CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Four => Big Ten => Topic started by: SFBadger96 on September 02, 2025, 03:13:45 PM
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After nine months off, it is so easy to overreact to the first weekend of college football, so...how much have you overreacted? What's your new power ranking for the conference?
Mine:
1) Ohio State: same as it ever was.
2) Oregon: did what they should against a silly opponent.
3) Penn State: probably a better opponent than Montana State, but no reason to change anything.
4) Michigan: dropped below Penn State because of a less than stellar performance. But they won.
5) USC: here's my overreaction--kicking the snot out of a nobody shouldn't be worth this much, but 73 points is a lot even against a really bad team.
6) Iowa: Did what they were supposed to do.
7) Illinois: That's what all B1G fans expect their team to do to the cupcakes in weeks 1-3.
8) Nebraska: not a great win, but it was a win, against a (sort of) P5 team. Best not to overreact.
9) Wisconsin: uninspiring win, but a solid defensive performance. Did anyone below do much better?
10) Minnesota: uninspiring win, but took care of things.
11) Indiana: uninspiring win of the kind that makes me think I am right that they won't come close to last year's success.
12) Washington: uninspiring win.
13) Michigan State: result looks a lot like teams 8-12. No particular reason to put them any higher or any lower than any of those teams. Apologies ELA and other Sparty fans, but omeone had to be here, and like lazy sports writers everywhere, because the teams I had ahead of them last week didn't lose I didn't move Sparty any higher.
14) PURDUE?!?!?!?: second overreaction of the week, but Purdue's win was the best result of the bottom five teams on my list, and looked better than most of the teams below Illinois at #7.
15) Maryland: could say the same thing about Maryland, but a shutout is better than not a shutout.
16) Rutgers: a win is better than a loss.
17) UCLA: yikes, getting smoked at home by a team that has only been in a major conference for about a decade is not a good way to get your alumni fired up.
18) Northwestern: maybe this is Tulane's year? Also, why was Northwestern playing at Tulane?
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Purdue looked impressive to win 31-0.
But the stats maybe aren't that impressive?
Only 4 of 11, 36%, on 3rd down. Ran the ball 30 times and averaged 3.1 per. Those are not numbers that are impressive against a team like Ball State. The pass offense looked good, but if Purdue can easily be made one-dimensional against better competition, it's not going to hold up.
Defensively they were stout. I'll call that a pleasant surprise. Kept BSU to 203 yards, 4 of 13 on third down, 5.4 yards per pass and 3.2 per rush. But... Again, it's Ball State. I'm happy they shut down Ball State. It's still a major question whether they can slow down anyone past their pastry in week 2.
My takeaway is that they might not be the cellar of the conference, and I'm happy they've got another tune up game before they face anyone with a pulse. They should exit September with a 2-2 record, head into the bye, and then face a much easier slate. They've got vsIll, @MN, @NU, vsRut. There could be 2 or 3 wins in there. Then they'll get drubbed by UM/OSU/UWash, but hopefully avenge last year's loss to the Hoosiers at home to finish out.
Is 6-6 a possibility? Maybe. Everything has to break JUST right.
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1. Penn State
2. Ohio State
3. Oregon
4. Michigan
5. USC
6. Wisconsin
7. Illinois
8. Nebraska
9. Washington
10. Indiana
11. Iowa
12. Michigan State
13. Minnesota
14. Maryland
15. Rutgers
16. Purdue
17. Northwestern
18. UCLA
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(https://i.imgur.com/WMBsly1.jpeg)
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I get the feeling a lot of coaches were holding back against weaker opponents, but let's rank them all anyway
1. Ohio St - I mean, come on, they just beat the #1 ranked team in the country
2. Oregon
3. Penn St
4. Illinois -bumping them up one spot
5. Ind - bumping then down one spot for such a mediocre performance
6. Michigan
7. Iowa - final stats for Iowa: 310 yards rushing. 44 yards passing.
8. USC -bumping them up a few spots after big win
9. Minnesota
10. Nebraska
11. Washington
12. Wisconsin
13. MD. - good win
14 Purdue - nice solid win
15. Mich St - not very impressive
16. Rutgers - only a 3 point win, over Ohio?
17. UCLA - wow, they were bad
18. Northwestern - Is it too late to beg Fitz to come back?
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I shuffled them a bit after Week 1. Top 4 are the same.
1. Penn State
2. Ohio State
3. Oregon
4. Illinois
5. USC
6. Indiana
7. Michigan
8. Iowa
9. Purdue
10.Nebraska
11.Washington
12.Minnesota
13.Maryland
14.Wisconsin
15.Michigan State
16.Rutgers
17.UCLA
18.Northwestern
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All 14 teams played.
- Buckeyes
- Ducks
- Nittany Lions
- Trojans
- Huskies
- Fighting Illini
- Hoosiers
- Wolverines
- Hawkeyes
- Terrapins
- Badgers
- Spartans
- Cornhuskers
- Gophers
- Boilermakers
- Scarlet Knights
- Bruins
- Wildcats
At this point it's just the week 1 performance, juxtaposed against preseason expectations, and perceived program strength; real or imagined.
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- Ohio State - Beat #1 after winning it all. Stays here until further notice.
- Penn State - Beat a team they should like they should.
- Oregon - Ditto
- USC - Putting up 73 on anyone is a feat. I'm ok with them at 4.
- TTUN - New QB looked good.
- Illinois - Blew out a directional MAC team.
- Wisconsin - Not sure they are worthy of this slot, but who below them is better?
- Nebraska - Beating UC is better than losing to UC.
- Washington - Only saw a couple of highlights.
- Michigan State - Beat a directional MAC school.
- Indiana - Not as strong as last years team.
- Iowa - I've never even heard of the U. at Albany, but at least Iowa won.
- Purdue - Got a shutout win.
- Minnesota - Close win against a MAC school.
- Maryland - Didn't see the game but heard the true Freshman QB looked good.
- Rutgers - Had to squeek out a win against a decent MAC school.
- UCLA - Getting blown out a home by Utah is not a good look.
- Northwestern - Getting blown out at Tulane is even worse.