CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Four => Big Ten => Topic started by: ManHawk on October 12, 2025, 08:19:09 AM
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What does everybody think?
Seein' is believen' and I believe its time to throw out pre-season expectations and let the results from this year's conference games speak for themselves. Time to admit maybe some teams are actually pretty good and some are not good at all. My rankings are in a post below.
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Pretty safe to declare the worst team.
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The elite teams
1. Ohio St - has dominated every game.
2. Indiana - has 2 impressive road wins at Iowa and Oregon and total crushing of ILL at home.
Still in contention
3. USC - looks unbeatable at home.
4. Oregon - loss at home to Ind but has 2 road wins at PSU and NW
5. Iowa - 2 road wins at Rutgers and Wisc and close loss at home to Ind
6. Illinois - lost to Ind and Ohio St and beat USC
7. Michigan - dominated by USC on the road
8. Washington - beat MD and Rut
9. Nebraska - beat MD and MSU
Playing for a good bowl game
10. Maryland - lost 2 very winnable games at home to Wash and Neb
11. Northwestern - beat PSU and UCLA
12. UCLA - beat PSU and MSU
13. Penn St - lost to UCLA and NW and lost their QB for the year. The wheels have fallen off.
14. Minnesota - Has close wins over Purdue and Rutgers at home
Time to think about next year
15. Rutgers - lost 3 close games, once at home and twice on road
16. Purdue - almost pulled out a win at Minn but has 2 losses at home by 16 points each.
17. Mich St - lost at home to UCLA by 25 points!
18. Wisconsin - Let's admit it. Wisc has bottomed out. 2 big losses at home to MD and Iowa.
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The elite teams
1. Ohio St - has dominated every game.
2. Indiana - has 2 impressive road wins at Iowa and Oregon and total crushing of ILL at home.
Still in contention
3. USC - looks unbeatable at home.
4. Oregon - loss at home to Ind but has 2 road wins at PSU and NW
5. Iowa - 2 road wins at Rutgers and Wisc and close loss at home to Ind
6. Illinois - lost to Ind and Ohio St and beat USC
7. Michigan - dominated by USC on the road
8. Washington - beat MD and Rut
9. Nebraska - beat MD and MSU
Playing for a good bowl game
10. Maryland - lost 2 very winnable games at home to Wash and Neb
11. Northwestern - beat PSU and UCLA
12. UCLA - beat PSU and MSU
13. Penn St - lost to UCLA and NW
14. Minnesota - Has close wins over Purdue and Rutgers at home
Time to think about next year
15. Rutgers - lost 3 close games, once at home and twice on road
16. Purdue - almost pulled out a win at Minn but has 2 losses at home by 16 points each.
17. Mich St - lost at home to UCLA by 25 points!
18. Wisconsin - Let's admit it. Wisc has bottomed out. 2 big losses at home to MD and Iowa.
I think uke ickell has more gas cans to throw on the fire.
Your rankings match mine, except I'm putting UNL at 6 and Michigan at 9.
6. UNL
7. IL
8. Wash
9. UM
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I think uke ickell has more gas cans to throw on the fire.
Your rankings match mine, except I'm putting UNL at 6 and Michigan at 9.
6. UNL
7. IL
8. Wash
9. UM
Hmmm...
Didn't Michigan win @Nebraska?
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Hmmm...
Didn't Michigan win @Nebraska?
I'm going on what I see recently. Michigan actually looked like garbage yesterday, and before that they looked mortal at home against the worst team in the league.
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I'm going on what I see recently. Michigan actually looked like garbage yesterday, and before that they looked mortal at home against the worst team in the league.
Biff Pudgy > Sharon Moore
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Hmmm...
Didn't Michigan win @Nebraska?
Biff Pudgy > Sharon Moore
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(https://i.imgur.com/6d5giYt.png)
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(https://i.imgur.com/68qEzqu.jpeg)
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1)Hoosiers - I've Had the Ducks here and IU just changed all of that. Beating Ore with both offense & defense delivering in the effort
2)tOSU - playing well not GREAT has beat a Texas team that seems to be on the mend.Defense played well vs the Illini recovering 2 fumbles and and Int.
3)Ducks - tough loss at home vs a solid Hoosier team
4)USC - clawing back into the picture,both the O & D very good games. And 2 starting O-lineman out in a 31-13 victory over No. 15 Michigan
5)Huskies - Huskies QB Demond Williams Jr. threw for 402 yards and two touchdowns & ran for 136 yards to lead the Huskies to a 38-19 over Rutgers
6)Mishygan - presently the best of the rest after USC ran for 224 yards and passed for 265 more.
7)'Skers - beat a pesky Terps team and is 5-1 with the Goophs on deck
8)illini - tough loss at home to a solid Buckeye team
9)Iowa - went into Camp Randall and clobbered the spiraling job Luke Fickell is doing
10)Gophs - 4-2 record same as the terps
11)Terps - have lost 2 in a row
12) UCLA 38-13 win at Michigan State and 2nd straight win
13)Northwestern 22-21 win at Penn State
14)Nittany Lions - PSU has of $$$ locked up on coaches that just aren't getting it done
15)Purdue 27-20 loss at Minnesota
16)Rutgers 38-19 loss at Washington
17)Michigan St - spiraling,38-13 loss vs. UCLA
18)Wisconsin - Fickell beyond dismal fans deserve much better,he should hand some $$$ back out of common courtesy
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Contenders:
1) Ohio State: but Indiana makes a compelling case
2) Indiana: color me impressed
3) Oregon: color the Ducks green with envy
Top 25-ish:
4) Iowa
5) USC
6) Washington
Somewhere between pretty good and not a train wreck, depending on the day:
7) Illinois
8) Michigan
9) Nebraska
10) Maryland
11) Minnesota
12) Northwestern
13) Penn State: What. The. [insert word of choice].
14) Rutgers
15) UCLA: hard to peg this team, but the coaching change has clearly helped. Wonder if that could help another team?
Pur-Don't:
16) Purdue: all give them this--Purdue isn't terrible.
These teams are actively bad:
17) Michigan State
18) Wis-can't-son: Remember when I thought they might win 7 or even 8 games? Sheesh. Time to win the coaching carousel. Although that's what we were told happpened last time, right after we fired a coach who had the second highest winning percentage for Badger coaches in the last 100 years (more than two seasons). That worked out.
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[img width=218.779 height=500]https://i.imgur.com/68qEzqu.jpeg[/img]
(https://i.imgur.com/oIXcgYc.jpeg)
This crossed my mind as well. The key comparison is both Ohio St and Indiana have played Illinois. But I give credit to Ohio St for beating Illinois on the road while Indy's big win against ILL was at home. In the end both teams had dominant wins over Illinois. Something USC can't say. So I think we need to dig deeper.
Indiana winning at Oregon is big, I agree. Throw in Indiana's win at pesky Iowa, it is a strong argument for Indiana to be #1. I need to give this some more thought.
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I could be convinced.
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(https://i.imgur.com/azwQbIA.jpeg)
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[img width=218.784 height=500]https://i.imgur.com/azwQbIA.jpeg[/img]
What am I missing when it comes to Nebraska?
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A couple of Runzas and some Sharkwater
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[img width=259.818 height=500]https://i.imgur.com/68qEzqu.jpeg[/img]
POTFH
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- Indiana: What a win. That defense is really impressive.
- Ohio State: A somewhat lackluster win, though winning by 18 against a ranked team on the road shouldn't come with complaints.
- Oregon: Still pretty good. BTW, these teams are the top 3 in the land on SP+.
- Illinois: When not facing the top three, pretty good.
- USC: Put Michigan in the blender
- Iowa: Good ole Iowa. 319 total yards and a 37-0 win.
- Michigan: Still chaotic but in the negative way this week.
- Washington: Could be higher, interested in their trip to Michigan.
- Nebraska: Survived Maryland, which...ok
- Maryland: The team isn't bad, but the track record is what it is
- UCLA: I guess? Suddenly an offensive powerhouse and they play Maryland next.
- Northwestern: Why not. Feels like a bunch of these teams are interchangeable.
- Penn State: Got to put them somewhere
- Minnesota: Got a win
- Purdue: Did not get a win
- Rutgers: They don't feel like they should be this low, but they need to win
- MSU: Man, not great
- Wisconsin: I am shocked that they have been this putrid.
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What am I missing when it comes to Nebraska?
better in the loss column than Michigan
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better in the loss column than Michigan
now do the Michigan W-L column with Biff? 2-0 bro. basically we'd be undefeated if only Biff was our coach. #InBiffWeTrust
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I will not disagree
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October UCLA, picking up where September Maryland left off
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October UCLA, picking up where September Maryland left off
combine them into one squad and you got a heckuva team.
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1. Ohio State
2. Indiana
3. Oregon
4. Illinois
5. USC
6. Washington
7. Michigan
8. Iowa
9. Nebraska
10. Penn State
11. Maryland
12. Minnesota
13. Wisconsin
14. UCLA
15. Michigan State
16. Rutgers
17. Northwestern
18. Purdue
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(https://i.imgur.com/58AgwzU.jpeg)
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- OSU
- Indy
- O
- USC
- UDub
- IlliNi
- Ttun
- N
- Iowa
- Terps
- Ucla
- NW
- PSU
- Minny
- MSU
- R
- P
- W
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Last week in parentheses
- OHIO STATE (1) - so uh, Matt Patricia, huh?
- INDIANA (3) - really want to put them #1, but OSU is just vice gripping everyone
- OREGON (2) - plus the road win at PSU looks like a nothingburger now
- USC (6) - if USC can consistently get that defense, they can beat anyone in the conference
- WASHINGTON (7) - seems like everyone is sleeping on them, but we should learn a lot this week
- ILLINOIS (5) - 80% done with their brutal 5 game stretch, before a November cake walk
- MICHIGAN (4) - passing game concerns remain
- NEBRASKA (8) - any road win is nice
- IOWA (9) - fun trip for the Hawkeye fans who made it
- MINNESOTA (12) - pulled it off, but nonexistent running game at home
- MARYLAND (11) - another 4th quarter home collapse
- NORTHWESTERN (17) - remaining schedule is tough, but suddenly a bowl is possible
- PENN STATE (10) - unfathomable 3 weeks ago
- RUTGERS (14) - at least they are on the plus side of the cross country travel this week
- UCLA (18) - Tim Skipper is going to force UCLA into considering hiring him
- MICHIGAN STATE (13) - remember when MSU fans wondered if UCLA would poach Pasadena native Jonathan Smith?
- PURDUE (16) - Barry Odom has done a good job with the defense
- WISCONSIN (15) - never thought this was possible