You know, I grew up trying to make smileys. Like, I really liked that I could try and be creative and add in some form of like, :S or :@ or :! or whatever. Then I got an iphone and people started sending me these actual pictures as smileys and I was super confused as to how they did it and I made fun of them. Years later, I'm a little ashamed to say that I probably respond with emojis as much as I do text. I tell you all this because uh, well I don't have a lot of reasons to be telling you this, but it's time for the power poll and we're going emojis up in here.
As a point of order, there were eleven voters last week in the OTE Power Poll. The points represent a normal breakdown with 14 points awarded for a first place vote, 13 for a second, and so on until you get to 1 point for a last place vote. The high vote and low vote are also listed along with last week's placement. Good? Good. Let's emoji this business.
1. Michigan State
168 Points || #AllTheFirstPlaceVotes || High 1 || Low 1 || Last Week 1
You're basically the embodiment of a Drake song, right? Started at the bottom - sorta - and now you're almost a perfect 100. I think I might have tried to mash two Drake songs together to describe you right there, but you deserve it! Having both a top flight offense to go with your top flight defense has proven to be kind of a great thing and that little hiccup in Oregon won't mean anything if you win Saturday.
2. Ohio State
155 Points || H 2 || L 3 || Last Week 3
Look, it's just a slice of pizza hanging out. If you think about it, you represent almost all that is delicious in the world. Crust, cheese, cured pork product, and Bosa. It is the personification of what can happen when you put everything together just right. Of course, depending on what happens this weekend, it can also represent lots of sad.
I'm guessing you are hoping for happier pizza, but just know this can always go both ways.
3. Nebraska
145 Points || H 2 || L 3 || LW 2
You are... obviously a cat. While this season has had its ups and downs, it's gotta feel good to go into the second bye week with eight wins and only one loss. Perhaps the good luck charm that is Bo's cat is working wonders at One Memorial Drive. Conversely, maybe this grin is sort of a, "Cat that ate the canary" situation and depending on how your most agile cat of all feels in two weeks will determine if you end up a really happy cat or a grumpy cat.
4. Wisconsin
132 Points || H 4 || L 4 || LW 4
You are arguably the hottest team in the B1G right now with a defense that has been absolutely shutting people down and an offense that is proving that throwing the ball is so overrated. While we left you for dead earlier as a different type of fire after the Northwestern game, you've bounced back quite nicely and it should all come down to two weekends in Madison. Of course, the two weeks after that will be no cakewalk either. Enjoy it while it lasts. You deserve it.
5. Iowa
106 Points || H 5 || L 6 || LW 6
You're pretty damn expressionless at this point, right? I mean, from week to week it seems like you are either a front runner for the division or terrible and need to fire everyone. I'm sure it's probably somewhere in between, and if you had to ask everyone how happy they'd be with a 6-2 record, I don't think people would completely complain. Still, it seems like this year has been a disappointment, and now you get to play all your best friends. We'll keep it here for now, but maybe you can eek out a smile after this weekend.
6. Maryland
100 Points || H 5 || L 7 || LW 5
Things we know about you:
1) You DGAF about things like handshakes
2) You're mostly good at the footballs?
3) ... ... ...
So right now, you've basically outdone expectations set out for you by a lot of preseason prognosticators. You're easily the third best team in the division and you have an argument to that five spot in this power poll, but you also are prone to close calls and all out failures at times (See: Wisconsin). So, smirk away and enjoy your new payday and don't worry about those silly Big Ten fines. I'm sure you had $10,000 just lying around, right? No? Oh, we'll just put it on your tab.
7. Minnesota
91 Points || H 6 || L 7 || LW 7
You're the wildcard right now. You were riding high on top of the division and then you went out and lost to Illinois. With a week to think about what you have done, you might come out and stomp your rivals at home. Of course, we wouldn't be surprised to see the opposite happen. I guess it all comes down to which team shows up.
8. Penn State
73 Points || H 8 || L 9 || LW 9
Yep. It's been one of those types of years for you. You're convenient for all of those times where you're not sure if you're surprised, horrified, ashamed, happy, or scared. Depending on what part of the game is on the TV, it's probably a little of all of the above. Right now, you're staring down a very manageable stretch that can get you to a bowl, but I expect you to still go through all of the emotions stated above. It's just how you roll.
9. Michigan
66 Points || H 8 || L 10 || LW 12
I mean, other than the obvious reasons this works, you might also consider just how loud the ovations were from the Big House as one certain Athletic Director resigned last week. Even if you wouldn't have beat Indiana into a bloody pulp, you'd probably still be standing and applauding the great work that was done for the University as a whole. Now you're just left with finishing out the season with Clappy and you can finally move on.
10. Purdue
50 Points || H 9 || L 12 || LW 11
You're basically playing with house money at this point, right? Despite continuing to lose, you're showing some effort and proving you're not a complete pushover. This was never going to be the season for you, and you might be right on time as far as getting back into contention for bowls goes. Note, this designation might also describe the way you let money float away from the Athletic Department, but far be it from me to make value judgements on how you spend your BTN cash.
11. Rutgers
42 Points || H 9 || L 13 || LW 10
It's been a rough few weeks, hasn't it. When you joined our happy little conference, the guys in Chicago thought to themselves, "How can we welcome our new friends from Jersey?" The answer included getting a string of Ohio State, Nebraska, and Wisconsin, and right now a bye week couldn't come soon enough. It's time for you to rest up, heal a few broken bones, and get ready for what might essentially be your play-in to a bowl game.
12. Northwestern
41 Points || H 9 || L 12 || LW 8
It really feels like this is where the season has gone for you all. Of course, we knew there was potential for this early on, and when a certain running back was no longer going to be an option for you, the spiral downward was inevitable. Just like a bug you throw in, you struggled to stay afloat for as long as you could, but things are probably too far down the drain to salvage much. It would be nice if you can win one over an old bully this weekend, but I'm guessing you've already started moving on to the next thing.
13. Illinois
25 Points || H 10 || L 13 || LW 13
No, putting your hands over your eyes does not make this offense go away, but good try. You are not the consensus worst thing in the conference anymore, so that's why you're at least a monkey in this scenario, but I wouldn't want to watch if I were you either. The good vibes from securing a Big Ten win were quickly extinguished last Saturday, and we're not completely aware of what your strategy is offensively - or defensively - at this point. On an upside, hopes of Beckman getting fired are still in play!
14. Indiana
11 Points || #AllTheLastPlaceVotes || H 14 || L 14 || LW 14
The struggle is real Indiana... the struggle is real.