The Big Ten only had one non-conference game this weekend and has been the trend with the conference, it anything to brag about as 3-1 Purdue beat 2-3 Marshall of Conference-USA 51-41 in West Lafayette.
There are only two unbeatens in the conference now after 3-2 Iowa upended then 4-0 Minnesota 31-13. Ohio State survived a visit to East Lansing in beating Michigan State 17-16 to improve to 5-0. The same could be said of Northwestern, who pulled away late to defeat Indiana 44-29. Penn State won their third in a row, dismantling Illinois 35-7. Lastly, in what was the game of the week in the conference, Nebraska came back from 17 down to defeat Wisconsin 30-27, which sets up for a great match-up for next Saturday night when the Huskers visit Columbus to take on the Buckeyes of Ohio State.
Also next week, Northwestern will go on the road to face the suddenly hot Penn State Nittany Lions. Michigan will travel to West Lafayette to face Purdue. Michigan State and Indiana will square off in Bloomington, as will Illinois and Wisconsin in Madison. Iowa and Minnesota will have the week off.
To this point in the season, I'd have to say that the SEC, Big XII and Pac-12 are substantially better than the Big Ten. How the Big Ten compares to the ACC and Big East is debatable. On paper, the Big East appears to be the worst of the major conferences. However, Rutgers, Cincinnati and Louisville are all unbeaten at this point in the season. Connecticut appears to be mediocre with a shot at going bowling at season's end. Syracuse, Pittsburgh and South Florida appear to be better than their combined 5-8 record would indicate. The ACC looks extremely top heavy, with Florida State ranked in the top 5 and Clemson not far behind. However, after that is where things get murky. Virginia Tech has lost twice to Big East teams this year - Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. Georgia Tech appeared to be improving defensively until they allowed 49 points in their 49-28 loss to Middle Tennessee State yesterday to drop them to 2-3 on the year. Miami (Florida) is 4-1 and appear to be loaded with talent and speed (what else is new?), but the jury is still out on how good of a team they are. Honestly, though, outside of Florida State and Clemson, the jury is out on every other team in the conference. Duke (4-1), Miami (Florida) (4-1), North Carolina (3-2), North Carolina State (3-2), Virginia Tech (3-2), Wake Forest (3-2), Maryland (2-2), Georgia Tech (2-3), Virginia (2-3) and Boston College (1-3) - not one of them appears to be a "bad" team, yet I don't know if there's a top 25 team among them. So while there appears to be three top 25-caliber teams in the Big East (Rutgers, Cincinnati and Louisville), but no top 10-quality teams, there appears to be two top 25-caliber clubs in the ACC and both of them of the top 10 variety (Florida State and Clemson). In the Big Ten, Illinois appears to be the only "bad" team to this point in the season. Minnesota may be 4-1, but those wins came by a combined 15 points against the likes of UNLV, Western Michigan and Syracuse, along with a victory over I-AA New Hampshire. I have a feeling that 31-13 loss to Iowa yesterday will be the start of a trend and I predict the Gophers will be 4-5 when the go head-to-head with Illinois and that they'll finish 5-7. Indiana doesn't appear to be a bowl-savvy team either. The conference appears to be more bottom heavy than either the ACC or Big East, not as top heavy as the ACC, but perhaps a bit stronger in between. To this point in the season, Ohio State appears to be the best, most balanced team in the conference, yet they had a difficult time with 1-4 California, with winless UAB and also snuck past 3-2 Michigan State yesterday. The jury is still out on every other team in the conference: Northwestern, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin. Due to the ACC possessing two top 10-caliber teams, I think I'd probably rank them slightly ahead of the Big Ten right now and the Big Ten ahead of the Big East, but by not as large a margin as they'd like.
Unfortunately for the Big Ten, with most all of the non-conference games being out of the way, the only way they'll be able to improve their lousy image will be during bowl season, and that's three months away.
There are only two unbeatens in the conference now after 3-2 Iowa upended then 4-0 Minnesota 31-13. Ohio State survived a visit to East Lansing in beating Michigan State 17-16 to improve to 5-0. The same could be said of Northwestern, who pulled away late to defeat Indiana 44-29. Penn State won their third in a row, dismantling Illinois 35-7. Lastly, in what was the game of the week in the conference, Nebraska came back from 17 down to defeat Wisconsin 30-27, which sets up for a great match-up for next Saturday night when the Huskers visit Columbus to take on the Buckeyes of Ohio State.
Also next week, Northwestern will go on the road to face the suddenly hot Penn State Nittany Lions. Michigan will travel to West Lafayette to face Purdue. Michigan State and Indiana will square off in Bloomington, as will Illinois and Wisconsin in Madison. Iowa and Minnesota will have the week off.
To this point in the season, I'd have to say that the SEC, Big XII and Pac-12 are substantially better than the Big Ten. How the Big Ten compares to the ACC and Big East is debatable. On paper, the Big East appears to be the worst of the major conferences. However, Rutgers, Cincinnati and Louisville are all unbeaten at this point in the season. Connecticut appears to be mediocre with a shot at going bowling at season's end. Syracuse, Pittsburgh and South Florida appear to be better than their combined 5-8 record would indicate. The ACC looks extremely top heavy, with Florida State ranked in the top 5 and Clemson not far behind. However, after that is where things get murky. Virginia Tech has lost twice to Big East teams this year - Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. Georgia Tech appeared to be improving defensively until they allowed 49 points in their 49-28 loss to Middle Tennessee State yesterday to drop them to 2-3 on the year. Miami (Florida) is 4-1 and appear to be loaded with talent and speed (what else is new?), but the jury is still out on how good of a team they are. Honestly, though, outside of Florida State and Clemson, the jury is out on every other team in the conference. Duke (4-1), Miami (Florida) (4-1), North Carolina (3-2), North Carolina State (3-2), Virginia Tech (3-2), Wake Forest (3-2), Maryland (2-2), Georgia Tech (2-3), Virginia (2-3) and Boston College (1-3) - not one of them appears to be a "bad" team, yet I don't know if there's a top 25 team among them. So while there appears to be three top 25-caliber teams in the Big East (Rutgers, Cincinnati and Louisville), but no top 10-quality teams, there appears to be two top 25-caliber clubs in the ACC and both of them of the top 10 variety (Florida State and Clemson). In the Big Ten, Illinois appears to be the only "bad" team to this point in the season. Minnesota may be 4-1, but those wins came by a combined 15 points against the likes of UNLV, Western Michigan and Syracuse, along with a victory over I-AA New Hampshire. I have a feeling that 31-13 loss to Iowa yesterday will be the start of a trend and I predict the Gophers will be 4-5 when the go head-to-head with Illinois and that they'll finish 5-7. Indiana doesn't appear to be a bowl-savvy team either. The conference appears to be more bottom heavy than either the ACC or Big East, not as top heavy as the ACC, but perhaps a bit stronger in between. To this point in the season, Ohio State appears to be the best, most balanced team in the conference, yet they had a difficult time with 1-4 California, with winless UAB and also snuck past 3-2 Michigan State yesterday. The jury is still out on every other team in the conference: Northwestern, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin. Due to the ACC possessing two top 10-caliber teams, I think I'd probably rank them slightly ahead of the Big Ten right now and the Big Ten ahead of the Big East, but by not as large a margin as they'd like.
Unfortunately for the Big Ten, with most all of the non-conference games being out of the way, the only way they'll be able to improve their lousy image will be during bowl season, and that's three months away.
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