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SP+ ratings of B1G teams, through games of October 5th.




The numbers in parentheses are national ranks in each category.

Overall / Offense / Defense / SpTms / School
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32.4 (2) / 43.5 (5) / 11.2 (3) / 0.1 (38) / Ohio State
25.8 (6) / 37.5 (16) / 11.3 (4) / -0.4 (123)/ Wisconsin
25.2 (7) / 40.2 (10) / 15.1 (16)/ 0.2 (32) / Penn State
17.6 (17) / 28.5 (66) / 11.1 (2) / 0.1 (37) / Michigan
16.6 (18) / 29.7 (56) / 13.1 (6) / -0.1 (75) / Michigan State
16.3 (21) / 29.9 (55) / 13.8 (9) / 0.2 (27) / Iowa
14.5 (26) / 39.0 (14) / 24.5 (46)/ 0.0 (68) / Minnesota
12.7 (28) / 35.1 (27) / 22.6 (39)/ 0.3 (21) / Indiana
8.7 (36) / 30.3 (51) / 21.2 (34)/ -0.4 (124) / Maryland
7.9 (39) / 34.0 (34) / 25.6 (52)/ -0.2 (97) / Nebraska
0.4 (70) / 14.2 (125) / 13.6 (8) / -0.5 (126) / Northwestern
-0.3 (71) / 30.0 (54) / 30.9 (82)/ 0.6 (4) / Illinois
-0.3 (72) / 35.8 (23) / 36.2 (108)/ 0.1 (52) / Purdue
-9.5 (98) / 19.0 (106) / 28.5 (70) / 0.0 (60) / Rutgers

And now, a thumbnail analysis by a complete hack:

Looking at Bill's ratings, the conference seems to split fairly easily into six reasonably discrete tiers:

Tier One: it should come as no surprise to anyone that Ohio State is all by themselves in the top tier. The spread between them and number two Wisconsin (6.6) is greater than the spread between number four Michigan and number eight Indiana (4.9).

Tier Two: Wisconsin and Penn State.

Tier Three: Michigan, Michigan State, Iowa, Minnesota, and Indiana. The first real surprise in the ratings occurs here, as the Gophers and Hoosiers have managed to play their way to respectability. Let's see if they can keep it up over the full season. The Hoosiers, of course, will look worse, given their residence in the B1G East.

Tier Four: Maryland and Nebraska. Their category rankings are virtually mirror opposites: Maryland is 51st in offense and 34th on defense, while Nebraska is 34th on offense and 52nd on defense.

Tier Five: Northwestern, Illinois, and Purdue. How far the mighty have fallen. The battle for the hat could involve some real drama this year.

Tier Six: Otherwise known as the rutger tier. To put their futility in perspective, Maryland is closer to fourth in the rankings than Rutgers is to 13th.

Some thoughts:

Three B1G teams are in the bottom ten nationally in special teams, while the Illini are fourth. I guess special teams don't matter as much to the outcome of a game, on average, as we might wish to believe.

Seven B1G teams are in the top sixteen nationally in defense, and I bet most of the OTE commentariat could name them all with no problem. Only Purdue failed to make the top one-hundred.

Minnesota currently has a higher offense rating than Wisconsin. Of course, some of the reason for that may be the way the Badgers ease off in the second half.

If Northwestern's bottom ten offense played it's top ten defense, would they score negative points?

Somebody let Thump know his beloved Illini seem to be making an improvement this year. They have clearly separated themselves from Rutgers and have caught Northwestern and Purdue.

Purdue's lofty number 23 ranking in offense is likely to dive precipitously given their quarterback situation. Duh, obvious is still obvious.

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