Big Ten Power Rankings: Week 2

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. Henry Bushnell Josh Rosenblat Zach Pereles Josh Burton Kevin Dukovic Michael Odom Ian McCafferty Dan Waldman Zach Wingrove AVERAGE 14 13 13 13 12 13 12 14 14 13.11