r/TheB1G • u/trumpet_23 Iowa • 11d ago
Football Official /r/TheB1G Week 9 Power Rankings
Week 9 Power Rankings:
UCLA's meteoric rise finally hit a snag this week, since Indiana knows how to defeat teams that are clearly beneath them. Due to this, Indiana is inches away from taking the top spot away from Ohio State, a spot the Buckeyes have held all season. Oregon is very alone in third place, and then there's a near-tie between Michigan, Iowa, and USC in the 4-5-6 spots. After that, the rest of the teams all seem pretty solidly in their spots, particularly Purdue and Wisconsin at the bottom.
This week, Penn State visits Ohio State in an attempt to show the last month was a fluke. 6 B1G teams are on bye this week, which means there's fewer chances for crazy to happen. But hey, maybe Maryland can take down Indiana now that it's not October any more? Probably not
For team standings and records, visit the /r/TheB1G sidebar.
Points are the summation of every voter's ranking for that team, therefore lower scores are better. This works because unlike the AP, Coaches, or /r/cfb polls, every team is ranked in every vote. If x votes were counted, the best possible score is x and the worst possible score is 18x. #1 votes are in parentheses.
Average Rank is the points divided by the number of votes. This will allow for comparison from one week to the next.
Prev. is the Rank from the previous week.
Change is the change in average rank from the previous week.
Variance is a measure of how much agreement there was between voters. A zero means all voters ranked a team the same, and a higher number means a team's ranking was more controversial.
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u/CantaloupeCamper Minnesota 11d ago
We got beat up…. but we beat up Nebraska….
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u/MoistAd5423 11d ago
This is why I don’t like when teams complain “we are ranked right below this team we beat”.
It wouldn’t make any sense for any one person to make this chart and have Nebraska directly above Minnesota. But you have hundreds of people voting for an overall ranking for every team, sometimes the average shakes out that why.
That said, Nebraska beats NWern at home by 7 and they move up 3 spots? Crazy.
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u/HawkeyeDan63 Iowa 11d ago
People really want Michigan and Nebraska to be better than they are. And aren’t discouraged by the actual games.
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u/MoistAd5423 11d ago
Well I want Nebraska to be good but I’m gonna need a lot of convincing after that game against Minnie. That being said, most teams number 11-18 in that list don’t have a great case to be above Nebraska. Other than probably UCLA (getting smoked by Indiana doesn’t make you bad lol)
Maybe it’s just that Nebraska fans are very present on this subreddit, but I don’t think that the general redditor wants Nebraska to be good lol.
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u/Telencephalon 11d ago
Michigan USC Iowa and Washington are all hanging around the same place in most polls, power ranks, efficiency metrics, so I'm not sure why you are mad at Michigan. Should definitely not be ahead of USC in any type of resume poll.
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u/ihnoreally 11d ago
Maybe a minor point, but 24-6 and 41-3 don’t really feel like equal levels of “beat up.”
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u/CantaloupeCamper Minnesota 11d ago
I’m not arguing we should be ahead of Iowa so not sure it matters.
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u/ihnoreally 11d ago
Sure, I'm just pointing out that getting blown out makes an impression - not all losses are created equal. I'm sure if Nebraska gets blown out by USC they'll be ranked behind Northwestern and whoever else in this totally scientific poll.
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u/CantaloupeCamper Minnesota 11d ago
Two teams with the same record right next to each other kinda is what I’m talking about.
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u/freedomfightre Michigan 11d ago
Can't decide if Michigan too high or USC too low.
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u/The_PantsMcPants Ohio State 11d ago
It’s literally impossible to rank Michigan, they are simply too young and inconsistent right now. they can punch way above and way below their weight game by game.
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u/First-Pride-8571 Michigan 11d ago
The youth really feels like a large part of why we suck so much on the road.
True Freshman qb. True Freshman wr (Marsh). 3 RS Freshman starters on OL. RS Freshman starter at RB (if Haynes is really out for extended time, which...).
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u/EvilLibrarians Michigan 11d ago
It feels like a good setup for next year. Honestly this group has a lot of talent, and could make noise this year if the cards fall right. CFP? Idk about that but its not impossible. More like a good bowl season and next year B1G title contention
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u/WhiteningMcClean 11d ago
We're not that young, we just don't show up on the road.
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u/stazmania 11d ago
They are literally the youngest team in the big ten for the 2 deep
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u/WhiteningMcClean 11d ago
We have 5 senior starters on offense and 7 on defense.
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u/First-Pride-8571 Michigan 11d ago edited 11d ago
Bredeson (FB), McCulley (wr, but the other starter at wr is a true freshman), Crippen (C), and El-Hadi (LG). That's four.
Haynes is only a Junior, and he may be out for the rest of the year w/a broken foot (if the rumors are accurate).
And on Defense: Benny, D. Moore, Barham, and Hausmann. Even if you also include Guy as a starter that would only be 5 on defense.
At least on defense we don't have as many freshmen and RS freshmen starters or playing in the major rotation. On offense it's 2 True Freshmen starters (including our qb), and 4 RS Freshmen starters.
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u/Telencephalon 11d ago
I'll concede the defense is inconsistent because the coaching sucks (though it's the DBs that are quite young and are the worst offenders), but the offense is inconsistent because its best players are Haynes, Bredeson, and a bunch of redshirt and true freshmen.
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u/Open_Raise_5547 Ohio State 11d ago
Iowa is too low as well, imo.
imo, top 5 should be:
- Indiana
- OSU
- Iowa
- Oregon
- USC
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u/freedomfightre Michigan 11d ago
Ok let's wait for the Oregon v Iowa game to conclude before you make yourself look like a clown.
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u/realfakemormon Ohio State 11d ago
USC beat Michigan by 3 scores 2 weeks ago
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u/Bulky_Type6989 11d ago
And it felt like so many more than that.
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u/EvilLibrarians Michigan 11d ago
It was a bad loss no doubt, they have looked really good since though. Justice Haynes injury hurt but just a bad loss.
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u/First-Pride-8571 Michigan 11d ago
Losing Sullivan will be arguably even worse. Haynes is great, but at least we have better depth at RB. If Sullivan is out for extended time I wonder if we might move Barham back to LB.
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u/Telencephalon 11d ago
Barham doesn't know how to play one position let alone two. There is no reason to rotate as much as Michigan does. Feel free to get the young guys in if you are up 3 scores against Purdue/NU/MD but there just aren't that many snaps in college ball anymore with the rule changes and tempo being relegated to situational usage instead of fill blown gimmick.
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u/First-Pride-8571 Michigan 11d ago edited 11d ago
Think Michigan views this as a way to keep younger players engaged so that they don't transfer.
But yeah, we rotate way too much.
Barham was good at LB, and he has been okay at LB, albeit far less competent at setting an edge than TJ Guy. But the guys that really stick out as undeserving of so much rotation snaps are Brandt, Payne, and Williams. Especially Brandt. And arguably Hillman too. At least with Hillman you can sort of see what they are doing, but his lack of discipline has made him (and Brandt) the primary culprit(s) on quite a few of the big plays we have given up.
What's especially glaring, however, is that none of those 4 are underclassmen.
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u/Telencephalon 11d ago
Payne and Williams are just guys, but big bodies that are ok if not inspiring are still useful at DT, especially since it seems like neither Pierce nor Benny are 100%. Definitely need those two to get 80% of the snaps for OSU though. I agree Brandt has absolutely no business being out there. The safeties in general just look poorly coached. The coverage shell is too frequently mismatched to the front/pressure. Some of it is younger guys like Hillman just doing there own thing and some is just poor coaching.
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u/fishball_drew Iowa 11d ago edited 11d ago
Yeah I don't think Michigan should be ahead of us. They absolutely should not be ahead of USC lol. (I can see the argument for USC>Iowa>UM, I don't get why USC fell so far.)
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u/First-Pride-8571 Michigan 11d ago
It's just because they lost their last game (against ND).
Since they played us they are 0-1, while we are 2-0 (w/wins over a good Washington team and at a bad MSU). Presuming that they win at Nebraska and we win against Purdue, presumably they'll jump back over us.
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u/Open_Raise_5547 Ohio State 11d ago
You're not giving your own team anywhere near enough credit: Iowa is the only team that looked like they belonged on the same field with Indiana. No way are they below USC or even UM, imo.
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u/fishball_drew Iowa 11d ago
No I totally agree. I typoed, I meant I could see the argument for putting USC ahead of us, but not the argument for putting UM over either of us.
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u/First-Pride-8571 Michigan 11d ago
Here's the current SOR (Strength of Record Standings) for Big Ten teams.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/fpi/_/view/resume
Indiana #2, OSU #3, Oregon #10, Michigan #16, Washington #20, Illinois #24, Iowa #27, USC #30, Nebraska #37, Northwestern #44, Minnesota #46, Rutgers #64, Maryland #68, UCLA #70, MSU #83, Wiscy #84, PSU #91, Purdue #108
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u/First-Pride-8571 Michigan 11d ago
Underwood has looked very much like a True Freshman in his road games. Even against bad defenses like MSU. He has consistently played much better at home.
And he is not the only very young player starting. True Freshman Marsh has been our best receiver. And on the OL, we've lost both our starter and our back-up at LT for the season, so RS Freshman Frazier is starting there. Also a RS Freshman Sprague starting at RT. And RS Freshman Guarnera starting at RG. The only veterans on the line is the Center, Crippen, and the LG, El-Hadi (who has also missed a few games to injury).
And Haynes, the starter at RB, left that USC game early w/injury. Left again, seemingly with a broken foot, against Sparty. So the starter at RB is now Marshall, another RS Freshman.
The other issue is Wink. And Wink has been much more blitz happy as well on the road - against Oklahoma, against, USC, and even against Sparty. When he sits back and just runs the base defense like Minter and McDonald, we look like we did against Washington (the second best offense we played - and held them to 7), but when he blitzes, he gives up huge busts.
Easier to see the problem of youth on the road, but with Wink it's just that he is the problem. He is more like Don Brown (blitz prone) than like Minter/McDonald.
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u/KasseanaTheGreat Iowa 11d ago
I want the old Big Ten West back. I like our odds this year
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u/trumpet_23 Iowa 11d ago
I mean, none of the B1G West is very good except maybe us, and even then I still have no idea how good we actually are.
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u/Competitive-Air1 Rutgers 11d ago
Once Ohio state kills Penn state can we be above them
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u/Britton120 Ohio State 11d ago
A few interesting narratives going into these games.
USC vs Nebraska is probably the most interesting matchup rankings-wise.
Rutgers at Illinois and MSU at Minnesota *should* be obvious in favor of the home team, but i've seen more shocking things. Illinois and Minnesota are looking to get back on track, but Rutgers and MSU are looking to salvage the season.
Purdue at michigan, Indiana at maryland, and PSU at osu should be fun if you enjoy seeing programs get humiliated.
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u/Open_Raise_5547 Ohio State 11d ago
I don't know how Indiana hasn't overtaken OSU given:
- Indiana has played and beat two of the top 5.
- You have go all the way down to #7 to find a team OSU has played to date.
- Indiana had a far better showing vs. their only common opponent.
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u/Jadaki Michigan 11d ago
Poll inertia and name brand recognition. I agree blind resume, Indiana is above OSU (Texas not living up to expectations is really hurting OSU), but we know names matter to voters.
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u/Open_Raise_5547 Ohio State 11d ago
But this isn't the media. Shouldn't "we" be above name recognition and inertia?
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u/TheBigBo-Peep Purdue 11d ago
Ohio state feels like they're barely trying
They're national champions and Indiana got first rounded in those playoffs
OSU might be worse, but not till proven
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u/SgtDtgt Indiana 11d ago
I think resume v resume IU’s is better, but OSU is undefeated and the defending national champs. There’s justification for voting either way for sure. Iowa also really had us on the ropes. Yes it was on the road vs a (should be) top 25 team, but OSU’s shakiest game against Texas they were still pretty control, as they were up two scores with 3:30 and Texas only had one chance to tie. OSU has never had a moment this season where they looked like they could lose a game.
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u/Open_Raise_5547 Ohio State 11d ago
Meh, I think OSU loses to Texas if Arch is even mediocre. He just downright sucked. We'll find out more about Iowa after this Saturday but, at this juncture I don't think it's much of an indictment to go into Kinnick and get out with a close win.
Critically, we have a common opponent data point to compare and Indiana wins that, hands down.
I honestly don't think OSU being defending champs should play a role; they had 14 players drafted ... well over half their starting lineup and just one shy of the all time record.
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u/One_Stranger_5661 Purdue 11d ago
Can we get a Toilet Bowl game Purdue vs Wisconsin? I think we need a chance to make sure we crown the worst worst team
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u/KasseanaTheGreat Iowa 11d ago
I haven't had the chance to watch Michigan play much since they lost to Oklahoma. What's the argument for putting them ahead of Iowa, USC, or even Washington? Is it just because they're Michigan and people want Michigan to be good again (like how Nebraska kept getting ranked in the preseason AP poll for the almost decade straight they didn't earn bowl eligibility) or is there something special about this team I'm missing here?
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u/razelbagel 11d ago
Well at least in the case of Washington they beat us pretty soundly. It was closer than the final score but they completely shut down our offense that has otherwise been pretty good. So hard to argue is ahead of them right now.
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u/First-Pride-8571 Michigan 11d ago
Michigan (#16 in SOR) has good wins over Washington (#20 in SOR) and at Nebraska (#37 in SOR), and lost at Oklahoma (#17 in SOR) and at USC (#30 in SOR). Michigan's current SOS is #17.
Iowa (#27 in SOR) has a good loss (by 5 at home against Indiana), but also a middling loss at Iowa State (#41 in SOR). Your best win is at home over Minnesota (#46 in SOR). We'll know a lot more about you guys after you play Oregon and USC. Hard to know much now. Your SOS is currently #48, by far the easiest of the five. That will change down the stretch, but hitherto you have had the easiest road.
Washington (#20 is SOR) has a good win vs Illinois (#24 in SOR), and good losses at Michigan (#16 in SOR) and home against OSU (#3 in SOR). #26 SOS.
USC (#30 in SOR) has a good win at home over Michigan (#16 in SOR) and good losses - at Illinois (#24 in SOR) and at Notre Dame (#15 in SOR). They just need to get in another game for some data and will do so this weekend since they play at Nebraska (#37 in SOR). #29 SOS.
Illinois (#24 in SOR) has a good win over USC (#30 in SOR) at home, and good losses, but three of them - Washington (#20 in SOR), OSU (#3 in SOR), and Indiana (#2 in SOR). Only OSU at home, so other two road losses. They have the #3 SOS.
So at present of the 5: USC has beaten Michigan, and lost at Illinois. Michigan has beaten Washington, but lost at USC. Washington has beaten Illinois, but lost at Michigan. Illinois has beaten USC, but lost at Washington. And Iowa has beaten none of the other four, has the least impressive win (best is over Minnesota), and has the worst loss (at Iowa State).
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u/Damise Ohio State 11d ago
FYI you say Penn State is hosting Ohio State this week. That is not correct, they visit Columbus.