No change at top of BTN’s B1G power rankings despite Week 1 surprises

Not a lot has changed on these B1G rankings following the first week of action.

James Laurinaitis with The Big Ten Network shared his updated power rankings for the conference after the first week of action. Believe it or not, his top 5 had no change despite multiple surprises over the weekend.

Laurinaitis still has Ohio State as the top team in the B1G, and there’s not a lot to argue about that pick. The Buckeyes put up 77 points in a rout of Oregon State in the season opener. Wisconsin at No. 2 also makes sense after the Badgers made quick work of Western Kentucky.

Where things start to get questionable is his pick of the Michigan Wolverines at No. 3. For Laurinaitis, the struggles of other teams in Week 1 influenced his decision to keep the Wolverines at No. 3:

I’m not dropping Michigan after an upsetting debut for Shea Patterson and the Wolverines. The reason being, they played a good Notre Dame team on the road, when Michigan State and Penn State, the teams directly behind them on my list, hosted inferior teams and struggled…This doesn’t derail their Big Ten title hopes, but their margin for error is now at zero.

Here is how Laurinaitis sees the B1G following Week 1:

1. Ohio State
2. Wisconsin
3. Michigan
4. Michigan State
5. Penn State
6. Northwestern
7. Maryland
8. Iowa
9. Nebraska
10. Purdue
11. Minnesota
12. Indiana
13. Rutgers
14. Illinois

Paul Harvey

Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.