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Yeah I saw an article saying with 4 in the top 10, the Big Ten was the most overrated conference.  But are they highly rated?  They have 4 in the top 10.  But they also have only 4 in the top 35.

You made this point in your rankings thread and it is a good point.  Overrated?  Who knows.  Maybe we really will have four really good teams and basically nobody else worth talking about. 


Compared to other conferences, we look great top-10 but fall off beyond that. 


Top ten by conference:

• 4 B1G (#2 tOSU, #6 PSU, #9 M, #10 UW)
• 2 ACC (#3 FSU, #5 Clemson)
• 2 PAC (#4 USC, #7 UW)
• 1 SEC (#1 Bama)
• 1 B12 (#8 OU)

Top 25 by conference:

• 6 SEC (#1 Bama, #12 LSU, #13 Auburn, #15 UGA, #16 UF, #24 TN)
• 5 ACC (#3 FSU, #5 Clemson, #17 Louisville, #18 Miami, #22 VaTech)
• 5 B12 (#8 OU, #11 OkSU, #19 KSU, #20 WVU, #23 TX)
• 4 B1G (#2 tOSU, #6 PSU, #9 M, #10 UW)
• 4 PAC (#4 USC, #7 UW, #14 Stan, #25 Utah)
• 1 AAC (#21 USF)

Judging by top-10 teams the B1G is far-and-away the best conference with four but judging by top-25 teams we are a pretty pedestrian tied for fourth/fifth with the PAC behind the SEC, ACC, and B12.  Additionally, the PAC, B12, and ACC all have teams higher in "ORV" than we do so if you judge by top-35 we are DFL among the P5 with only four teams.  This just illustrates that yawing gap between the B1G's "BIG-4" and the "other 10". 

I think UM, UW and PSU are all too high. They should be in the 12-20 range in my opinion.

Yes, exactly. I think any of the 3 can end up there, but they're not there right now.

Of course, rankings are relative so maybe there's not that many great teams out there right now.

I think UM, UW and PSU are all too high. They should be in the 12-20 range in my opinion.

Nationally that is obviously important but within the conference I'm not even sure that it matters.  With #5 and 6 being way down at #35/36 this essentially projects that the B1G title is between Wisconsin and the winner of the B1G-E round-robin between tOSU, M, and PSU. 


Of the "Big three" in the East, only Michigan plays Wisconsin.  Even if the Badgers lose that and even if they really should be ranked #20, they should still pretty easily win the division at no worse than 7-2. 


Basically the only games to watch are:

• Oct 21:  Michigan at Penn State
• Oct 28:  Penn State at Ohio State
• Nov 18:  Michigan at Wisconsin
• Nov 25:  Ohio State at Michigan

If the "Big Four" win the home games among themselves and beat everyone else then the B1GCG will be Ohio State vs Wisconsin.  I'm not saying that will happen, but I think it is the starting point for projections. 

UW has to go to Nebraska and Minnie. Neither of those are gimmes. Minnie is bound to win the AXE, I'd think, since it's been over 5000 days since they've touched it.

Iowa and NU are in Madison, but those games are never easy on UW. @BYU will also be tricky. I wonder how they will prepare for the altitude out there. It's higher than Denver.

Ttun and Penn St were outside of the pre season discussions for a while, while Michigan State had a pretty good run.


Wisconsin is generally a pretty safe bet for the West.

I think UM, UW and PSU are all too high. They should be in the 12-20 range in my opinion.

Two ways I'm looking at this:

1) on one hand, yes, Michigan and Wisconsin are very beatable by the teams ranked 12-20

but,

2) on the other hand they're deserving of top ten rankings if it's expected, based on favorable schedules ('specially UW's) that as the season moves along, UM and UW will amass more wins than those teams ranked 12-20.

A 10-0 Wisconsin will be ranked top 3.

Probably would be.

But if FSU were ranked #4 I'd pick them to beat #3. Many times a team's record as better than the team actually is, due to strength of schedule.

HOWEVER

I do think Iowa, Nebraska, NU and Minnie are better than they are getting credit for. We'll see at the end.

This is usually ELA's pet peeve but I'll be the one to express it this time.  Teams should never get credited or docked for perceived ability to accumulate wins due to weakness or strength of schedule. 


IMHO, if a team plays the best 10 teams in the country and loses all ten games by a TD or less they should probably be ranked not too far outside the top-10.  Conversely, if a team plays the worst 10 teams in the country and wins all ten games by a TD or less they shouldn't even be considered for a ranking.  Unfortunately, the reality is that the 10-0 team will be ranked and the 0-10 team will not.