Big Ten Football Power Rankings (Week 3): Illinois Makes Big Leap, Nebraska Moves Up
Both Nebraska and Illinois are on the rise after big wins over the weekend. The Huskers took down Colorado while the Fighting Illini knocked off Kansas.
Big Ten Football Power Rankings (Week 3): Illinois Makes Big Leap, Nebraska Moves Up
- Thread starter Tango Two
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Penn State 3 and Michigan 6 too high.Big Ten Football Power Rankings (Week 3): Illinois Makes Big Leap, Nebraska Moves Up
Both Nebraska and Illinois are on the rise after big wins over the weekend. The Huskers took down Colorado while the Fighting Illini knocked off Kansas.www.si.com
Indiana at 11 probably too low.
Washington at 15? Too low.
Maryland at 16 way too low.
Yeah, should have mentioned Oregon. Gave them a slight pass because Boise is always a tough team.
Illinois looked pretty good. Their defense is stifling.
Illinois is a solid team, but Kansas is a little overrated. You'll see more of what I'm talking about as the season goes on.
The love affair with them is a bit puzzling. I like their HC, and he has done a fine bringing Kansas to a respectable team. But the Illinois win was definitely more impressive than any win over Georgia Tech.
Actually surprised we moved up two spots. I would expect people to still be wait and see coming off the last 10 years.
Gotta love this.... score 77, against a team that hasn't won in 3 years, and you get praised for keeping your foot on the gas.
3rd team, true Frosh RB scores at the end of the game and you're piling it on.
3rd team, true Frosh RB scores at the end of the game and you're piling it on.
11. Indiana Hoosiers
- Record: 2-0 overall, 0-0 Big Ten
- Previous rank: No. 11 (no, change)
- Last week: Indiana 77, Western Illinois 3
- This week: Indiana vs. UCLA
- Location: The Rose Bowl in Los Angeles, Calif.
- Time & TV: 7:30 p.m. ET (TV: NBC/Peacock)
- The skinny: Indiana demolished Western Illinois to improve to 2-0 on the season, scoring a program-high 77 points in a blowout victory. But how much can we take away from it? The Leathernecks haven't won a game since 2021 — and that's at the FCS level. Indiana played a nearly perfect game on Friday night and should receive a lot of credit for keeping its foot on the gas. Now, Curt Cignetti faces his first real challenge as the Hoosiers travel to play UCLA.
I agree the Illinois win is more impressive than Ga. Tech. Illinois is okay, but don't get carried away with beating KU. Kansas is a middle of the pack Big 12 team. Kansas' defense is not good even by Big 12 standards. Illinois will get exposed in B1G play.
Strong possible/probable losses for Cuse are Stanford (underrated), UNLV, NC State, Va Tech (maybe), BC, Cal, and Miami. Hope they run that table and wind up 5-7 with no bowl, just because. But they could flip 2 or 3 of those, probably no more, and wind up 8-4.
It is a legit question of who should be ranked where from #5 down. Lots of options with unknowns. One could argue Oregon vs. PSU for 3/4, but it seems clear that the top four are those teams plus Ohio State and USC.
#5?
Nebraska beat Coach Hype. Yes, they protected the ball and forced two turnovers. The offense was shut out in the 2nd half. They had one nice drive that half, but only one other first down - and that was on a roughing the passer penalty. Ehhh...
Michigan just got their clocks cleaned at home (true, by a great team) and have a ton of new faces.
Illinois gets the ranked W with less than 300 yards of offense because they created four turnovers, including a pick six. Separation game for them on Friday 9/20 at Nebraska.
Rutgers takes Akron apart late 2nd through the 3rd Q. But the D has been less dominant than hoped through two games. Is that just because of a few guys being out? If so, how long until they return at full strength? First real test is still waiting.
Iowa blows a 12 pt late 3rd Q lead to their in-state rival. The offensive stats look about as bad as last season.
Wisconsin only wins over South Dakota by 14, and now Alabama is coming to town. Beatdown incoming?
#5?
Nebraska beat Coach Hype. Yes, they protected the ball and forced two turnovers. The offense was shut out in the 2nd half. They had one nice drive that half, but only one other first down - and that was on a roughing the passer penalty. Ehhh...
Michigan just got their clocks cleaned at home (true, by a great team) and have a ton of new faces.
Illinois gets the ranked W with less than 300 yards of offense because they created four turnovers, including a pick six. Separation game for them on Friday 9/20 at Nebraska.
Rutgers takes Akron apart late 2nd through the 3rd Q. But the D has been less dominant than hoped through two games. Is that just because of a few guys being out? If so, how long until they return at full strength? First real test is still waiting.
Iowa blows a 12 pt late 3rd Q lead to their in-state rival. The offensive stats look about as bad as last season.
Wisconsin only wins over South Dakota by 14, and now Alabama is coming to town. Beatdown incoming?
Nebraska calling themselves "DBU" now because they got a pick-6 again Sanders lolol!!!
Stanford is better than I thought. Don't know much about UNLV. I think NC State is not as good as last year, but they may be better than SU. IMO, Va. Tech is a toss up against SU. BC is going to dominate SU. Unsure about Cal, but Miami should beat SU. Overall, SU is .500 team that may be 1 or 2 games better or worse depending how they come out to play.
Ohio State and USC are the only teams in the B1G that act the part. Oregon may turn out not to be as good as advertised. Washington is 2-0, but more like a paper tiger. EMU played them closer than the score indicated. Michigan overhyped. PSU offense is so-so and their defense is average to below average at best. Rutgers has taken care of business, but need to get healthy and clean up a few things first to get into the top 4. Indiana will get a dose of reality once they get into B1G play. They will not be about to stand up to B1G team week to week with a bunch of FCS transfers. MSU is trending in the right direction, but might be a year or two away from return to glory. Wisconsin is on the decline as the team other B1G schools wanted to model itself after.
Jury is still out on NU. Defense is legit, but the offense still has questions and that may be the difference in 9-3 or or 7-5/6-6 this year. Not sure their passing game is strong enough to help the run game. I love their QB, but he's not ready to win a big game.
Michigan has a team worthy of the 2014 Michigan. They are talented, but just short of being Michigan the media wants them to be.
Illinois beat an overhyped Kansas. It doesn't make Illinois one of the better B1G teams. IMO, Illinois finish 5-7 or 6-6.
Iowa really hasn't improved. Their offense will cost them more games this year as the offense puts too much pressure on the defense.
Wisconsin is not going to get blown out by Bama as Bama is not Nick Saban or Bear Bryant Bama. Still, Wisconsin is a shell of itself. The Badgers are more likely to finish 7-5.
As a former CU player, it was lousy O-line play. 🥺
This.
Michigan is #11 or #12 at best.
We beat them this year….oh wait not on our schedule. Lucky for them.
Friendly wager?
I will eat crow live on this board if they win more than 8 games in the REGULAR season.
What you got?
Big Ten Power Rankings Entering Week Three
Big Ten Power Rankings Entering Week Three
18.) UCLA Bruins (1-0) UCLA gets dinged a bit for having played just one game, but the Bruins didn't do themselves any favors in Week 1. Chase Garbers completed
The most BS rankings with a little bias tossed in. The list is built around the name on the front of the jersey. Illinois is way overvalued in this ranking.
If we are too believe the ranking is accurate, we should beat Wisconsin, UCLA, Washington, Michigan State, Maryland and Minnesota. Add VT and that seven more wins on top of the two gives us 9 regular season wins. I’ll take 7 or 8 regular season wins.
Agreed that OSU and USC are head and shoulders above everyone else. After that good luck trying to figure out the B1G from 3rd place down. PSU will lose to both because Franklin can't beat teams with the same level of talent or more talented teams than he has, Michigan is a shell of itself, Oregon IMO is looking fraudulent, Iowa still has a dinosaur offense, Maryland is a Jeckyll and Hyde team as usual, etc.
Just to state the obvious, any ranking at this time of the year is mostly meaningless and for entertainment purposes only. Rankings shouldn’t begin until the first five or six games have been played. Bowl projections are even more ridiculous. Let’s check in with the rankings in early October to see how things could possibly shake out.
Scarlet Jerry
Scarlet Jerry
wager is on.
Like you said in a different post McCord wanted an easier schedule {?} and he certainly has that with Syracuse’s schedule this year. 8 wins is clinch (unfortunately) in 2024.
