Saturday Blitz Big Ten Power Rankings Week 7
The Wisconsin Badgers at least got back on track against Illinois. But they have yet to produce a quality win that makes us want to elevate them any higher in the conference, so we’re keeping them at 4-2 for right now. Playing LSU close doesn’t look great anymore, and losing to Northwestern is nothing to be proud of. With that in mind, it’s honestly very generous of us to put this team at No. 6 in our conference power rankings.
What we’ve learned about the Badgers so far is this: if they play a bad defense, the passing game might not look like the most pathetic attack in the country. Tanner McEvoy and Joel Stave have proven they can play against pathetic competition. Fortunately for the Badgers, Melvin Gordon and Corey Clement are so great at running the football, as is that great offensive line, that they are still good enough to beat quite a few Big Ten teams.
But they’ll have to prove it after this weekend’s bye. A home game against a different type of team in Maryland will start that off. A trip to Rutgers could be difficult too. And Nebraska and Minnesota are two of the last three games of the season. With those teams on the list, the Badgers could go from winning the Big Ten West to falling to 6-6 on the season. It all depends on how much of a burden the running backs can shoulder.
We’ll keep them in the Top 6 of the conference for now until they prove us wrong.