CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Four => Big Ten => Topic started by: ManHawk on November 16, 2025, 06:09:09 AM
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What does everybody think?
My rankings are in a post below
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Well put them in this one,FCS :017:
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1. Ohio State
2. Indiana
3. Oregon
4. USC
5. Michigan
6. Iowa
7. Washington
8. Illinois
9. Minnesota
10. Nebraska
11. Northwestern
12. Rutgers
13. Maryland
14. Penn State
15. UCLA
16. Wisconsin
17. Michigan State
18. Purdue
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1. Ohio St - another dominant victory
2. Indiana - another dominant victory
3. Oregon - another dominant victory
4. USC - dominates 2nd half. to pull out close win over Iowa in the rain.
5. Iowa - just not quite good enough to win close games against 3 of the 4 top teams in conference. Iowa WRs need to learn how to get their toes in bounds in last 2 minutes.
6. Michigan - commits 5 turnovers and misses 2 FGs, yet somehow finds way to win game against NW in Wrigley Field. Michigan has beat Wash but lost badly to USC
7. Washington- dominating bounce back win over Purdue. Wash has lost to Mich and has beat ILL.
8. Illinois - Illinois has beat USC and lost to Wash,Ind, Ohio St
9. Minnesota- gets blown out by Oregon, Iowa and Ohio St. But Minn has beat Neb
10. Nebraska - close losses to USC and Mich at home, but Neb has also lost to Minn. Neb has beat NW at home, so that's something
11. Northwestern - i don't know if I should give NW credit for only losing by 2 to Mich, or mock NW for being given a 5 turnover advantage and still losing the game against Mich. But at least NW has beat UCLA and Penn st in earlier games.
12. UCLA - has lost to NW and has beat Penn St
13. Penn St. - win over Mich St confirms that PSU is better than its record, but PSU still lost to NW and UCLA so I can't rank them any higher.
14. Rutgers - had week off. Still has a chance at a bowl.
15. Maryland - dominated by ILL. but at least they have beaten Wisc. MD is close to being eliminated from bowl elligibility.
16. Purdue - I feel like Purdue is close to breaking through, but. did not really show up in loss to Wash.
17. Mich St - just not looking very good at the end of the season. But I believe probably good enough to beat Wisc.
18. Wisconsin - I have had a week to think about this, and I am going to write off Wisconsin's win over Washington as a fluke. I believe Wisc would lose to both Purdue and Mich St if they played today.
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1)Hoosiers - A slow start gave way to an onslaught & IU rolled again on Saturday and now has an open date before playing Purdue. The Hoosiers most certainly punched their ticket to the CFP, regardless of what happens the rest of the season
2)Bucks - easy day at the office, another blowout but it came against a very shorthanded UCLA squad. The absence of wide receiver Carnell Tate and Jeremiah Smith (who played in the first half but was held out of the second) is concerning, considering those are the team's top targets on the outside. Win next week, and Ohio State is in the College Football Playoff no matter what else happens.
3)Ducks - Dante Moore had a career night, completing a program record 90% of his passes while tight end Kenyon Sadiq had a career night in terms of catches (eight) and yards (96) while catching one of Moore's two touchdown passes. So still looking good and has what it takes to make a postseason run. But 1st it has to beat a talented USC team and also win at Washington in two weeks.
4)USC - backed into a corner they came out on top vs a tough Hawkeye team. They are still in position to get to Indy if the Hoosiers or my homies fall flat on their faces. Trojans have a tough out in Eugene next Saturday v Oregon awaits with heavy CFP implications. Win there and they prolly have a seat at the Big Boy Table.
5)M* - Weasels had a week off and produce sloppy play and turn overs and had to go down to final snap V a scrappy 'Cats team in Wrigley Field where the Cats evidently have NEVER won.They were a 2-point conversion short of O.T. Though it looked to be in doubt several times, Michigan did what they do and grinded out a win over Northwestern on the road. M* was clutch when it had to be & Fr. Andrew Marsh's 12 receptions and 189 yards were the most by a Michigan freshman since at least 1979,pretty impressive
6)Huskies - the Huskies are one of the best teams in the country when they play in Seattle, but very average and maybe even below average away from Home. Playing without star running back Jonah Coleman, who missed the game with an injury, the Huskies rolled right along against the Boilermakers. Adam Mohammed scored a career-high three rushing touchdowns as UW beat Purdue 49-13 on Saturday night. Washington is 7-3, besting its win total from last season while Purdue lost its ninth straight game.
7)Illinois - has losses to Ohio State, at Indiana, and at Washington tough sledding. This team is pretty good and has a chance to go to a very good bowl game. They beat the Terps at home 24-6. Michael Locksley has never had a winning record in the Big Ten in his seven years in charge of the Terps. Illinois: At Wisconsin on Saturday. Bielema was the Badgers' coach from 2006-12
8)Iowa - Iowa continues to play hard, only to come up just short. all of the Hawkeyes' losses have come by one score. Hawks blew a 11pt halftime lead in LA. No. 17 USC answered with 19 straight points to keep its College Football Playoff hopes alive. The weather conditions heavily favored Iowa despite their game against USC being played in Los Angeles, as rain poured down onto the field. But the Hawkeyes couldn't take advantage, succumbing the lead in the fourth quarter and failing to put together a game-winning drive. Mark Gronowski threw a touchdown pass, made a TD run and caught a scoring pass during the first half, but his Hawkeyes 6-4 got shut out in the second half of another heartbreaking loss to a ranked team.
9) Gophers - they win the close games against average teams and get worked by the better ones in the BIG. They have a tall order V the Wildcats in Evanston next week ask M*. Minnesota 6-4 remained winless on the road this season. Gopher's coach P.J. Fleck said “The message was `Row on, man. Put your oar back in the water, and let's go” Ya very inspiring PJ
10) 'Skers - were off yesterday, heading to Happy Valley next Saturday. With starting quarterback Dylan Raiola out for the season to injury, it may seem like all hope would be lost for Nebraska. That was the thinking until freshman backup TJ Lateef completed 13 of 15 passes for 205 yards and three scores last week against UCLA. The Nittany Lions seem to be getting traction recently, it'll be a very tough game for the 'Huskers. With the win V. MSU the Lions avoided their first seven-game losing streak in the same season since 1931
11)N'Western
12)Rutgers
13)UCLA
14)Terps
15)Lions
16)Badgers
17)MSU
18)Boilers
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9) Gophers - they win the close games against average teams and get worked by the better ones in the BIG. They have a tall order V the Wildcats in Evanston next week ask M*. Minnesota 6-4 remained winless on the road this season. Gopher's coach P.J. Fleck said “The message was `Row on, man. Put your oar back in the water, and let's go” Ya very inspiring PJ
10) 'Skers - were off yesterday, heading to Happy Valley next Saturday. With starting quarterback Dylan Raiola out for the season to injury, it may seem like all hope would be lost for Nebraska. That was the thinking until freshman backup TJ Lateef completed 13 of 15 passes for 205 yards and three scores last week against UCLA. The Nittany Lions seem to be getting traction recently, it'll be a very tough game for the 'Huskers. With the win V. MSU the Lions avoided their first seven-game losing streak in the same season since 1931
Afro & I would swap 9 & 10
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Contenders:
1) Ohio State
2) Indiana
3) Oregon (but just barely)
Top 25-ish:
4) USC--good win over Iowa.
5) Iowa--let that one get away on the road.
6) Michigan--good at what they do, not good enough at enough things to be a complete team. And Northwestern is sneaky decent, but not sneaky good.
Not Ready for Prime Time:
7) Washington--beat down against a bad team. Yay.
8) Illinois--unimpressive win against a bad team. Yay.
9) Penn State--finally got a win--against a bad team. Yay.
10) Northwestern--took Michigan to the bell; as noted above, sneaky decent.
11) Nebraska--bye.
Really Not Very Good:
12) Minnesota--ouch.
13) UCLA--allowed some points in garbage time.
14) Rutgers--bye.
15) Maryland--that big win over Wisconsin was a long time ago.
Pur-Don't:
16) Wisconsin--put up a fight for a half.
17) Purdue--ouch.
18) Michigan State--Penn State was sure to beat someone.
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2)Bucks Win next week, and Ohio State is in the College Football Playoff no matter what else happens.
IMHO the "Win next week" caveat is unnecessary. If Ohio State were to lose out (vs RU, at M) they would still be 10-2 with nearly all of the wins being dominant performances and while the RU loss would be BAD, a Michigan win over Ohio State would probably send the Wolverines to the CFP. That would be a TERRIBLE loss from the perspective of tOSU fans but from the perspective of the CFP Committee it would be a "quality" loss offset by a quality win over decent Texas, a dominant win in Seattle over UDub, a dominant win in Champaign over IL, and just generally looking like an elite team in all the rest of their games. I don't think the Buckeyes would miss the playoff at 10-2.
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@medinabuckeye1 (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=1547) 's completely objective Power Rankings:
The rules:
Each team's opponents are ranked 1-7 (1-8 for PU and IU) by strength of performance against that team so for example, the eight teams that lost to Indiana are ranked:
- Penn State, lost by 3
- Iowa, lost by 5
- Oregon, lost by 10
- Wisconsin, lost by 24
- Michigan State, lost by 25
- Maryland, lost by 45
- UCLA, lost by 50
- Illinois, lost by 53
Similarly, the eight teams that beat Purdue are ranked:
- Washington, won by 36
- Ohio State, won by 24
- Northwestern, won by 19
- (tie, gets 4.5) USC, won by 16 in West Lafayette
- (tie, gets 4.5) Illinois, won by 16 in West Lafayette
- Minnesota, won by 7
- Michigan, won by 5
- Rutgers, won by 3
Note that ties are broken by HFA and that any game that goes to OT is considered closer than a game that ends in regulation (ie, winning by 1 in regulation is 'better' than winning by 8 in OT).
Then I average each team's rankings and here is what I get:
- 1.571 Ohio State
- 1.625 Indiana
- 2.643 USC
- 2.857 Iowa
- 3.250 Washington
- 3.357 Oregon
- (tie) 3.429 Illinois
- (tie) 3.429 Penn State
- 4.143 Nebraska
- 4.286 Northwestern
- 4.643 Michigan
- 5.857 UCLA
- 5.000 Wisconsin
- 5.250 Purdue
- 5.375 Maryland
- 5.571 Minnesota
- (tie) 5.857 Michigan State
- (tie) 5.857 Rutgers
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I also made a table of the teams ranked as per my objective power rankings showing performance:
(https://i.imgur.com/ON3b6Nz.png)
What immediately jumps out, at least to me, is the serious lack of games among the top teams:
- Ohio State is only scheduled to play one of the top-6
- Indiana is only scheduled to play one of the top-5
- USC is only scheduled to play one of the top-5
- Iowa is only scheduled to play 2 of the top-5
- Washington is only scheduled to play one of the top-5
- Oregon is scheduled to play four of the top-7 but has only played two so far
I've long been a proponent of the reality that the best team simply doesn't always win. There are upsets. Teams have bad days. Teams have good days. HFA is a real thing and it really matters. Trap games happen. All of that is to say that a single game shouldn't be relied on too heavily when ranking teams but we are kinda forced to because there aren't other games among top teams to either confirm or reject our conclusions based on the one.
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Afro & I would swap 9 & 10
ya well scoreboard says otherwise
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IMHO the "Win next week" caveat is unnecessary.
Unless tOSU was resting everyone maybe but that ain't happening in AA. The Hoosiers/Ducks win out and they'd be in the Big Ten CCG if tOSU drops a duece.So tOSU would back into the CFB POs but things get dicey.Not exactly a momentum or confidence builder with a much younger team than last season MUCH
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1. Ohio State
2. Indiana
3. fOregon
4. USC
5. Iowa
6. Michigan
7. Washington
8. Illinois
9. Northwestern
10. Minnesota
11. Nebraska
12. Penn State
13. Rutgers
14. UCLA
15. Maryland
16. Wisconsin
17. Purdue
18. Michigan State