Big Ten power rankings, week 1: Oregon Ducks looked unimpressive vs. Idaho
By Mark Knight
The Big Ten started the season on Thursday, August 29th and it started in a fairly lackluster fashion with three opening games. Two of the games were simply tune-up games as Rutgers was able to handle Howard 44-7, Illinois also dismantled East Illinois 45-0. It was that third game that the Big Ten, in Minnesota, was hoping to start with a win against a good opponent in North Carolina.
However, it didn't go according to plan as Minnesota lost 19-17 in a game that Vegas considered a push.
Going into Friday and the weekend the Big Ten was sitting at 2-1 in games with some trepidation but that Minnesota game would be the only loss of the week. The conference sits at a 17-1 record after week 1.
The most impressive win for the Big Ten happened in the final game of the week as newcomer to the conference, USC, was able to beat LSU in a back and forth match.
Big Ten Power Rankings - Week 1
1. Top Tier
1. Ohio State
The number two team in the nation did not show any signs of weakness in their warmup game against Akron.
2. Penn State
The Nittany Lions may have taken on the toughest matchup for a Big Ten team this week outside of USC and they were able to beat West Virginia in pretty convincing fashion.
3. USC
Impressive first-week showing against a good team in LSU should propel USC into the top-tier list. They were the only Big Ten team to beat a ranked opponent this week.
2. Good, Maybe Great? - Tier
Most of the teams will fall into this tier because this tier is mostly full of teams that played against opponents that didn't really give us a pulse one way or another. Impressive win and the roster looks good, but are they great? Not sure, yet.
4. Michigan
There's a lot of still unknowns with Michigan but the new coach got them a solid win against a Fresno State team that will be pretty good this year.
5. Washington
We may be the only place where you find UW this high, but we are a Husky site and they've always been underrated. Whether it's East Coast bias or just the fact that there were so many question marks entering the season. However, the pass defense was solid and the offense was electric. Are the Huskies great? We will see.
6. Iowa
A team known for their defense put up 40. Sure it was against Illinois State but it was still good for the Hawkeyes to show that they can score and plan to this season.
7. Maryland
Uconn was no cupcake school and maybe should be rated higher in this list. Of course, they were supposed to win by about 20 points so it was always supposed to be a win but a trouncing of 50-7 is impressive.
8. Nebraska
The Cornhuskers did what everyone thought they would do against UTEP. This week against Colorado will be more of a test. Is Nebraska going to be great this year?
9. Rutgers
One of the first blowouts of the week for the Big Ten. It's hard to really fault a team that puts up 44 and holds another team to 7 but they are at nine on this list because it probably should have been more. Howard is real bad.
10. Purdue
Absolute dominant performance against Indiana St. I want to keep an eye on these Boilermakers as maybe they have a surprise for the Big Ten this year.
11. Indiana
Similar to Rutgers, Indiana should have showed more against FIU. While it was still an impressive win (unlike Oregon), it didn't feel like enough to show what Indiana is actually capable of.
12. Illinois
The Illini isn't supposed to be a top-tier team in the Big Ten this year but they started the year off with an impressive shutout performance against East Illinois.
3. Unimpressive So Far - Tier
What can we say, this tier is for teams that were absolutely underwhelming in their opening game. Sure, they all won but it wasn't pretty.
13. Oregon
Ugly performance for the Ducks for a team that came in ranked #3 in the nation, they acted like they were playing some top 10 team in Idaho. Do we think Oregon will turn it around, probably, but they can't start higher than this considering how week 1 went. And they have to play a harder Idaho school in Week 2, Boise State.
14. Wisconsin
Only a two touchdown win against Western Michigan? Yikes. Not the start that Wisconsin was looking for, they looked dead all game.
15. UCLA
The Bruins barely, and we mean barely, won against Hawaii. While the Rainbow Warriors aren't a pushover, it should have been a two touchdown win for UCLA. Yet, they looked as dead and confused as DeShaun Foster's Big Ten opening press conference.
4. A Lot to Prove
16. Northwestern
This may be the highest the Wildcats are in this ranking all season. They barely, and we mean barely, escaped against Miami...not that Miami... Miami (OH). Yikes.
17. Michigan State
The Spartans looked the part of a good team to start the game. Then they went to halftime and came out and looked flat. They couldn't get anything going and allowed FAU to hang around. MSU only escaped with a 16-10 win. They definitely have a lot to prove under new head coach Jonathan Smith.
18. Minnesota
The Golden Gophers need to start at the bottom of this list with the only Big Ten loss in Week 1. They will certainly rise in these power rankings but 0-1 is 0-1 and truly they should have beat North Carolina.