At long last, Big Ten football is officially back. And so is our weekly power rankings.
Big Ten football returned this week with all 14 teams making their season debuts from Thursday to Sunday. There were some mixed results across the board, with most teams taking care of business while some were upset — looking at you Purdue.
Buy Spartans TicketsMichigan State was one of the teams that took care of business in earning a 31-7 victory over Central Michigan on Friday night. It was a sluggish start, but the Spartans pulled away in the second half for a comfortable win.
So where do the Spartans stack up compared to their conference peers? See below in our first batch of Big Ten football power rankings:
14
Northwestern
Record: 0-1 (0-1 in Big Ten)
This week’s result: Loss at Rutgers
Next Game: UTEP on September 9
Northwestern opened the season with a disappointing showing against Rutgers but I don’t think many were too surprised. Entering the season I expected the Wildcats to be a near lock for our bottom spot in the power rankings for most of the season and that was further proven in Sunday’s near-shutout loss at Rutgers.
13
Purdue
Record: 0-1 (0-0 in Big Ten)
This week’s result: Loss vs. Fresno State
Next Game: at Virginia Tech on September 9
The Ryan Walters era did not get started off on the right foot. The Boilermakers let a second-half lead slip away in a non-conference loss against Fresno State in their season-opener. Next week won’t be any easier when they travel to Virginia Tech.
12
Indiana
Record: 0-1 (0-1 in Big Ten)
This week’s result: Loss vs. Ohio State
Next Game: Indiana State on September 8
Indiana did a solid job avoiding a blowout season-opener against the Bukeyes — so there’s that. But that offense was downright awful and suggests things aren’t going to be much better this year for the Hoosiers.
11
Rutgers
Record: 1-0 (1-0 in Big Ten)
This week’s result: Win vs. Northwestern
Next Game: Temple on September 9
Rutgers looked dominant in their 24-7 victory over Northwestern to open the season. But it was also against Northwestern so I’m not going to give the Scarlet Knights too much credit here. Let’s see if they can have another strong showing this week against Temple before moving them up any higher.
10
Nebraska
Record: 0-1 (0-1 in Big Ten)
This week’s result: Loss at Minnesota
Next Game: at Colorado on September 9
New coaching staff but same result in the season-opener for the Cornhuskers. Nebraska outplayed Minnesota for most of the game but came up short in the final minutes — stop me if you’ve heard that before… I’m sure Matt Rhule and his staff will get things going in the right direction but this could be another tough year in Lincoln if this one is an indicator of what’s to come.
9
Illinois
Record: 1-0 (0-0 in Big Ten)
This week’s result: Win vs. Toledo
Next Game: at Kansas on September 8
Illinois needed late game heroics from new transfer quarterback Luke Altmyer to avoid an upset loss to Toledo this week. I’m actually high on the Rockets and that’s why I don’t have Illinois lower on my list. But it’s concerning to see their defense get gashed by Toledo in the opener.
8
Minnesota
Record: 1-0 (1-0 in Big Ten)
This week’s result: Win vs. Nebraska
Next Game: Eastern Michigan on September 9
Minnesota picked up a conference win so they deserve credit for that. But that wasn’t an impressive performance by any means and I personally left that game more concerned than excited about the Golden Gophers. Especially on the offensive side of the ball.
7
Maryland
Record: 1-0 (0-0 in Big Ten)
This week’s result: Win vs. Towson
Next Game: Charlotte on September 9
Taulia Tagovailoa was impressive in the season-opener, tallying four scores in the comfortable win over Towson. As it always is with Maryland, we really won’t know how good of a team they are until we hit conference play and they start to face tougher competition. So for now, they’ll remain right in the middle of the league.
6
Michigan State
Record: 1-0 (0-0 in Big Ten)
This week’s result: Win vs. Central Michigan
Next Game: Richmond on September 9
Michigan State had the season-opening jitters which resulted in a sluggish start. But the Spartans pulled away late to pick up the comfortable victory over Central Michigan. Should the Spartans really be this high? Probably not, but I also don’t think any of the teams behind them have the same upside as Michigan State which boosts them up to here.
5
Iowa
Record: 1-0 (0-0 in Big Ten)
This week’s result: Win vs. Utah State
Next Game: at Iowa State on September 9
For a little bit, it looked like Iowa had solved its offensive woes and were going to be the dominant team I thought they could be. It didn’t last though, and again I’m concerned about the offense preventing the Hawkeyes from being a top-tier team in the Big Ten. We will see how they respond this week in a big rivalry matchup against Iowa State.
4
Wisconsin
Record: 1-0 (0-0 in Big Ten)
This week’s result: Win vs. Buffalo
Next Game: at Washington State on September 9
Like Michigan State, Wisconsin got off to a sluggish start in their season-opener but eventually pulled away to kickoff the Luke Fickell era with a win. The Badgers remain as the favorite in the Big Ten West Division for me, but this upcoming week should be more telling when they travel to Washington State.
3
Ohio State
Record: 1-0 (1-0 in Big Ten)
This week’s result: Win at Indiana
Next Game: Youngstown State on September 9
Ohio State is held to a different standard and quite frankly they didn’t live up to that in their opener. New starting quarterback Kyle McCord wasn’t impressive and that’ll have to change if the Buckeyes are going to come close to reaching their goals of winning the Big Ten and contending for a National Championship.
2
Penn State
Record: 1-0 (0-0 in Big Ten)
This week’s result: Win vs. West Virginia
Next Game: Delaware on September 9
Penn State looked impressive in a convincing win over West Virginia this week. Even more exciting for the Nittany Lions was play of new starting quarterback Drew Allar who threw for more than 300 yards and three touchdowns in his first career start.
1
Michigan
Record: 1-0 (0-0 in Big Ten)
This week’s result: Win vs. East Carolina
Next Game: UNLV on September 9
Michigan will open the season as our top team even though they didn’t look particularly overly impressive in their opener. Starting quarterback J.J. McCarthy was a definite bright spot, though, and if he can elevate his game to a new level then the Wolverines will be very hard to beat all year long.
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