See if Ohio St., Michigan St. are Back on Top in Week 5 Big Ten Power Rankings
Saturday Blitz Big Ten Power Rankings Week 5
7. Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 4-1 (0-1), Defeated Tulane Green Wave 31-6 Last Saturday
Rutgers doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere. This team should easily be 5-0 right now and making a case as one of the top Big Ten teams, but a very unlucky loss to Penn State has the Scarlet Knights, the newest addition to the Big Ten, stuck at No. 7. It’s still going to be above Penn State, though, because that was a fluke loss, and the Nittany Lions look like they finally have gotten hit with reality.
The Scarlet Knights have used incredible balance to get to their 4-1 record, with Gary Nova throwing for 10 touchdowns and Paul James and Desmon Peoples combining for more than 600 yards on the ground. Nova could be a Heisman candidate right now if you take out the 5-interception game he had against Penn State. And the defense has been pretty decent as well, only giving up 21 points per game. Kyle Flood simply has a very good all-around team.
But don’t get too excited yet. After Michigan comes to town, the tough part of the schedule begins two weeks later with Ohio State, Nebraska, and Wisconsin in back to back to back games and Michigan State two games after that. Michigan and Indiana is a chance for Rutgers to reach 6 wins, and Maryland is tough but a chance for them to reach 7 wins. To do any better, an upset will have to happen.