Big Ten power rankings: Minnesota has a clear (difficult) path to playoff
By Ethan Lee
After delivering a solid beating to the Penn State Nittany Lions, the Minnesota Golden Gophers have a legitimate path to the college football playoffs. It’s just not an easy one.
Minnesota looks like a legitimate Big Ten title contender right now. The Golden Gophers are undefeated and should be taken seriously at this point in the season because of all that they’ve accomplished this year. And now, coming off of a solid win over a very good Penn State Nittany Lions team, Minnesota has a path to the college football playoffs.
Of course, having a path to the playoffs and actually getting there are two different things. Ohio State still stands in Minnesota’s way. And the Buckeyes are still the team to beat in the Big Ten, but Minnesota certainly looks very good right now.
The Golden Gophers have to go on the road to Iowa and then take a trip to Northwestern. At the end of the regular season sits Wisconsin. If Minnesota can make it through the next three games unscathed, and then find a way to upset the Buckeyes, the Golden Gophers will be in the playoffs. Just like we all predicted at the beginning of the season, right?
The Rutgers Scarlet Knights took the week off thanks to a bye week. Rutgers still doesn’t have a coach and still hasn’t accomplished anything to move up in the Big Ten power rankings, so the Scarlet Knights are still the standard-bearer for being bad in this conference.
Northwestern came so close to a conference win as the Wildcats faced off against the Purdue Boilermakers. What has to hurt the most about this loss is that Northwestern held a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. At halftime, the score sat at 16-7. The Wildcats gave up that lead in the third quarter and then couldn’t do enough in the fourth, falling to Purdue thanks to a late field goal.
Scott Frost and the Nebraska Cornhuskers needed a bye week. Right now, the Huskers are headed for another losing season. We’ll see if this bye week can help Nebraska end the season on a positive note/
At the beginning of the 2019 season, Maryland was running the score up on folks, scoring 70 points against teams like it was nothing. Maryland now knows what that’s like after Ohio State crushed the Terrapins 73-14.
The Michigan State Spartans dropped a spot from last week after falling to Illinois 37-34. The Spartans are now legitimate danger of missing a bowl game, sitting at 4-5 on the season, and the Spartans only have themselves to blame. Illinois scored 27 points in the fourth quarter, winning on a touchdown pass that happened with just five seconds remaining in the game. Michigan State is flat out awful this season.
With its back against the wall, Purdue has pulled off back-to-back wins. The Boilermakers can’t afford to lose another game this season if they want to be bowl eligible. There is no margin for error for this team. So far, wins over Nebraska and Northwestern have gotten Purdue closer to bowl eligibility. Upcoming games against Wisconsin and Indiana are going to be much tougher though.
Iowa decided to make its game against Wisconsin competitive a little too late. The Hawkeyes did everything they could to compete against the Badgers in the fourth quarter, but they fell short, losing by just two points.
Illinois’ miraculous comeback against Michigan State deserves plenty of recognition. The Fighting Illini are now eligible for a bowl game after winning four consecutive games and get a bye week before heading to Iowa. Illinois then finishes out the regular season against Northwestern. There’s a very slim chance that Illinois actually gets to 8-4 on the year, but that chance still exists.
Wisconsin needed a strong showing against Iowa, and the Badgers got that for three quarters. The Badgers were nearly beaten as Iowa attempted a solid comeback. Now, Wisconsin gets to face off against a struggling Nebraska team. That should be an easy win for the Badgers.
The Indiana Hoosiers got the week off and now have a chance to finish out the season strong. At 7-2, the Hoosiers are doing pretty well for themselves. Indiana will head to Penn State for a meeting with the Nittany Lions but the Hoosiers will be without their starting quarterback. Winning against Penn State was already going to be a tough task. Trying to take the Nittany Lions down now will be just that much more difficult.
Penn State has to be mad about the results on Saturday, but this team still has a realistic path to the college football playoffs. The Nittany Lions just can’t afford to lose another game this year and must then beat whichever team it would then meet in the Big Ten championship game. More than likely, at this point, that would mean a rematch against Minnesota. Beating the Golden Gophers there would help propel Penn State back into the playoff picture.
The Michigan Wolverines got a nice week off to enjoy watching the chaos unfold around them. Michigan doesn’t really have a way to get to the Big Ten title game, so chaos is all that this team can really hope for this season.
Minnesota has made it to the big time. The Golden Gophers look like a very good team that continues to improve. The key for Minnesota at this point is to continue improving as even more tough teams are up on the horizon. If Minnesota can keep winning, P.J. Fleck‘s team will find itself in the national title discussion.
The Ohio State Buckeyes have to be happy to see Penn State get pushed around and beaten by Minnesota. The Golden Gophers exposed the Nittany Lions and have made Ohio State’s job a little bit easier. The Buckeyes now have the blueprints to beat Penn State and have a significantly more talented roster than Minnesota. Ryan Day has to be happy with his team’s standing right now.
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