B1G Power Rankings, Week 3

[SFBadger96]

1) Ohio State: obviously
2) Penn State: 3-0, and now doing what it should to second rate competition.
3) Michigan State: no change (didn't play)
4) Michigan: has a decent argument for #3.
5) Iowa: 3-0, still Iowa
6) Wisconsin: hmm. Just a blip on the radar, or a really bad sign?
7) Minnesota: 3-0.
8) Indiana: 3-0. Looked a lot better against Ball State than ND did.
9) Maryland: loss to Temple should be brutal, but the Texas win looks even better now. Curious.
10) Illinois: Put up a fight?
11) Nebraska: Troy? At Home?
12) Northwestern: only because it beat Purdue. The Zips? At home?
13) Purdue: for putting up a fight.
14) Rutgers: steamrolled by Kansas? Wow.

This was not a good weekend for the BigTen.

[FearlessF]

1. Penn State
2. Ohio State
3. Iowa
4. Michigan State
5. Michigan
6. Wisconsin
7. Indiana
8. Minnesota
9. Northwestern
10. Nebraska
11. Purdue
12. Maryland
13. Illinois
14. Rutgers

[medinabuckeye1]

Results posted, votes through SFBadger (14 voters).  And of course someone voted while I was compiling.  

The thing that stands out the most to me is that other than the top two (tOSU, PSU) and the bottom two (IL, RU) there is very little agreement.  Ohio State, Penn State, Illinois, and Rutgers each have at least 10 out of 14 votes for the spot they ended up in.  Only one other team has more than half (MN has 8 of 14 votes for 8th).  Next is Michigan with exactly half (7 of 14 votes for 4th) and nobody else has more than 6 of 14 votes for a spot.  

That tells me that we really have no idea how to rank the 10 teams in the middle.  

I think the fact that Maryland is ranked higher than they were in the pre-season despite getting crushed at home by Temple tells you everything you need to know about the B1G's performance thus far.  

There are five games between B1G teams this weekend:

• #2 PSU is at #11 Illinois
• #3/4 Wisconsin is at #5 Iowa
• #3/4 Michigan hosts #11 Nebraska
• #6 Michigan State hosts #7 Indiana
• #8 Minnesota is at #9 Maryland

That is a pretty solid line-up with three of the games featuring teams that are adjacent in the rankings.  

[medinabuckeye1]

Changes based on @FearlessF 's vote:

• Ohio State no longer has a perfect score after dropping the high and low (no big deal)
• The UW/M tie for 3rd/4th is broken in favor of Michigan
• There is now a tie for 4th/5th between Wisconsin and Iowa

[Anonymous Coward]

1. OSU (1,1,1)

----

2. PSU (3,7,6)
3. Iowa (5,5,5)
4. Michigan (4,4,3)
5. UW (2,2,4)
6. MSU (6,3,2)

---

7. Indiana (11,11,11)
8. Maryland (7,6,9)
9. Northwestern (8,8,8)
10. Nebraska (10,10,10)
11. Purdue (9,9,7) 
12. Minnesota (12,12,12)
13. Illinois (14,14,14)
14. Rutgers (13,13,13)

[ELA]

There are five games between B1G teams this weekend:

• #2 PSU is at #11 Illinois
• #3/4 Wisconsin is at #5 Iowa
• #3/4 Michigan hosts #11 Nebraska
• #6 Michigan State hosts #7 Indiana
• #8 Minnesota is at #9 Maryland

That is a pretty solid line-up with three of the games featuring teams that are adjacent in the rankings.  

MSU is at Indiana

[medinabuckeye1]

MSU is at Indiana

My mistake.  That makes it even more interesting because in each of the cases where adjacent teams play this weekend, the higher ranked team is on the road:

• #4 UW @ #5 IA
• #6 MSU @ #7 IU
• #8 MN @ #9 UMD

[medinabuckeye1]

Updates for @Anonymous Coward 's vote:

• Michigan and Iowa are now tied for 3rd/4th
• Wisconsin is now alone in 5th

[medinabuckeye1]

Note on 3rd/4th/5th place:

Three teams are effectively tied for 3rd/4th/5th:  

• On the initial compilation Wisconsin and Michigan were tied for 3rd/4th with an average ranking of 4.36 with Iowa slightly behind at 4.64.  
• Then @FearlessF voted Iowa 3rd, Michigan 5th, and Wisconsin 6th which moved Michigan into 3rd alone with Iowa and Wisconsin tied for 4th/5th.  
• Then @Anonymous Coward voted Iowa 3rd, Michigan 4th, and Wisconsin 5th which moved Iowa and Michigan into a tie for 3rd/4th at 4.36 with Wisconsin slightly behind in 5th with an average of 4.50.  

For all practical purposes all three are tied for 3rd/4th/5th and the Spartans are not far behind in 6th with an average ranking of 5.07.  

[Anonymous Coward]

I think #2 through #6 are effectively identical. Some think PSU is close to OSU, but I think they've been much closer to the pack.

[medinabuckeye1]

I think #2 through #6 are effectively identical. Some think PSU is close to OSU, but I think they've been much closer to the pack.

The group certainly agrees as far as #3 - #6 are concerned.  The total gap from #3 (currently M/IA tied at 4.36) to #6 (MSU at 5.07) is only 0.71.  The gap between PSU (#2 at 2.00) and #3 is more than three times as large.  Also, the gap between #6 and #7 (IU at 7.00) as almost two full spots (1.93).  

[medinabuckeye1]

non-contiguous votes (ie, outliers):

Iowa:
This one is weird.  They have seven votes for 3rd, no votes for 4th, then nine votes for 5th/6th/7th.  

MSU:
The Spartans have 15 votes for 3rd/4th/5th/6th, then no votes for 7th, then @Benthere2 voted them #8.  

Minnesota:
The Gophers have 15 votes for 7th/8th/9th, then no votes for either 10th or 11th, then @Anonymous Coward voted them #12.  

Illinois:
The Illini have a total of four votes for 10th/11th then no votes for 12th, then 12 votes for 13th.  

[Anonymous Coward]

Given that they are undefeated and began the preseason with a high ranking, we have no choice but to vote PSU second. Their average emerges from that kind of low variance, but that amount of order is not inconsistent with 2-6 being a single, tight cohort. I see it as a single tight cohort with PSU in the nominal lead by default.

[medinabuckeye1]

Given that they are undefeated and began the preseason with a high ranking, we have no choice but to vote PSU second. Their average emerges from that kind of low variance, but that amount of order is not inconsistent with 2-6 being a single, tight cohort. I see it as a single tight cohort with PSU in the nominal lead by default.

I mostly agree.  It has been an odd year and, obviously, mostly a disaster for the B1G.  Ohio State started #1 by a small margin and their defense has looked shaky at times.  If another team had stepped up I'd have no problem moving the Buckeyes down but nobody has looked better:

• Preseason #2 Wisconsin lost at home to BYU.  Even if they had made the late FG then won in OT I still wouldn't be comfortable moving them up because I don't think BYU is very good.  
• Preseason #3 PSU need OT to beat ApState.  ApState may be the best team in the Sun Belt but they are still a Sun Belt team, PSU shouldn't need OT to beat them at home.  
• Preseason #4 MSU barely beat Utah State then lost to ASU which subsequently lost to SDSU.  That isn't good.  
• Preseason #5 Michigan lost to Notre Dame.  That would be more forgivable if I thought ND was any good but frankly I don't.  In their other two games the Irish barely survived Vanderbilt and State of Ball.  
• Preseason #6 Iowa is probably the best performer in the B1G so far but they had a lot more ground to make up than the teams in front of them.  
• Preseason #7 Northwestern looked fine in their opener but then Purdue tanked and Northwestern has been a train-wreck.  
• Preseason #8 Purdue is 0-3 including a home loss to EMU so it is not surprising that they have a vote for last.  
• Preseason #9 Nebraska is 0-2.  The Colorado loss might be forgivable (they are 3-0) but losing at home to Troy is just ugly.  
• Preseason #10 Maryland looked great for two weeks and climbed to #7 but then they got blown out at home by Temple.  
• Preseason #11 Indiana is 3-0 with a P5 win over UVA and they have climbed to #7 but they have not dominated the way I would expect the best teams in the B1G to dominate against FIU, UVA, and State of Ball.  
• Preseason #12 Minnesota is 3-0 and has climbed to #8 but, like Indiana, they have not dominated the way I would expect the best teams in the B1G to dominate against NMSU, Fresno, and Miami, Oh.  
• Preseason #13 Illinois has performed better than would be expected and they are now much closer to #12 than when they started but close wins over State of Kent and an FCS school along with a close loss to USF are not enough to get moved to the upper tiers.  
• Preseason #14 Rutgers looked good in week one and their loss to tOSU might be forgivable (depends how good tOSU ends up) but getting blown out by Kansas is just ugly.  

Everybody has warts.