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B1G Power Rankings: Week 11

New format!

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Rank Team Record B1G Record Last Week Last Result This Week

1

#3 Ohio State 10-0 6-0 1 W @ Illinois 28-3 vs. #9 MSU
2 #5 Iowa 10-0 6-0 2 W vs. Minnesota 40-35 vs. Purdue
3 #9 Michigan State 9-1 5-1 3 W vs. Maryland 24-7 @ #3 OSU
4 #25 Wisconsin 8-2 5-1 4 W vs. Maryland 31-24 vs. #20 NW
5 #20 Northwestern 8-2 4-2 6 W vs. Purdue 21-14 @ #25 Wisconsin
6 #12 Michigan 8-2 5-1 5 W @ Indiana 48-41 (2OT) @ Penn State
7 Penn State 7-3 4-2 7 L @ #20 NW 23-21 vs. #12 Michigan
8 Nebraska 5-6 3-4 9 W @ Rutgers 31-14 vs. #5 Iowa (11/27)
9 Minnesota 4-6 1-5 10 L @ #5 Iowa 40-35 vs Illinois
10 Illinois 5-5 2-4 8 L vs. #3 Ohio State 28-3 @ Minnesota
11 Indiana 4-6 0-6 11 L vs. Michigan 48-41 (2OT) @ Maryland
12 Rutgers 3-7 1-6 12 L vs. Nebraska 31-14 @ Army
13 Purdue 2-8 1-5 13 L @ #20 NW 21-14 @ #5 Iowa
14 Maryland 2-8 0-6 14 L @ #9 MSU 24-7 vs. Indiana

Rutgers: The only reason that Rutgers did not move down after their awful loss against Nebraska is due to the atrocities that are Purdue and Maryland. Spoiler Alert: if the Scarlet Knights lose to Army, they will drop to dead last. However, let's not look ahead quite yet. Rutgers is nowhere near a quality B1G team, but they are also not the worst. There's your positive takeaway this week. Just imagine if they lost to Indiana...

Now on to the rest of the B1G:

Ohio State refuses to lose, so they will retain their top spot. Iowa also refuses to lose, but don't play a difficult schedule. They should be 11-0 heading into their season finale against 5-6 Nebraska, who I would actually pick to the win that game. Michigan State toyed with Maryland this week, but didn't choke. They remain top-10 in the CFP rankings, which gives the B1G 3 teams. Not bad. Wisconsin, Northwestern, and Michigan all played awful and all of them nearly lost to the 3 of the 4 worst teams in the conference. All 6 ranked B1G teams let far inferior opponents hang around in their previous games. If they want to go to the CFP, they are going to have to score some style points, because believe it or not, the committee actually looks for that (Iowa). Penn State had a bye week after being sent home losers because of a game-winning field goal by Northwestern. The Nittany Lions close out the season against Michigan and Michigan State which could potentially drop them to 7-5 on the year. Of the bottom 7 teams, Nebraska is the only one to win their last game. The bottom 6 teams all lost, but were all at least competitive in their respective games, except for of course, Rutgers. Indiana vs. Maryland should be a very good game to get either team their first B1G win. I'll take Maryland in that game since they are clearly playing inspired football ever since Randy Edsall was fired.