Big Ten Football

Like I said in my previous posting, it was a brutal week for the Big Ten conference on the field. Off the field there was good news for Penn State as they are now eligible for a bowl game and a potential Big Ten championship. That should make things more interesting as the kids now have something else to play for other than pride. The first conference game of the season is this weekend as Penn State travels to Rutgers to welcome them into the conference.

STANDINGS
EAST
Rutgers 2-0
Penn State 2-0
Maryland 2-0
Indiana 1-0
Michigan State 1-1
Ohio State 1-1
Michigan 1-1

WEST
Nebraska 2-0
Iowa 2-0
Minnesota 2-0
Illinois 2-0
Wisconsin 1-1
Purdue 1-1
Northwestern 0-2

The standings definitely don't reflect who's the better teams in each division, here are my rankings for each division.
EAST
1-Michigan State, still my favorite to win the division and quite possibly run the table and end up in the college football playoff.
2-Ohio State, a lot of talent, great DL, offense will get better. Not a playoff team.
3-Penn State, won a close one with UCF and Akron hung with them for awhile, but this a good football team.
4-Rutgers, they have been a nice surprise so far, I didn't know who Paul James was before this year, if he stays healthy they could be a bowl team.
5-Michigan, the Wolverine team that beat App State is good, they looked awful against Notre Dame.
6-Maryland, struggled to beat USF, but they got the win, a pretty decent team, great WRs in Diggs and Long.
7-Indiana, isn't even that bad of a team, will they make a bowl this year? All of the teams in this division are capable of a bowl game this year.
WEST
1-Wisconsin, lost a heartbreaker to LSU and struggled in the first half with Western Illinois, but they're the best in the division right now. If the QB play keeps improving they'll be the favorite.
2-Nebraska, Ameer Adbullah is a beast and the offense will be good as long as he's in the game. Close win against McNeese State is kind of scary for the Huskers.
3-Iowa, a couple ugly wins against teams they should have beat easily. No ground game to speak of, if they can establish the run and get the balance on offense that they're used to they could contend for the division crown.
4-Minnesota, they really need better play from Leidner if they want to make a bowl game, they're 2-0 now, but the schedule is going to get tricky, especially in November.
5-Illinois, 2-0 right now against some weaker opponents, Wes Lunt is a good QB though and will help them stay in some games, the defense won't. Illinois could make a bowl game.
6-Northwestern, 0-2 with a couple of tough losses to Cal, who I think is much improved, and Northern Illinois. This is going to be a tough season.
7-Purdue, they have a win under their belt, but they got pounded by Central Michigan and couldn't do anything right. Not a bowl team.