Conference Power Rankings: Big Ten Better than Expected in Week 1
2. Big Ten
This was a shocker. The Big Ten was supposed to be one of the lesser Power Five conferences, but it showed over the weekend it might be ready to regain its rightful place as one of the top two conferences. For starters, the new additions helped, with Rutgers, who is expected to finish at the bottom of the Big Ten East this year, upsetting Mike Leach and Washington State on the road Thursday night. Then Penn State pulled out a nice victory Saturday morning in Ireland against a school that is supposed to be on of the best of the non-power five teams in UCF.
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Ohio State’s win over Navy was a struggle, but that has to be expected given the type of program Navy runs and the issues facing the offense. Northwestern’s home loss to Cal was the only negative on the resume for the conference. Wisconsin showed late Saturday night that the Big Ten can compete with anybody, as they had LSU beat in Houston before the Tigers rallied, mostly due to poor coaching and quarterback play on the Badgers’ end.
Other possible good teams like Nebraska, Michigan, and even Maryland passed eye tests by blowing out their opponents. The SEC is still the toughest conference, but the Big Ten has earned the jump to No. 2 after proving over the weekend that it could potentially have seven or eight teams in the Top 25, like the SEC has now, when the season is over.