Order is Restored. Ohio St., Michigan St. Move Up in Week 6 Big Ten Power Rankings.
Saturday Blitz Week 6 Big Ten Power Rankings
That’s right, without playing, we have vaulted Penn State up three spots. This decisions was based on what Northwestern did to Wisconsin. Clearly, the Wildcats are playing better than they were at the beginning of the year, and Penn State looks better for that after losing to them to Saturdays ago. Now, we can put them back ahead of Rutgers simply due to the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Christian Hackenberg, while a good quarterback, is starting to raise questions about his efficiency with the Nittany Lions. He’s putting up a lot of yards in a pro-style offense, but he has shown lots of inconsistency and an inability to finish drives, two things that led to the loss to Northwestern. That has to improve going forward with a roster that is still depleted. If Penn State wants to make noise this year in the Big Ten, Hackenberg has to improve, and they have to find a running game. The defense has been fine for the most part.
A road game against Michigan should be a circled win for this team unless the Wolverines magically find their rhythm, and then they get Ohio State and Maryland. The schedule sets up nicely for this team to have at least 8 wins, but they’ll have to play a lot more consistent than they have been.
James Franklin should be able to make that happen. Until then, they’re not in the top half of our Big Ten power rankings.