Week 11? Big Ten Power Poll

It's Sparty, Brutus, Herbie, and Bucky in the B1G Final Four.

Paul: Not sure it matters whether I rank MSU or tOSU #1 - that particular question will be answered in the East Division semi-final on Saturday.  Whether Nebraska or Wisconsin should be the best in the West will be settled next week.  Wisconsin looks to be what we expected them to be, as does Iowa, so they get my #4 and #5.  After that, does it matter?

Husker Mike: Nebraska has only played three decent quarters of football over the last month, while Wisconsin seems like they’ve turned a corner the last couple of weeks. So yes, I’m moving the Badgers ahead of the Huskers for now. After that, you have two tiers of teams where you can point to just about anything you want: Maryland, Minnesota, and Iowa followed by the muddled mess below.  Then Illinois.

Remind me again how Indiana defeated the SEC East’s leader again?

Jon: Agreed with Mike. Teams are supposed to improved as the season goes on. Wisconsin is doing that, Nebraska is not. Bo Pelini still has plenty of time to get his four losses in.  Michigan State remains on top, Ohio State second. This weekend will determine everything for them.

Brian: We’ll learn the cream of the league here in the next couple of weeks. The West schedule will weed itself out and Michigan St/Ohio St will solve the East.

Ty: Welp, it’s getting easier, as they order of things seems more apparent every week.  Also, why can’t we play Michigan this year?  Wiscy’s a big test, but being healthy will help us.  I hope that we’ve got a lot in the plans to give them some new looks. 

The other side of the conference?  If Ohio State beats MSU, then you might as well stick a fork in the B1G, but I think MSU is still, maybe by far, the class of the conference.

Ranchbabe: With Abdullah injured, I moved Wisconsin ahead of Nebraska. Fortunately, we have time before the big showdown in Madtown, but if they met this weekend, I would not feel good about it. MSU and OSU will sort themselves out and establish the East as well as the conference frontrunner. Iowa seems to be trending up and has a West showdown with a solid Gopher squad. The winner knocks out on leg of the quadrangle stool but the division will still be far from decided.

Andy: A few notes:

MSU #1 - and their title fight is coming up.

NU #2 - Sorry, not downgrading them for beating a team that’s been giving everyone fits by 21. That includes taking Sparty into the 4th quarter

Wiscy #3 - Not over-upgrading them for blowing out some of the mush that is #5-14.

OSU #4 - no upgrades for running up the score on bottom feeders in an effort to impress the committee. (check the rankings - they’re not impressed) Leaving them below Wiscy because that OT thing in Rapey Valley left me VERY unimpressed.

(And #1-#4 will be working themselves out over the next couple of weeks)

#5-#7 - Well….winning, right?

#8-#14 - This conference is so bad. Just...ugh.

Other Voices

Talking10 has MSU and tOSU #1 and #2 in the East and Nebraska and Wisconsin #1 and #2 in the West. 

How bad is the rest of the Big Ten East folks? Rutgers goes to Nebraska, gets pounded on and still is the third best team in the East…that’s how bad. We’ll have more on that during the week, that’s for sure

The Detroit News has ranks MSU, OSU, Nebraska, and Wisconsin #1-4. 

Michigan State (7-1, 4-0): The Spartans used their final bye week to come down after another victory over rival Michigan. Now they turn their attention to a new rival — Ohio State — and a game that will likely decide the winner of the East and knock the loser out of College Football Playoff contention. Last week: 1.

ESPN.com has the same top 4 as the Detroit News.

Ameer Abdullah missed most of Saturday's game with a knee injury, but Nebraska still scored 35 points to cruise past Purdue. If their star running back can't heal during the upcoming bye week, the Cornhuskers could be in trouble against Wisconsin on Nov. 15

The Lincoln Journal-Star has Nebraska and Wisconsin #1 and 2 in the West and MSU and OSU #1 and 2 in the East.

Coach Bo Pelini said Ameer Abdullah will be fine, and expects him to be 100 percent for Wisconsin. But a fully healthy Abdullah rushed for only 45 yards against Michigan State, and statistically speaking, Wisconsin’s defense is better

NJ.com has the same top 4 in the same order as everybody else. 

I think it's clear that there's broad concensus about the top four in the conference, so I think I'll finish this up and go get a sammich.