After a tough road win against Iowa, Wisconsin football is looking to rise in the Big Ten power rankings.
The Big Ten has been as much of an up-and-down conference as one could possibly be through four weeks. Several teams have been upset or lost key games and only a few have really stood out as great teams.
Wisconsin football has contributed to the ‘down’ part of the up-and-down with its loss to BYU two weekends ago. The Badgers bounced back and won a huge game in Iowa City against the Hawkeyes, a game a lot of people thought Wisconsin would lose. Whether that game will be enough to change Wisconsin’s image to the greater college football public is something we’ll find out as its next game with Nebraska approaches.
The Big Ten isn’t alone with its extreme variance throughout the early part of the season. The ACC is in rough shape after Miami and Florida State are off to slow starts. The Pac 12 is missing a serious front-runner without a key win for Washington or USC. Stanford looks good but needed a miracle to steal a win against Oregon. The Big 12 might be in the best shape of all the non-SEC conferences. As usual, the SEC looks great again. Shocking.
The Big Ten will have the game of the year so far when Ohio State goes to Penn State this weekend. If the game is great as it has been in recent years, it’ll go a long way in salvaging the Big Ten’s image. Wisconsin and Michigan play in a few weeks and have a chance to do much of the same.
The middle and bottom of the Big Ten have shown few bright spots. There are chances for those programs to climb the ranks still. Purdue is coming off a big win over ranked Boston College and Maryland’s win over Texas in week one looks better and better by the day.
But where do these teams fall in comparison to their peers? This week’s power rankings go ten deep as we really try to sort things out.