Wisconsin football beat up on another cupcake last weekend.
The Big Ten brings out the hottest of takes in sports fans. It’s either an overrated conference or the best conference in football. There is seldom an in between. The programs are polarizing and results vary. Unfortunately for Wisconsin football, it gets stuck in the middle of everything.
We came into the year with expectations of potentially five Big Ten teams competing for a College Football Playoff berth. Wisconsin, along with Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State all started the season ranked and had the talent to push for a championship.
Some slow starts have derailed those hopes to some, but the conference actually had a solid weekend in regards to those programs. All were victorious, but one. That’s Michigan State.
Sparty took a long road trip to Tempe, Arizona to face Herm Edwards and the Arizona State Sun Devils. The desert heat and the late start time weren’t kind to the Spartans. They lost the 16-13 snooze fest after giving up 13 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
The rest of the Big Ten outside of those first five teams had some less-than-stellar performances against some great and not-so-great opponents. Northwestern is off a strong week one win at Purdue but lost at home to Duke by two scores. And Purdue followed up that close loss with another loss at home to Eastern Michigan. Nebraska lost a heartbreaker to Colorado at home and Minnesota went down to the wire with Fresno State, but still pulled out a win.
Choosing a top five to fill out these power rankings wasn’t easy. I’m concerned as the rest of the season unfolds the Big Ten will only hurt its own reputation. For now, these are the top five teams in the Big Ten.