My week 4 Big Ten football power rankings
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Even with all the problems on offense, and as we saw against Penn State this past Saturday, there are many, the situation is far from hopeless for the Iowa football team.
I’ll go as far as to predict that two weeks from now, Iowa will be 5-1 at the midway point of the regular season.
Iowa’s next two games are against Michigan State and Purdue, and both games will be played at Kinnick Stadium.
My confidence in the Hawkeyes says more about the current state of the Big Ten Conference than anything about Iowa.
Because once you get past the big three – Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State – the Big Ten becomes the little 11 where mediocrity is in full display.
The 14 Big Ten teams can be divided into three groups at this time:
The big three.
The next three.
The mediocre eight.
And with that in mind, here are my week four Big Ten power rankings:
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- Michigan, 1-0, 4-0 – Prediction: Jim Harbaugh will leave his alma mater after this season to become the next head coach for the Chicago Bears.
2. Penn State, 2-0, 4-0 – Penn State fans might be wondering why we wasted a White Out on the Iowa offense.
3. Ohio State, 1-0, 4-0 – What will Lou Holtz say to motivate Ohio State during its bye week?
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4. Maryland, 1-0, 4-0 – Mike Locksley probably doesn’t have enough firepower for Maryland to win the Big Ten East Division. But he should easily meet the 25-point performance incentive in Brian Ferentz’s contract as Maryland is averaging 37.25 points after four games.
5. Wisconsin, 3-1, 1-1 – Some traditions are hard to break as I still remove my socks in honor of Barry Alvarez before ranking and commenting on the Badgers.
6. Iowa, 0-1, 3-1 – Thanks to sensational punter Tory Taylor, and to its defense, Iowa has avoided being dropped to group three, but just barely.
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7. Rutgers, Northwestern, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan State, Purdue, Nebraska in no particular order.
Trying to rank and choose between these eight teams is like ranking and choosing between raisins, sour cream, corn nuts, alfredo sauce, guacamole, olives and Rocky IV and Rocky V.
So, why even bother?