, go figure...

9. Northwestern: The Cats have been in some good football games, but thanks to their atrocious defense have come out on the short end of the stick in most of them.  I wonder how much longer Pat Fitzgerald is going to be content coaching Northwestern to 6-7 wins and mediocre bowl games?

10. Purdue: The Boilermakers made it more of a game in State College than I anticipated and should be given credit for it.

11. Indiana:  The Hoosiers didn't give up 80 points to the Badgers this year!  To quote Charlie Sheen "winning"!

12. Minnesota: It's not a matter of whether the Gophers will lose every game the rest of the year, it's a matter of by how many points.

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