Some good things happening this week--making this as tough as ever. Mine is a "power ranking" not a conference standings.
1) Ohio State -- I'm sticking with my "long distance travel is hard" theory.
2) Penn State -- No game, no movement.
3) Oregon -- I know, they beat Ohio State. Respectable road win over bad Purdue.
Hmmmm
4) Ok, Indiana, you've got me...for now. Is Nebraska any good? This team is averaging over 48 points per game. Washington comes to Indiana this week, which is hard on the Huskies. Very curious.
5) Illinois: I'm surprised, but that's a quality win over Michigan, and a win over Nebraska, and a not embarassing loss at Penn State. Looks legit (to be towards the top of the also rans).
6) Do I put Wisconsin here? I don't know, man. Beating the teams you're supposed to beat is underrated. The offense can't miss opportunities like it has each of the last three weeks if it hopes to stay competitive with Penn State. And that USC beat down looks worse and worse, even if it was a long trip.
7) Michigan State? I guess. Quality win over Washington; losses to Ohio State and @ Oregon are excusable. BC? It was on the road. Ok, sure.
8) Iowa: because I don't know where else to put them. Dead center of the conference looks as good as anything.
9) USC: 1-4 in conference. How!?! Long distance travel is hard. Is it that hard? Regardless, this team has some athletes that can punish teams. Still...1-4!?! (And how are the Badgers that one?)
10) Michigan: this doesn't look right. Neither do those two consecutive losses.
11) Washington: that loss @ Rutgers looks bad. So does the bad loss @ Iowa. Travel is hard.
12) Minnesota: best win is over 1-4 USC. Steamrolled at home by a mediocre Iowa?
13) Nebraska: best game is a close loss to Illinois? Game against UCLA might be their best chance to go .500.
14) Northwestern: stomped on Maryland on the road.
15) UCLA: it's not just that they finally got a win. Winning as far away as New Jersey is worth something, and looking at the rest of their schedule--which has been tough--the home loss to Minnesota is the only real blemish.
16) Rutgers: the win against Washington is losing its shine. The win at VaTech is still pretty solid.
17) Maryland: at this point in the rankings, the win against USC is worth something.
18) Purdon't.
I really think at the end of this season, all of the ADs are going to be talking about how they can fix the travel problem (PS: they can't).
