1: Iowa (3-1, 1-0)
2: a Ohio State University (5-0, 1-0)
I have a feeling that aOSU's game against Illinois was a harbinger of things to come, much as the San Jose State and Arizona State games were for Wisconsin. What will happen when Pryor has to face a team that can contain him? He only passed for 76 yards last week. I won't be a believer until he wins a tough game on the road, and the credit is obviously more towards Pryor than to their impressively good defense. It's too bad that he plays for aOSU, if only because we never get the chance to see if aOSU's defense would completely render him ineffective (as I suspect). They play PSU at home, at UW, and especially at Iowa, and his performance will make or break the team in those games. Meanwhile Iowa, and especially Iowa's defense, completely dominated Penn State at Kinnick.
3: Michigan State (5-0, 1-0)
They were very impressive in their win over Wisconsin. They're pretty much the team that many of us (well, me) were hoping Wisconsin can be. They can run the ball all over the field with their 3-headed running game, their defense (especially the linebackers) swarm the field and is good but not great, and the two big differences - they actually have a special teams unit, and their passing game is higher risk-reward.
4: Wisconsin (4-1, 0-1)
See last weekend's recap for my complaints. Poor preparation, Clay banged up, Borland out, Tolzien has no one to throw to, special teams blow, etc. etc.
5: Denard Robinson (5-0, 1-0)
The Heisman is his to lose. He just needs to stay on the field after all the hits he's taking
6: Penn State (3-2, 0-1)
Freshman QB, good defense. Tough at home.
7: Illinois (2-2, 0-1)
For a while, I was getting excited about the possibility of an upset over aOSU. Then I saw Ron Zook on the sidelines.
8: Northwestern (5-0, 1-0)
It's tough to win on the road, but Minnesota blows hard.
9: Indiana (3-1, 0-1)
10: Purdue (2-2, 0-0)
eleventy billion: Minnesota (1-4, 0-1)
Just...no. Wisconsin better re-clean the Axe trophy case, since it's been collecting dust in its case for so many years.
October 05, 2010
Big Ten Power Poll: Week 2
Posted by Berselius at 8:35 PM
Labels: Big 10, power poll
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4 comments:
I'll take it. Iowa is 4-1 though.
I'm more sold on OSU than you are, but we've felt the same way about Pryor for awhile. Illinois shut him down and that's not a good sign.
I'll be honest here. I'm actually most worried about Iowa's game at Michigan in two weeks. That game scares me. Iowa can beat OSU. they showed that last year when they took a freshman QB into Columbus making his first start and took them to overtime. With Stanzi, they win the game. I think Iowa is actually a better team, but I still give the edge to OSU.
Denard Robinson has me scared though. We'll learn a lot more about him this weekend. MSU doesn't have a great defense by any means, but they have some really good linebackers. The problem is that if Denard gets past the line, he's going to be hard for any team to stop. That's why I think Iowa has the best chance to contain him. They have the best line in the nation and it's not easy getting past them. They've got 5 guys and they're all rested.
I still think UW is better. I have them tied with MSU at 3rd. If that game is Madison, UW probably holds on to win the game. Their defense isn't a typical UW defense, which is kind of surprising.
Containing mobile QBs like Robinson is much more about the linebackers than the defensive line, I would think. If anything d-line penetration would lead to even *more* scrambles.
You're probably right. I guess I was thinking it was kind of like protecting against the run, which starts at the defensive line. The good thing for Iowa is that they don't have to blitz to get pressure.
A lot of the Denard runs I've seen are right through the tackles. That hole isn't going to be there against Iowa and their lineman have incredible speed as we saw when Clayborn ran down one of the fastest players in college football from behind last year.
Thought you might like this one, b. The Gophers have a 1 in 22 billion chance of finishing the Big Ten season 7-1. In other words, 1 in 22 billion chance they don't lose another game this season. (dying laughing) http://www.thehawkeyestate.net/football/big-ten/a-1-in-22-billion-chance.html
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