Big Ten Power Rankings Week 8: Purdue and Maryland Rise, Northwestern Falls
Saturday Blitz Big Ten Power Rankings Week 8
The Iowa Hawkeyes are simply another Big Ten team that is overrated with a 5-2 record, gained by beating up on cupcakes. Against the only two decent teams they have played all year, they lost. And they got throttled by Maryland. The game was a much bigger blowout than the score indicated.
Kirk Ferentz’s team is more of a passing team this year, evolving like the rest of the Big Ten, and the defense is decent, only allowing 22 points per game. But the defense still gets exposed against decent teams, allowing 31 points to Maryland (one touchdown was off of a turnover), and it still can’t score a lot against decent teams. Maryland spotted one touchdown to Iowa, and a field goal came after recovering an onside kick.
Luckily for this team, the easy schedule that got them to 5-2 should be enough to get them to 6 wins. That’s because Illinois is still on the schedule. And Wisconsin and Northwestern aren’t great teams, so either one of those could be wins. This team has a chance at an 8-4 season, but it isn’t great.
That’s why we have them in the bottom half of the Big Ten.