Big Ten power rankings: Ohio State is really good again

Indiana may have been on a bye but we still have a lot to discuss this week.

Let’s get right to it.

14. Florida State

Hi. I would like to Talk About The Noles, despite them not being a B1G team. FSU has been really good for the past five years or so now. But when they lose under Jimbo Fisher, they tend to do so in dramatic, brutal fashion, which is always fun for a hater like myself. FSU fans are some of the worst on Twitter, Jimbo Fisher is Nick Saban without the charm, and the war chant is obnoxious. Watching them lose by 43 was wonderful. I guess recruiting rankings don’t mean everything, huh?

The Noles are honorary last place this week. No team deserves this more.

13. Iowa’s schedule makers

Iowa, why would you schedule a game against NDSU? You saw what they did to your in-state counterparts, as well as Kansas State, yet you still put them on the schedule thinking you guys would be the one to defeat this five-time FCS champion. “But all of NDSU’s other FBS opponents were trash,” they said. Well, the Bison came into Kinnick and won on a walk-off field goal. People are going to wonder for the next week how the Hawkeyes could have avoided this loss to an FCS opponent, but the way to avoid this was simple: Don’t. Schedule. North Dakota State.

12. Purdue

Lost to Bye Week, 24-7. Their game next week got moved from 3:30 to noon because lol there are no lights at Ross-Ade Stadium in the year 2016.

11. Rutger

For the second straight week, we spent about a half hour in our Slack chat making jokes about Rutger being down by multiple scores. Then for the second straight week, the Scarlet Knights coolly came back from behind to win.

10. P.J. Fleck

In only three weeks, Western Michigan head coach P.J. Fleck has victories over both Power 5 universities in the state of Illinois, and so he gets to replace both Northwestern and Illinois in the rankings this week.

In only three weeks, Fleck has as many Big Ten victories as Indiana had all of last year.

In only three weeks, Fleck has as many Big Ten victories as Darrell Hazell has had in his entire tenure at Purdue.

He’s about to row that boat into a Power 5 head coaching job.

9. Maryland

Won at UCF in double overtime. Now with two weeks to prepare for Purdue, there’s a very good chance that the Terps will start the season 4-0.

8. Penn State

Won at home by seven against Temple, so at least they got one victory against an in-state team. Can someone tell me why Joe Paterno was honored before the game though? There was really no need to do this, and it just brought back negative feelings from the scandal five years ago.

6 (tie). Indiana and Minnesota

Neither of them played this weekend, which always makes a team look better because they can’t screw up at all. The Gophers will host Colorado State next Saturday, while IU takes on 3-0 Wake Forest.

5. Nebraska

Had a gutsy win over Oregon, mainly because the Ducks couldn’t make a two-point conversion. Maybe Brady Hoke wasn’t the solution to Oregon’s defensive woes? Mike Riley gets another signature victory, and all of the sudden IU’s Homecoming game against the Huskers is looking a lot tougher.

4. Wisconsin

Won by only six points as Georgia State played the Badgers tough and even had the lead at one point in the fourth quarter. Wisconsin will have a chance to prove that the LSU win wasn’t a fluke when they travel to East Lansing next weekend.

3. Michigan State

How many games over the past couple years has Michigan State taken a big lead on an opponent and then almost blown it? I watched that Notre Dame comeback thinking I had seen a version of this game many times before, knowing that Sparty would still find a way to pull it out. Last week on the podcast, there was a discussion of whether or not MSU was actually any good. After the win over Notre Dame, I think they’ll be fine. That night game against MSU in Bloomington just got a lot scarier for Indiana too.

2. Michigan

Had a few scary moments against Colorado, but still ended up winning by a comfortable margin. However, it’s still enough to move them down a peg on this week’s rankings, because of how the team that replaced them at #1 looked.

1. Ohio State

Ugh. Well, they’re obnoxiously good again. The young Buckeyes destroyed Oklahoma in Norman, and it’s safe to say that this team will be up there with Alabama in the title race all season. After a bye, their next seven games are against Rutger, Indiana, at Wisconsin, at Penn State, Northwestern, Nebraska, and at Maryland. Other than the road game in Madison, there aren’t a lot of roadblocks – they’re staring at 10-0 before they face both Michigan teams to end the season.

Three non-B1G teams I liked

Louisville – Lamar Jackson is the real deal and had another amazing performance against Florida State, who they beat by 43 in case you haven’t heard. The Cards have scored at least 62 points in all three of their games so far. It’s safe to say they’re a playoff contender at this point.

Miami – The Hurricanes didn't have an easy draw going into Boone, North Carolina to play a feisty Appalachian State team that gave Tennessee a scare in week 1. But Mark Richt didn’t lose control, and the Canes won this game by 35. Miami could be an early ACC Coastal division contender.

Stanford – This just in: Christian McCaffrey is still really, really good. USC is not.

Three non-B1G teams I didn’t like

Ole Miss – FSU and Alabama in your first three games isn’t the easiest schedule, but blowing two 21-point leads in three weeks has to sting. This team is a Ponzi scheme.

Auburn – Remember when this team was fun to watch? Not sure what’s happened to Gus Malzahn’s offense in recent years.

Texas – Does anyone want to actually win the Big 12? Charlie Strong seems to have fixed the offense, but the defense needs work after giving up 50 in a wild loss to Cal in the #pac12afterdark slot.