CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Five => Big Ten => Topic started by: medinabuckeye1 on November 15, 2019, 05:03:43 PM
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Link to last week's rankings (https://www.cfb51.com/big-ten/b1g-power-rankings-week-11-12115/).
Votes through @medinabuckeye1 (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=1547) , 16 voters:
(https://i.imgur.com/EL103dH.png)
Drop the high and low:
(https://i.imgur.com/eCzOfex.png)
Chart of rankings so far this year:
(https://i.imgur.com/QRyfLVf.jpg)
Change since the preseason, aka the COTY prediction chart:
(https://i.imgur.com/lavG9HD.jpg)
Vote distribution:
(https://i.imgur.com/d99DZi0.jpg)
Schedule/performance table:
(https://i.imgur.com/Rh1FPgx.png)
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I am not sure if this week settled anything except it helps support my theory that there is not a big difference between my #2 to #6 teams. But I believe there are enough nuggets out there to support my thought that Wisconsin is the best of the bunch behind OSU.
Minny seemed to have its worst day since its early season struggles. Not sure if I should bump them down too far for their first loss. PSU probably should get credit for having the only road win against my top 6, but PSU did not look that great this week against a decent but not great Indy. Michigan seems to be getting better and would probably play Wiscy much closer in a rematch. It feels like the teams are tightening instead of separating.
1. OSU
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2. Wisc
3. Minn
4. PSU
5. Mich
6. Iowa
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7. Indy
8. ILL
9. MSU
10. Pur
11. Neb
12. NW
13. MD
14. Rut
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1) Ohio State
2) Penn State
3) Wisconsin
4) Michigan
5) Iowa (+1)
6) Minnesota (-1)
7) Indiana
8) Illinois
9) Michigan State
10) Maryland
11) Purdue
12) Nebraska
13) Northwestern
14) Rutgers
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1. Ohio State
2. Minnesota
3. Wisconsin
4. Penn State
5. Michigan
6. Iowa
7. Indiana
8. Illinois
9. Michigan State
10. Purdue
11. Nebraska
12. Maryland
13. Northwestern
14. Rutgers
Moved Wisconsin from 4 to 3; Penn State down from 3 to 4.
It may seem illogical. #2 -#6 are in virtual equipoise with Iowa at the bottom because Iowa was defeated by 3 of the 4. Wisconsin did not play Penn State. Penn State's result with Indiana suggests Penn State may not be a s good as previously thought. Yet, Penn State defeated Iowa and Michigan. Minnesota defeated Penn State, and since Penn State did not play Wisconsin, I am subordinating Penn State to Minnesota and Wisconsin, considering Iowa defeated Minnesota, and was defeated by Wisconsin.
Indiana isn't invited to the upper-tier party because they benefitted from a soft West Division schedule. Indiana played Nebraska (winning by 7), and Northwestern (winning in a blowout). Indiana finishes with Purdue. Not to mention that Indiana was defeated by MSU, albeit not convincingly. I will give Indiana a formal invite to the upper-tier if they defeat Michigan next week.
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Yeah, the Wisconsin conundrum really throws a wrench into the mix. You could make a case that they should be ranked at the top of group 2-6 with the wins over Michigan and Iowa. But you could also make a case that they should be at the bottom because they are the only ones to lose to a team outside of the top six. I'm gonna have to sleep on this one.
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1. OSU - If they have a weakness, I haven't seen it
2. Michigan - They've figured out the new offense
3. Wisconsin - Not as good as the win against UM and not as bad as the loss against OSU
4. Minnesota - Fun team to watch
5. Penn State - No idea how they only have one loss, gonna get trucked next weekend
6. Iowa - Where dreams die
7. Indiana - Always the bridesmaid, never the bride
8. Illinois
9. MSU
10. Purdue
11. Nebraska
12. Maryland
13. Northwestern
14. Rutgers
With unbalanced conference schedules, records can be deceiving. I ranked them based on who I would least want to play on a neutral field.
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Yeah, the Wisconsin conundrum really throws a wrench into the mix. You could make a case that they should be ranked at the top of group 2-6 with the wins over Michigan and Iowa. But you could also make a case that they should be at the bottom because they are the only ones to lose to a team outside of the top six. I'm gonna have to sleep on this one.
Perhaps not a factor to consider, but the Wisconsin-Minnesota game is in Minneapolis, and the Gophers are finally picking up fan support. I was a television fan today, but it seemed like there were a lot of Gopher fans for a game in Iowa City. I am guessing there haven't been so many Gopher fans since the 1960s.
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1) Ohio State
2) Penn State
3) Wisconsin
4) Michigan
5) Iowa
6) Minnesota
7) Indiana
8) Illinois
9) Michigan State
10) Purdue
11) Nebraska
12) Maryland
13) Northwestern
14) Rutgers
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1. Ohio State: Layups completed, bring on the beef.
2. Michigan: Maybe? Minnesota couldn't get past Kinnick, and behind OSU we have this group of very good teams and trying to parse them out is difficult. Michigan has a strong defense and is getting something out of their offense, so to me they look like the toughest out right now.
3. Minnesota: Not going to kill them for losing at Kinnick, and they competed quite well after going down early. They also outgained Iowa by 150 yards. So not a terrible performance, and they are still a strong team, and they need to get past Northwestern before a showdown with Wisconsin.
4. Wisconsin: Not their best defensive performance, and Jack Coan is officially pedestrian. But they still run the ball down your throat until you give.
5. Penn State: Again, teams 2-5 are extremely close. But Penn State looked straight up bad in their secondary. They struggle to get pressure and struggle to defend, and now they get OSU. The offense looked strong, and they will need a repeat of those long drives to get past the Buckeyes.
6. Iowa: Nice win for the Hawkeyes, who are a tick behind the 2-5 group. They still had less than 300 yards of offense.
7. Indiana: Hoosiers were this close to pulling an upset, but couldn't quite do it. Still, they have rounded into a good team, and Michigan should be on notice.
8. Illinois: The Lovie train loves you
9. Michigan State: Sparty not particularly good at anything right now.
10. Nebraska: Actually put together some offense against Wisconsin
11. Purdue: See you next year
12. Northwestern: Hey, touchdowns!
13. Maryland: Meh
14. Rutgers: Scored more points against OSU than any other B1G team so far
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1. OSU - If they have a weakness, I haven't seen it
OSU's weakness has been sloppy play by the 2nd unit, and letting that sloppy play lead to garbage points.
Last week the Flex penalty lead to a Maryland TD (Guess Flex was called again this week in the state up North?)
This week blatant Offensive pass interference (OSU Defender was turned around both hands up going for the ball, the Rutgers Wide Receiver, was looking the wrong way, hand on the defender neck and slams him to the ground.) The call was so absurd the Rutgers coach doubled over in laughter. Again OSU 2nd tier defense couldn't recover and gave up a TD.
If an injury is to occur, will those sloppy 2nd tier players perform during significant points in the game?
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1) Ohio State
2) Wisconsin
3) Michigan
4) Minnesota
5) Penn St
6) Iowa
7) Indiana
8) Illinois
9) Michigan State
10) Purdue
11) Maryland
12) Nebraska
13) Northwestern
14) Rutgers
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1. OSU - If they have a weakness, I haven't seen it
2. Michigan - They've figured out the new offense
3. Wisconsin - Not as good as the win against UM and not as bad as the loss against OSU
4. Minnesota - Fun team to watch
5. Penn State - No idea how they only have one loss, gonna get trucked next weekend
6. Iowa - Where dreams die
7. Indiana - Always the bridesmaid, never the bride
8. Illinois
9. MSU
10. Purdue
11. Nebraska
12. Maryland
13. Northwestern
14. Rutgers
With unbalanced conference schedules, records can be deceiving. I ranked them based on who I would least want to play on a neutral field.
Welcome.
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1. Ohio State
2. Wisconsin
3. Michigan
4. Minnesota
5. Iowa
6. Penn State
7. Illinois
8. Indiana
9. Purdue
10. Michigan State
11. Nebraska
12. Northwestern
13. Maryland
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I really don't know anymore. #2-6 all seem too close to call at this point....with the home teams tending to get the edge in head to head matchups. That's why I have Wisconsin at #2. They have a pretty dominant win over Michigan.
1. Ohio State
2. Wisconsin
3. Penn State
4. Minnesota
5. Michigan
6. Iowa
7. Indiana
8. Illinois
9. Michigan State
10. Nebraska
11. Purdue
12. Northwestern
13. Maryland
14. Rutgers
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I really don't know anymore. #2-6 all seem too close to call at this point....with the home teams tending to get the edge in head to head matchups. That's why I have Wisconsin at #2. They have a pretty dominant win over Michigan.
This is also how I view 2-6, very close.
In games between them, the home team has won by one score with, I think, only two exceptions:
- Wisconsin blew out Michigan in Madison
- Penn State won a close game in Iowa City
Wisconsin has an offsetting bad loss to Illinois so I consider that to be roughly a wash, one good win and one bad loss.
For now I'm thinking:
Penn State first of this group due to the win in Iowa City and no offsetting bad losses.
Wisconsin second because that Michigan win was very impressive.
Minnesota third because they have matched the expectations for this group every week.
Michigan fourth because that loss to Wisconsin was bad.
Iowa last because they lost at home.
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1) Ohio State (1)
2) Wisconsin (2)
3) Michigan (4)
4) Penn State (3)
5) Minnesota (5)
6) Iowa (6)
7) Indiana (7)
8) Illinois (8)
9) Purdue (10)
10) Michigan State (9)
11) Nebraska (11)
12) Maryland (12)
13) Northwestern (13)
14) Rutgers (14)
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As others have mentioned, I can rank 2-6 almost any way within reason.
1. Ohio State - Not sure they'll even be challenged next week
2. Penn State - Only this high be default
3. Michigan - Dominant win, but the trip to Bloomington concerns me
4. Wisconsin - Not as dominant of late
5. Minnesota - Winning in Kinnick isn't easy
6. Iowa - They beat the Gophers but just barely and that's their best win
7. Indiana - They're the best of the rest
8. Illinois - Interested to see how they do against Iowa
9. Michigan State - It looks like they've almost given up at this point
10. Purdue - Still beat the teams below them
11. Nebraska - More competitive but another loss
12. Northwestern - Still terrible
13. Maryland - Still even worse
14. Rutgers - As always
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8. Illinois - Interested to see how they do against Iowa
I am too. Iowa just played two meat grinder games and Illinois sat and watched this weekend.
The thing that makes it tough for Illinois is that the game is away, and we all know what Kinnick is. If it were in Champaign, I'd probably pick Illinois to win. At Iowa, probably not.
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1 Buckeyes
2 Nittany Lions
3 Badgers
4 Gophers
5 Wolverines
6 Hawkeyes
7 Fighting Illini
8 Hoosiers
9 Spartans
10 Boilermakers
11 Cornhuskers
12 Terrapins
13 Wildcats
14 Scarlet Knights
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1. OSU
2. PSU
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3. Minnesota
4. Wisconsin
5. Michigan
6. Iowa
7. Indiana
9. Illinois
10. MSU
10. Purdue
11. Nebraska
12. Maryland
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13. Northwestern
14. Rutgers
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1. Ohio State - About the only thing surprising is that they did not cover the spread.
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2. Penn State - Here by default
3. Wisconsin - When they get the running game going like that, they are tough to beat.
4. Minnesota - Still have everything in front of them. Just win out and they are in the B1G Championship Game
5. Michigan - Still not convinced they have the offense figure'd out. Benefited from playing a MSU team that appears to have quit.
6. Iowa - Probably as good as in team in this group, but the breaks have gone against them.
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7. Indiana - I thought about including them in the tier above, but on second thought I don't think they could compete in that group.
8. Illinois - Bye Week
9. Michigan State - It looks like they are just mailing it in now.
10. Nebraska - Put up a good fight but just got beat down.
11. Purdue - Bye Week
12. Northwestern - Covered the spread on the money. Favored by 39 and hit that number on the head.
13. Maryland - Bye Wee
14. Rutgers - Showed some fight late in the game.
I will echo the sentiments of the others here that 2-6 are all very close and it's hard to sort them. I'm going by who I think would win on a neutral field if played head to head with the others in the group.
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Easy:
1) Ohio State: until someone proves differently.
Hard:
2) Penn State: not without flaws.
3) Wisconsin: Michigan blowout vs. Illinois and uninspiring defense of late. Wait until game 12 to sort it out? Probably. Allowed too much against Nebraska.
4) Minnesota: Better than I expected against Iowa. Ceiling? Could still be #2. Will find out in two weeks.
5) Michigan: solid performances, good short term arrows, still blown out in Madison. Not a trivial game in Bloomington, then the big show in Ann Arbor. Good luck.
6) Iowa: this team is a nice, solid Kirk Ferentz team. The kind you don't want to play in Iowa City with your season on the line. Sorry, Ski-u-mah.
Interesting:
7) Indiana: held up a lot better than I thought against a good Penn State team.
8) Illinois: also has flattering short term arrows.
9) Michigan State: expected loss to a better team; doesn't move either way.
10) Purdue: Big chance to make some noise this weekend, and needs the win to make a bowl game. Good luck in Mad-town.
Bad:
11) Nebraska: congratulations on churning out some yards on the ground?
12) Northwestern: bad.
13) Maryland: worse.
14) Rutgers: Rutgers.
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So many different ways to look at 2-6.
Wisconsin is 2-0 against the group, with a blowout win, but with the worst loss of the group, and a loss to Ohio State (but is the only one that has played OSU to date). I don't hold the OSU game against the Badgers, particularly in Columbus, but I do hold the Illinois game against them.
Penn State is 2-1 against the others, with a one-score win at home against Michigan, and a one-score win on the road against Iowa, the latter likely the more impressive. (?) And a one-score loss on the road at Minnesota. Hard to know if they are that good, or just got the bounces.
Minnesota is 1-1 against the others, with a one-score win at home against Penn State, and a one-score loss on the road at Iowa. So Penn State did better against Iowa, in Iowa City, but lost head-to-head. I think that puts Penn State on the high side there, but just barely.
Michigan: this is the real conundrum for me. 1-2 against the group. Bad loss in Madison. No sugar coating it. And lost to Penn State on the road by one score. Happy Valley is a tough place to play. One-score win against Iowa at home. Good blowout win over Notre Dame, which isn't in this conversation, but it was still a good win.
Iowa: only team to play them all, and 1-3, which kind of has to put it at the bottom. Nothing wrong with the one-score losses in Madison and Ann Arbor, but losing at home to Penn State was tough. Good win at home against Minnesota, but I'm sure the Hawkeyes were happy they didn't have to play another five minutes.
The two best wins in this group are Penn State at Iowa, and Wisconsin in a romp over Michigan. Wisconsin has the worst loss, the rest are all basically washes (one score on the road).
Ohio State (maybe) is the big winner here: it's only had one decent game this season, and that was at home against Wisconsin, where it smacked the Badgers around--not unlike what the Badgers did at home against Michigan.
The last two weeks are put up/shut up time for the Penn State, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota (and Ohio State). The first two get their shots at Ohio State, and Michigan gets it at home. Michigan doesn't control its destiny, but with Harbaugh's wins against Michigan State and Notre Dame, can he make it a trifecta and slay the Buckeye beast to go 3-0 in rivalry games? That would leave a sweet taste in Ann Arbor for the off season.
Penn State has a free shot at the conference title and the CFP--all it needs to do is beat Ohio State in Columbus, before it plays a scrimmage against the State University of Doesn't Play Football. So buck up, boys. It's time to play.
What if the Big Ten West really is the better division, outside of Columbus? Iowa is finished playing good teams, but can still screw things up against Illinois and Nebraska.
Minnesota still has a shot at the CFP--just beat Wisconsin at home, and Ohio State (or PSU--with a neutral field...would be an interesting rematch). The Badgers will come hungry for the Axe, but let's be honest, they haven't been inspiring since owning the state of Michigan.
And Wisconsin...will lose a rematch with Ohio State, but I expect whomever plays in Indianapolis to lose to Ohio State. Winning in Minneapolis is going to require a lot of pressure on the gopher quarterback. The Wisconsin D is capable of it, but will have to return to its early season form.
Although I don't think the conference championship will be all that interesting, the last two weeks of the conference season are better than usual.
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Late at the season I start looking at comparative results more closely. At this point each B1G team has played seven games so you can make a 1-7 ranking by looking at results against each team. Ie, against Ohio State:
- MSU lost to the Buckeyes by 24
- UW lost to the Buckeyes by 31
- RU lost to the Buckeyes by 35
- IU&UNL lost to the Buckeyes by 41
- IU&UNL lost to the Buckeyes by 41
- NU lost to the Buckeyes by 49
- UMD lost to the Buckeyes by 59
I've compiled that list for each B1G team then taken an average for each. To keep this totally objective I did not make any adjustments for games that were closer than the final score or anything like that. The only thing I did was to break ties based on HFA (ie, beating a team by 7 on the road is better than beating a team by 7 at home). Here are the averages for each team:
- 1.79 Ohio State: The Buckeyes were best against UW, IU, UNL, and NU. They were second best against UMD, third best against MSU, and tied for 3/4 against RU.
- 2.14 Penn State: The Lions were best against PU and UMD; second best against MN, M, and IA; third against IU, and fourth against MSU.
- 2.50 Minnesota: The Gophers were best against PSU and IL, second best against UNL, third best against PU and UMD; tied for 3/4 against RU; and fourth best against Iowa.
- 2.71 Wisconsin: The Badgers were best against the two Michigan schools; second best against tOSU; third best against Iowa and UNL; fourth best against IL; and fifth best against NU.
- 2.79 Michigan: The Wolverines were best against Iowa and RU; second best against IL and MSU; tied for 3/4 against PSU; fourth best against UMD; and sixth best against UW.
- 3.29 Iowa
- 4.14 Michigan State
- 4.43 Indiana
- 4.43 Illinois
- 4.93 Nebraska
- 5.29 Purdue
- 5.57 Maryland
- 5.71 Northwestern
- 6.29 Rutgers: The Scarlet Knights were worst against M, IA, IU, IL, and UMD; second worst against MN; and third best against tOSU.
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- Ohio State - 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1 - And now, the big games.
- Penn State - 2,2,2,2,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,4 - I said last week that I thought 2-6 were very close, that hasn't changed but PSU has a road win over Iowa.
- Wisconsin - 3,3,3,3,2,2,2,2,2,2,4,3 - I put UW second in the 2-6 group because their win over Michigan was impressive.
- Michigan - 4,4,4,4,4,4,5,5,4,4,2,2 - That beatdown in Madison feels like an outlier.
- Minnesota - 5,6,6,6,6,9,10,10,10,8,13,10 - No shame in a road loss within the group.
- Iowa - 6,5,5,5,5,5,4,4,5,6,5,6 - The win over Minnesota is nice but they still have a home loss to PSU.
- Illinois - 7,9,9,13,13,13,13,13,13,12,11,13 - Does anyone think they would lose to Nebraska if the two played again?
- Indiana - 9,8,8,10,10,11,11,11,11,13,12,12 - It is close between IU and ILL.
- Michigan State - 8,7,7,7,7,6,6,6,7,7,7,9 - I moved the Spartans down this week because they got blown out at Michigan and IU did better against PSU than they did.
- Purdue - 10,10,11,9,9,12,12,12,12,11,10,5 - Bowl plans still on life support.
- Nebraska - 11,11,10,11,11,8,9,8,6,9,6,8 - Bowl plans on life support.
- Northwestern - 12,12,12,8,8,7,7,9,9,10,9,7 - OOC wins over UMASS are not impressive, even Rutgers has one.
- Maryland - 13,13,13,12,12,10,8,7,8,5,8,11 - What happened to this season? Haven't I asked that about this team in previous seasons as well?
- Rutgers - 14,14,14,14,14,14,14,14,14,14,14,14 - It tells you everything you need to know about Rutgers to consider that their game against Ohio State felt almost like a win because they "only" lost by 35.
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SP+
1. OSU (1)
2. PSU (7)
3. Michigan (10)
4. Wisconsin (13)
5. Minnesota (16)
6. Indiana (20)
7. Iowa (23)
8. MSU (40)
9. Illinois (51)
10. Nebraska (55)
11. Purdue (61)
12. Maryland (80)
13. Northwestern (84)
14. Rutgers (110)
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7. Indiana
9. Illinois
10. MSU
10. Purdue
I read this as:
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correct
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Results posted, votes through me, 16 voters.
Changes this week:
- Wisconsin was up two spots in spite of a rather ho-hum win over Nebraska but note that they were only up 0.71 in average ranking it just happened to propel them up two spots because of how things stood.
- Michigan was up a spot on the strength of their blowout over MSU.
- Minnesota was down three spots after their first loss of the year but note that they were only down 1.29 it just cost them three spots because of where things stood.
- For the third consecutive week Northwestern and Maryland traded the 12/13 spots. I guess nobody was impressed with Northwestern's big win over UMASS.
The most interesting thing is how #2 through #6 shook out and particularly how close #2 through #5 are. Most of us (13 of 16) have Iowa sixth and the other three all have the Hawkeyes fifth so they are pretty far behind the 2-5 pack in votes but I think we all recognize that their losses to UW, PSU, and M were all by only one score.
The votes for second through fifth are all over the board.
The COTY chart is interesting, so much so that I plan to made a separate post (https://www.cfb51.com/big-ten/2019-b1g-coty/new/#new) about it.
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- OHIO STATE (1) - has anyone played a tougher 5 game finish to try and win a national title?
- PENN STATE (3) - I have no idea on #2-#6, so I'm defaulting to the Massey composite, sorry
- MICHIGAN (5) -
- WISCONSIN (4) -
- MINNESOTA (2) -
- IOWA (6) -
- INDIANA (7) - Indiana now without their starting QB and best WR< probably too much to continue their run
- ILLINOIS (8) - bye week
- MICHIGAN STATE (9) - didn't expect a win, but didn't expect the lack of fight
- PURDUE (10) - bye week
- NEBRASKA (11) - don't we all wish the Nebraska athletic department was our boss?
- MARYLAND (12) - bye week
- NORTHWESTERN (13) - along with Akron, probably the only FBS team I will give you exactly zero credit for beating
- RUTGERS (14)
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Updated Massey composite computer ranking, with 101 rankings (last week in parenthesis)
- OHIO STATE (1)
- LSU (2)
- Clemson (3)
- Georgia (7)
- PENN STATE (4)
- Alabama (5)
- Oregon (6)
- Utah (10)
- Oklahoma (11)
- MICHIGAN (15)
- Florida (13)
- WISCONSIN (14)
- Notre Dame (17)
- MINNESOTA (8)
- Auburn (9)
- Baylor (12)
- Cincinnati (16)
- IOWA (20)
- Memphis (18)
- Boise State (22)
- Appalachian State (-)
- SMU (21)
- USC (-)
- Oklahoma State (25)
- Texas A&M (-)
- 34. Indiana (34)
- 48. Michigan State (40)
- 51. Illinois (50)
- 74. Nebraska (74)
- 77. Purdue (77)
- 91. Maryland (91)
- 106. Northwestern (108)
- 117. Rutgers (118)
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Remaining schedules from toughest to easiest:
#1 Toughest, Ohio State:
- vs #3 Penn State
- at #4 Michigan
#2 Michigan:
- vs #1 Ohio State
- at #7 Indiana
#3 Purdue:
- at #2 Wisconsin
- vs #7 Indiana
#4 Rutgers:
- at #3 Penn State
- vs #9 Michigan State
#5 Northwestern:
- vs #5 Minnesota
- at #8 Illinois
#6 Indiana:
- vs #4 Michigan
- at #10 Purdue
#7 Penn State:
- at #1 Ohio State
- vs #14 Rutgers
#8 Minnesota:
- vs #2 Wisconsin
- at #13 Northwestern
#9 Wisconsin:
- at #5 Minnesota
- vs #10 Purdue
#10 Nebraska:
- vs #6 Iowa
- at #12 Maryland
#11 Illinois:
- at #6 Iowa
- vs #13 Northwestern
#12 Iowa:
- vs #8 Illinois
- at #11 Nebraska
#13 Maryland:
- at #9 Michigan State
- vs #11 Nebraska
#14 Michigan State:
- vs #12 Maryland
- at #14 Rutgers
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Results posted, votes through me, 16 voters.
Changes this week:
- Wisconsin was up two spots in spite of a rather ho-hum win over Nebraska but note that they were only up 0.71 in average ranking it just happened to propel them up two spots because of how things stood.
- Michigan was up a spot on the strength of their blowout over MSU.
- Minnesota was down three spots after their first loss of the year but note that they were only down 1.29 it just cost them three spots because of where things stood.
- For the third consecutive week Northwestern and Maryland traded the 12/13 spots. I guess nobody was impressed with Northwestern's big win over UMASS.
The most interesting thing is how #2 through #6 shook out and particularly how close #2 through #5 are. Most of us (13 of 16) have Iowa sixth and the other three all have the Hawkeyes fifth so they are pretty far behind the 2-5 pack in votes but I think we all recognize that their losses to UW, PSU, and M were all by only one score.
The votes for second through fifth are all over the board.
The COTY chart is interesting, so much so that I plan to made a separate post (https://www.cfb51.com/big-ten/2019-b1g-coty/new/#new) about it.
Thanks for the contributions you make here. I think it is remarkable how much the rankings changed for the teams from 2-13 over the course of the year. For example, Maryland started out as Maryland and then shot up like a lightening bolt, and is back to being Maryland, now. This is not intended to be a criticism of Maryland, and I have done no comparison to prior years, but it appears there has been a lot of movement in the middle which makes for an interesting season. Of course, it would be more interesting if there were movement at the top. It is the Big Ten, and we've had that in the past and then we don't have a representative in the playoff.
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Thanks for the contributions you make here. I think it is remarkable how much the rankings changed for the teams from 2-13 over the course of the year. For example, Maryland started out as Maryland and then shot up like a lightening bolt, and is back to being Maryland, now. This is not intended to be a criticism of Maryland, and I have done no comparison to prior years, but it appears there has been a lot of movement in the middle which makes for an interesting season. Of course, it would be more interesting if there were movement at the top. It is the Big Ten, and we've had that in the past and then we don't have a representative in the playoff.
I like doing the analysis so it is fun, I'm glad you appreciate it.
On the subject of movement, here is a chart that I keep but do not normally share. It shows each team's highest and lowest ranking and the variance between those. I have sorted it by variance so the team with the biggest variance (Maryland as you pointed out above) is first while the team with the least (Rutgers) is last:
(https://i.imgur.com/4zFJ2iF.png)
Maryland's best average ranking of 4.47 came in week 2. At that point they were tied with Penn State and only behind Ohio State and Wisconsin. Their worst average ranking of 12.57 was last week.
Minnesota's best ranking was right before the Iowa loss while their worst was after their opener.
Northwestern started out at 7.24 in the preseason and now they are down to where they have spent the last four weeks at 12.29-12.53.
Illinois' average ranking was 13 in the preseason and their best was last week.
Indiana's worst rank was right after their opener, their best rank was last week.
Nebraska's best ranking was their preseason ranking. Their worst was a few weeks ago.
Michigan State's best ranking was their preseason ranking. Their worst is the current one.
Michigan's best ranking was their preseason ranking. Their worst was after week 4.
Wisconsin's worst ranking was their preseason ranking. Their best was after week 4.
Purdue's best ranking was their preseason ranking. Their worst was after week 6.
Penn State's worst ranking was their preseason ranking, their best was a few weeks ago before they lost to Minnesota.
Iowa's best was after week 4, their worst was last week.
Ohio State hasn't changed much. Their worst ranking was their preseason ranking while their best is the seven weeks that they have gotten at least all but one of the #1 votes.
Rutgers has changed even less than Ohio State. Their best ranking was right after the opener and their worst is every other week.