Post-Week 1 Big Ten Football Power Rankings
Week 1 is in the books, and boy was there sure some football played. I know I can speak for the rest of college football fans when I say there was no better feeling than just parking my butt on the couch all weekend and watching college football. The only reason to move was the occasional snack break. It was time to lock in.
Truthfully, this was one of the better Week 1 slate of games for the conference. There wasn’t an insane amount of blowouts, with plenty of compelling close encounters of the athletic kind played. There were some big-time winners and losers, and here is how it affected everything in the Power Rankings.
No reason to keep rambling on, let’s get right into it! Here is our first Big Ten Power Rankings of the 2023 season!
Northwestern
Week 1 Result: Rutgers 24, Northwestern 7
Record: 0-1
Up Next: versus UTEP at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 9 on BTN
Who else could be at the bottom but Northwestern? After an offseason riddled with scandals, we all knew it was going to be a rough season for the Wildcats. This is a team that failed to win a game on American soil last year. Getting rolled over by Rutgers, 24-7, isn’t a great way to inspire confidence. It’s going to be a long season.
Indiana
Week 1 Result: Ohio State 23, Indiana 3
Record: 0-1
Up next: versus Indiana State at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 8 on BTN
Ohio State had to overcome a sluggish start to beat Indiana, 23-3. Meanwhile, the Hoosiers never got anything going against the Buckeyes. If this game was midseason, the scoreline looks worse.
Purdue
Week 1 Result: Fresno State 39, Purdue 35
Record: 0-1
Up Next: at Virginia Tech at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 9 on ESPN2
What a horrible start to the season for Purdue. They lost to Mountain West opponent Fresno State, 39-35, at home. They paid the Bulldogs $1.35 million to beat them on their own home turf. Woof.
Nebraska
Week 1 Result: Minnesota 13, Nebraska 10
Record: 0-1
Up Next: at Colorado at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 9 on Fox
Nebraska gonna Nebraska. The Cornhuskers looked to have this game won. Then, they literally gave it away to Minnesota. In the last five minutes, Nebraska both fumbled and threw a critical interception to lose, 13-10.
There may be a new coach in Lincoln, but it’s still the same Nebraska.
Minnesota
Week 1 Result: Minnesota 13, Nebraska 10
Record: 1-0
Up Next: versus Eastern Michigan at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 9 on BTN
Minnesota may have won, but let’s be honest, there are a lot of questions after that season opener. Kaliakmanis showed off his arm, but didn’t have any accuracy. The typical Minnesota rushing attack was absent as well. The Gophers should have lost this one. Need to figure it out next week.
Illinois
Week 1 result: Illinois 30, Toledo 28
Record: 1-0
Up Next: at Kansas at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 8 on ESPN2
This was a heck of a game to watch as a neutral spectator. There still are some questions regarding Illinois with how much they lost this offseason. It was not the prettiest win at all. However, they fought to come back twice and got the job done.
Rutgers
Week 1 Result: Rutgers 24, Northwestern 7
Record: 1-0
Up Next: versus Temple at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 9 on BTN
That’s right folks, it’s Rutgers and they’re not at the bottom! The Scarlet Knights took care of business against Northwestern on Sunday. They still have some things to figure out on offense, but the defense did their job against a lowly Wildcats program.
Michigan State
Week 1 Result: Michigan State 31, Central Michigan 7
Record: 1-0
Up Next: versus Richmond at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 9 on BTN
Speaking of doing their job, Michigan State managed to do theirs against Central Michigan. This was a game the Spartans should win handily, and they did, 31-7. Noah Kim had a great starting debut with 279 yards and two touchdown passes. Nathan Carter also rushed for over 100 yards with a score.
It was only against Central Michigan, but this is a promising result for the Spartans. They did exactly what they were supposed to do and beat up on a smaller program.
Maryland
Week 1 Result: Maryland 38, Towson 6
Record: 1-0
Up Next: versus Charlotte at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 9 on NBC
No complaints about the Terps’ 38-6 win over Towson. Taulia Tagovailoa looked like a star with four total touchdowns and the Maryland defense didn’t allow a touchdown. Maryland put in their backups for the fourth quarter. It is not a statement win or anything, but a good victory for a Terrapins program expected to be strong in 2023.
Iowa
Week 1 Result: Iowa 24, Utah State 14
Record: 1-0
Up Next: at Iowa State at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 9 on Fox
Iowa’s a bit hard to rank after their 24-14 victory over Utah State. The Aggies’ lone touchdown and two-point conversion came against the Hawkeyes’ backups, which is insane that the reserves were brought in for a team with only 24 points.
Iowa was not looking to make a statement or anything like that, they wanted to get through Week 1 healthy with a win, and move on to Iowa State in Week 2. There were definitely some promising things shown on both sides of the ball, but the fallings of the offense from last year still reared its ugly head a bit.
Wisconsin
Week 1 Result: Wisconsin 38, Buffalo 17
Record: 1-0
Up Next: at Washington State at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 9 on ABC
Much was made about the new offense we were going to see from the Badgers in 2023. And yet, Wisconsin had 314 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. Some things just don’t change, at least not quickly.
I don’t think that Wisconsin necessarily has the personnel to run a passing attack quite yet, so we’re going to see them shotgun-run teams to death this year. It worked in their 38-17 win over Buffalo. Not a bad start, and the passing attack—in theory—has nowhere to go but up!
Ohio State
Week 1 Result: Ohio State 23, Indiana 3
Record: 1-0
Up Next: versus Youngstown State at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 9 on BTN
Let’s be honest, this was not a great start to the year for the Buckeyes. The new Kyle McCord-led offense was completely lackluster, enough so that it overshadowed a pretty dang solid defensive performance. The playcalling was very conservative, as admitted by head coach Ryan Day himself. It was not a great debut for McCord, but you could tell the training wheels were on.
I am not going to overreact to their first week though, especially considering they still won pretty handily. The offense looked pretty lackluster to start last year, albeit that was against Notre Dame. They’ll figure it out.
Penn State
Week 1 Result: Penn State 38, West Virginia 15
Record: 1-0
Up Next: versus Delaware at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 9 on Peacock
Welcome to the top two Penn State. All offseason it was hard to reel in excitement for the Nittany Lions, and this first game showed why. They went out and did what they were supposed to against a worse West Virginia.
Drew Allar already looked like a star with 325 passing yards to pair with three touchdowns. He only had eight incompletions. KeAndre Lambert-Smith looked like the next big Penn State wide receiver with 123 yards and two touchdowns.
We saw exactly the conundrum teams are going to face with Penn State this year. What do you try and focus on stopping? Do you go all out to try and defend the pass? Penn State still had 146 yards on the ground with Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen forming a two-headed monster. If you try and defend the run, it looks as though Penn State can actually pass now. Keep your eye on this Nittany Lions squad.
Michigan
Week 1 Result: Michigan 30, East Carolina 3
Record: 1-0
Up Next: versus UNLV at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 9 on CBS
Of course, it had to be Michigan at No. 1. Who else was it going to be? The reigning Big Ten champions, the Wolverines defeated East Carolina, 30-3, without their head coach Jim Harbaugh. And they let you know that, too. Oh, did they ever.
Enough about Harbaugh though because J.J. McCarthy had a fantastic game. Three touchdowns and 280 yards on only four incompletions, yeah, that’ll do. Roman Wilson is going to be a big-time threat this year, catching all three of those scores. It was also great to see Blake Corum back on the field for Michigan doing his thing!
With a gauntlet of UNLV, Bowling Green, and Rutgers in their upcoming games, it’ll be a miracle if the Wolverines can maintain their top spot without coach Harbaugh.
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