Week 1 (and Week 0) is in the books. Let’s go with a completely unscientific, definitely biased, definitely emotional Week 1 league power ranking. Not a great week for the league overall. A few teams looked mostly good to great. A few teams struggled. One team face-planted. Another committed a felony. Not great, Bob.
1. Ohio State (1-0, 0-0)
The top ranked team in the country for a reason. They hammer teams like this for breakfast. Jeremiah Smith continues to be awesome and they chewed up Ball State for 237 on the ground. But what the hell – they gave up a field goal? Come on. They are immediately into the fire next week with a trip to Austin.
Week 2 – at #5 Texas (1-0)
2. Indiana (1-0, 0-0)
The defending champs didn’t miss a beat Week 1. The stats look a little odd in a 52-16 win – North Texas had the ball for over 37 minutes and had slightly more total yardage – but who cares? The game was never close.
Week 2 – Howard (1-1)
3. Oregon (1-0, 0-0)
This game, however, was close, and Boise State nearly won at Autzen as a 24.5-point underdog. This was tied mid-way through the fourth quarter before Dante Moore hooked up with Dakorien Moore on a 62-yarder to win it. They take a small penalty as a result in these rankings. I don’t make the rules on this.
Week 2 – at Oklahoma State (0-1)
4. USC (2-0, 0-0)
The Trojans sit at 2-0 after a Week 0 win over San Jose State that was attended by hundreds of people at the Coliseum. They followed that up with a 39-0 pantsing of Fresno State. And hey – this crowd shot looks like thousands of people!
Week 2 – Louisiana (1-0); this game will really help attendance in Southern California
T-5. Iowa and Penn State (1-0, 0-0)
These two are hard to separate. They were equally dominant in their 40-0 and 45-0 wins, respectively. Nice win for Penn State in Matthew Campbell’s debut. They had Marshall in a headlock all day. Ditto Iowa over Northern Illinois. Iowa has weapons this year, you guys. Everyone can retire the Iowa offense jokes from 4 years ago.
Week 2 – Iowa State (1-0) and Temple (1-0)
7. Nebraska (1-0, 0-0)
#8 in my rankings, Minnesota, was more dominant, but I have to be honest – this was a good win for Nebraska. I’m seeing a lot of negativity around Nebraska’s performance but I’m going the other way on this one. Ohio’s last 4 seasons? 10-4, 10-3, 11-3, 9-4. Ohio’s a good program with a winning culture. Sure, the Huskers had some typical Nebraska moments. Up 14-13 out of half, they immediately fell into a 3rd and 31 hole and Ohio took over near midfield. Ohio drove and had a field goal to re-take the lead, but missed a 45-yarder. Ohio got it back to 28-21 but it was an avalanche after that. Good win for Nebraska and I could make an argument to shoe-horn them in with Iowa and Penn State, but Iowa and Penn State were much cleaner throughout than Nebraska. They land behind Iowa and Penn State, but ahead of the next group that were all sort of around each other.
Week 2 – Bowling Green (0-1)
8-11. Minnesota (1-0, 0-0), Maryland (1-0, 0-0), UCLA (1-0, 0-0), and Washington (1-0, 0-0)
Kind of the same win across for Minnesota and Maryland. It’s probably a tad unfair to lump them in with UCLA and Washington but 1) the league is big now, and 2) this is already near 1,400 words. I guess UCLA was pushed some in late-night by Cal and the Apple Cup was in doubt until late in the 4th quarter, but Minnesota and Maryland both smashed cream puffs in Eastern Illinois and Hampton. UCLA notched a nice win over an in-state rival and a former Pac 8/10/12 counterpart. Washington struggled in the Apple Cup and watching that game on Sunday, it makes me feel better about Iowa’s chances out west. Washington has some young players in the trenches. Something to keep an eye on the second weekend of October.
Week 2 – Mississippi State (1-0), UConn (1-0), San Diego State (1-0), and Utah State (0-1)
12-13. Northwestern (1-0, 0-0) and Illinois (1-0, 0-0)
Neither were convincing, neither trailed at any point. UAB threw in a late, cheap touchdown with 5 seconds left to make that closer than it appears with Illinois. Northwestern will be chippy and tough, like usual.
Week 2 – Bye (someone already has a bye week??) and Duke (1-0)
14-15 Michigan State (1-0, 0-0) and Purdue (1-0, 0-0)
Sparty’s score was close but that was largely due to a couple of long touchdowns conceded. It’s a Pat Fitzgerald team – they’ll figure that out. Of course they will. As for Purdue…hey, not currently in the running for worst team in the league! Progress!
Week 2 – Eastern Michigan (1-1) and Wake Forest (1-0)
16. Wisconsin (0-1, 0-0)
That’s a tough spot, a season opener against a top 4 team. And for a half, Wisconsin looked competent. They outgained Notre Dame in the first half and held the Irish run game in check.
The second half turned into a laugher as ND eventually smashed Wisconsin into little pieces, 41-13. Now it’s a matter of, what is the actual level for Wisconsin? They looked better than they did a year ago when they were on the verge of quitting on Luke Fickell. The back end of the season was halfway competent, and this year the schedule is easier. So what’s the actual level? We’ll see.
Week 2 – Western Michigan (1-1)
17. – Michigan (1-0, 0-0)
We saw multiple crimes Saturday in Ann Arbor, Michigan. First is Bryce Underwood robbing Michigan of multiple millions of dollars. How many millions?
The second was, of course, the end of the game madness. More robbery. This clip from Joel Klatt and Mike Pereira is an interesting one.
So when in doubt, use the clocks on the broadcast so as not to create a conspiracy theory. Use the clocks shown to millions of people so as not to create a conspiracy theory. And yet, here we are. With more madness surrounding Michigan. Can they go awhile without some sort of controversy? Like, go one (1) week without controversy? From coaching scandals to off-field shenanigans with Connor Stallions to on-field goofiness with this, mystery penalties (onside kick versus Minnesota, anyone??)…endless controversy for the Wolverines.
Of course, it also would’ve been nice if, on 3rd and 2 before kicking the field goal to go up 12-7, Western Michigan’s center didn’t snap the ball off his nuts. If that play is executed, Western likely runs another couple of seconds off the clock and they win (OR, they get the necessary two yards and the game ends in a 9-7 win.)
Whatever the case, Boomer Sooner next weekend.
Week 2 – #10 Oklahoma (1-0)
18. Rutgers (0-1, 0-0)
Michigan stole the weekend headlines, otherwise this would’ve been the worst incident for the league in Week 1. In all seriousness, how is Rutgers in the league? How did this athletic department get a parachute into the Big Ten Conference? Rutgers entered Thursday’s game with UMass as a 29.5-point favorite. The Minutemen were on a 16-game losing streak – a span of 677 days – and hadn’t won a game over an FBS opponent since October 28, 2023. They hadn’t won a game against a power conference team since November 25, 1978. Surely the Scarlett Knights will rock their world, right? We’ll get fireworks post-game celebrating a win, right? RIGHT?
Get these guys the hell out of here. So programs that take this seriously – name literally ANY other program in the Big 12 or the Pac-12 or the ACC – struggle with the new rules as an entire department, while these jokers get the Big Ten money and then proceed to take a 16-point loss to a team that hasn’t won against a power conference team since the Carter administration? Please.
I hope getting the New York money was worth it. Which, I bet TV viewership was already huge in New York from the likes of Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Maryland, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana, Purdue, Michigan State, Illinois…
Week 2 – at Boston College September 11 (0-1)
