All season, I’ll be ranking the teams in the Big Ten from one to Maryland. To see my predictions for how the season will play out, click here.
As always, if you think I’m right, wrong, or clinically insane, let me know in the comments.
Prepare to disagree…
- Ohio State – Yeah, I know the Buckeyes are still not clicking on all cylinders. But a game with Maryland should be a good way to work out some of the kinks.
- Michigan State – What do the Spartans have to do to jump Ohio State? For starters, they can avoid falling asleep at the wheel like they did with Purdue. They were probably looking ahead to Rutgers. Put away the lesser teams and move on.
- Northwestern. Northwestern is off to an amazing start, and a shutout over Minnesota makes them the current best of the West. Now the challenge is to keep that title over their next three games (at Michigan, Iowa, at Nebraska).
- Michigan. I thought about having the Wolverines at #3, but gave the nod to Northwestern for their overall body of work. Besides, blowing out Maryland isn’t exactly newsworthy. Beat the Wildcats and we’ll talk.
- Iowa. Who is this team, and what have they done with Ferentz’s Follies? I’m not sold on Iowa in the long-term, but give them credit for what they’ve done so far.
- Indiana. Was taking Ohio State deep into the fourth a sign of progress or a fluke? For progress, the Hoosiers will need to beat Penn State this week, not just play them close.
- Wisconsin. The injury bug has hit the Badgers hard. Fortunately, their next four opponents (NU, Purdue, Illinois, Rutgers) are a combined 9-7, with Illinois having the best record of the bunch.
- Illinois. Give credit to the Illini for hanging around and finding a way to beat Nebraska. But they’ll need to play better for the other 59 minutes to beat Iowa.
- Minnesota. Minnesota’s total points in 2015 (77) will likely be matched by Baylor when they play Kansas this weekend. The lack of offense at Minnesota is startling – even by Big Ten standards.
- Penn State. I continue to be underwhelmed by what I see out of Penn State. I’m not sure if that will change this year.
- Nebraska. You have to go back a long ways to find a more surprising and painful conference loss than Illinois. The Huskers must bounce back, and quick.
- Purdue. Credit to the Boilers for not quitting against Michigan State. If they can score 21 point this week, they’ll have a great chance against Minnesota.
- Rutgers. Lee Barfknecht of the Omaha World-Herald had a great line on Saturday: “Rutgers is idle, and should remain that way.” No arguments here.
- Maryland. The Terps should be thankful that Hurricane Joaquin knocked them out of prime time. Maryland’s three losses have been by 21, 39, and 28 points. On a related note, South Florida (who Maryland beat by 18) must be a horrible team.
Feit Can Write 