The B1G standings are becoming more clear as we ventured through another week of conference play. The thing that might be the most clear at this time is that the B1G is still really bad. Likely the best thing that happened on Saturday was Michigan’s dominating performance, but I already covered that so I will try to find some other encouraging outcomes from last week.
The Good:
Montee Ball is gaining confidence each week, and last week he busted out for 247 yards and broke the B1G record for career touchdowns. It is looking like Purdue is just not very good, but going for almost 250 yards is impressive against anyone. It will be interesting to see if he can turn things around to get back into the player of the year conversation.
Northwestern got a big road conference win against Minnesota. It doesn’t look like either team is great, but Northwestern is still in the division race after 3 weeks. This week will be a big test for the Wildcats against Nebraska. This falling under the good section is a pretty decent reach, so you can understand how little B1G teams accomplished last week.
The Bad:
Ohio State’s defense. The “best team” in the conference surrendered 49 points against Indiana. I know the Hoosier offense has improved a lot in year 2 of Kevin Wilson, but a top 10 team should not give up 50 points to any unranked team. They couldn’t tackle, they couldn’t get pressure on the quarterback, and they really seemed to miss their best linebacker Sabino. They will need to turn things around before playing Wisconsin, Penn State, and Michigan.
Purdue will fall under the bad section this week. Before conference play, many “experts” picked Purdue to make the B1G Championship Game this year, but so far they have lost 2 games by a combined score of 82-27. This is not the team that will be playing in Indianapolis, unless Hope turns things around to save his job.
The Ugly:
The Michigan State offense only scoring 13 points in a double overtime game against the Iowa Hawkeyes. This is the same team that gave up 32 points to a terrible Central Michigan team. I know Iowa has improved since that loss, but they do not look like a team that should be competing for a B1G title. The Spartans were likely looking ahead to this week against Michigan. They are going to need their passing game to step up in a big way if they are going to score points in Ann Arbor.
I would say that my conference rankings are as follows:
1. Ohio State (no change)
1. Michigan (up 1)
3. Penn State (no change)
4. Wisconsin (up 4)
5. Northwestern (down 1)
6. Nebraska (down 1)
7. Iowa (no change)
8. Michigan State (down 2)
9. Purdue (no change)
10. Minnesota (no change)
11. Indiana (no change)
12. Illinois (no change
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