Imagine being in high school and your teacher asks the class how the students' weekends were. The first student to speak is the cool guy who had a sick party that weekend and he says it was "pretty cool" with a smirk. Then a few more students speak and some of their weekends were fine, others were not. Then the two new kids speak together and say their weekends were bad as they hung out alone. It was quite embarrassing. Overall, the teacher realizes the students' weekends as a whole weren't that great, even if their responses got off to a great start. But hey, the class nerd is kinda popular again, at least for now, so how disappointed could the teacher really be?
Thanks to Michigan State, Maryland and Buttgers and Northwestern for their gracious role-playing abilities. And also, here are this week's power rankings:
1
Ohio State Buckeyes
RECORD: 2-0 || LAST WEEK: 1
The Buckeyes weren't perfect in a big win over Hawaii, and even lost their title as the nation's unanimous No. 1 team in the AP Poll to...
Henry Bushnell
Josh Rosenblat
Zach Pereles
Josh Burton
Kevin Dukovic
Michael Odom
Ian McCafferty
Dan Waldman
Zach Wingrove
AVERAGE
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
Michigan State Spartans
RECORD: 2-0 || LAST WEEK: 2 Sparty. Yeah, that's right. Michigan State garnered two votes for the No. 1 team in the country this week after beating Oregon at home.
Henry Bushnell
Josh Rosenblat
Zach Pereles
Josh Burton
Kevin Dukovic
Michael Odom
Ian McCafferty
Dan Waldman
Zach Wingrove
AVERAGE
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
3
Wisconsin Badgers
RECORD: 1-1 || LAST WEEK: 3 Wisconsin picked up its first win of the season in a 58-0 beatdown of Miami (Ohio).
Henry Bushnell
Josh Rosenblat
Zach Pereles
Josh Burton
Kevin Dukovic
Michael Odom
Ian McCafferty
Dan Waldman
Zach Wingrove
AVERAGE
3
3
3
3
3
3
4
3
3
3.11
4
Northwestern Wildcats
RECORD: 2-0 || LAST WEEK: 4 The Wildcats climbed into the rankings for the first time since October 2013, sitting at No. 23 in the AP Poll, just ahead of Wisconsin.
Henry Bushnell
Josh Rosenblat
Zach Pereles
Josh Burton
Kevin Dukovic
Michael Odom
Ian McCafferty
Dan Waldman
Zach Wingrove
AVERAGE
6
4
7
5
5
4
3
4
6
4.89
T-5
Minnesota Golden Gophers
RECORD: 1-1 || LAST WEEK: 5
Minnesota was just a few plays away from starting 0-2 after a 23-20 overtime win over Colorado State.
Henry Bushnell
Josh Rosenblat
Zach Pereles
Josh Burton
Kevin Dukovic
Michael Odom
Ian McCafferty
Dan Waldman
Zach Wingrove
AVERAGE
7
7
4
4
6
7
5
5
4
5.44
T-5
Nebraska Cornhuskers
RECORD: 1-1 || LAST WEEK: 6
Nebraska rebounded from a tough opening loss with a comfortable win, but a big matchup with Miami looms in Week 3.
Henry Bushnell
Josh Rosenblat
Zach Pereles
Josh Burton
Kevin Dukovic
Michael Odom
Ian McCafferty
Dan Waldman
Zach Wingrove
AVERAGE
5
5
5
6
4
6
6
7
5
5.44
7
Michigan Wolverines
RECORD: 1-1 || LAST WEEK: 8
The Fightin' Harbaughs won their first game. But starting QB Jake Rudock, as Henry Bushnell wrote so eloquently, "was still maddeningly mediocre."
Henry Bushnell
Josh Rosenblat
Zach Pereles
Josh Burton
Kevin Dukovic
Michael Odom
Ian McCafferty
Dan Waldman
Zach Wingrove
AVERAGE
4
6
6
7
8
5
7
6
8
6.33
8
Iowa Hawkeyes
RECORD: 2-0 || LAST WEEK: 7
The Hawkeyes won ¡El Assico! and still dropped in our rankings. Fitting. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Henry Bushnell
Josh Rosenblat
Zach Pereles
Josh Burton
Kevin Dukovic
Michael Odom
Ian McCafferty
Dan Waldman
Zach Wingrove
AVERAGE
8
8
8
8
7
8
8
8
7
7.78
9
Penn State Nittany Lions
RECORD: 1-1 || LAST WEEK: 11
A 13-point win over Buffalo coming off a week one loss to Temple... Not too impressive.
Henry Bushnell
Josh Rosenblat
Zach Pereles
Josh Burton
Kevin Dukovic
Michael Odom
Ian McCafferty
Dan Waldman
Zach Wingrove
AVERAGE
9
10
9
9
9
10
10
9
9
9.33
10
Illinois Fighting Illini
RECORD: 2-0 || LAST WEEK: 12
After two weeks, Illinois has outscored its opponents (Kent State and Western Illinois) 96-3. That's eye-popping, if not kind of impressive.
Henry Bushnell
Josh Rosenblat
Zach Pereles
Josh Burton
Kevin Dukovic
Michael Odom
Ian McCafferty
Dan Waldman
Zach Wingrove
AVERAGE
10
9
11
10
10
9
9
10
10
9.78
11
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
RECORD: 1-1 || LAST WEEK: 10
Are we witnessing the return of Buttgers?
Henry Bushnell
Josh Rosenblat
Zach Pereles
Josh Burton
Kevin Dukovic
Michael Odom
Ian McCafferty
Dan Waldman
Zach Wingrove
AVERAGE
11
12
10
12
11
11
14
12
11
11.56
12
Maryland Terrapins
RECORD: 1-1 || LAST WEEK: 9
The Terps lost to Bowling Green, and it wasn't particularly close.
Henry Bushnell
Josh Rosenblat
Zach Pereles
Josh Burton
Kevin Dukovic
Michael Odom
Ian McCafferty
Dan Waldman
Zach Wingrove
AVERAGE
12
11
12
111
14
12
13
13
12
12.22
13
Purdue Boilermakers
RECORD: 1-1 || LAST WEEK: 14
Purdue's not the worst! (Barely)
Henry Bushnell
Josh Rosenblat
Zach Pereles
Josh Burton
Kevin Dukovic
Michael Odom
Ian McCafferty
Dan Waldman
Zach Wingrove
AVERAGE
13
14
14
14
13
14
11
11
13
13
14
Indiana Hoosiers
RECORD: 2-0 || LAST WEEK: 13
Indiana is undefeated and still the worst team in our rankings.