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The new set of rankings have been released for Week 9 and the Big Ten saw almost no changes for the conference at either the top or the lower portion. Things will likely get a big change with conference season beginning this week, but for the time being, the Big Ten largely maintained where they were the previous week:
- AP Poll:
- #3 - Ohio State
- #4 - Wisconsin
- #5 - Michigan State
- #22 - Iowa
- Receiving Votes: Illinois (#26), Michigan (#34)
- USA Today Coaches' Poll:
- #3 - Ohio State
- #4 - Michigan State
- #5 - Wisconsin
- #23 - Iowa
- Receiving Votes: Michigan (#34), Illinois (#35)
- Conference Ranks:
- AAC: 3 teams (AP)
- ACC: 3 teams (AP)
- Big East: 1 team (AP)
- Big Ten: 4 teams (AP)
- Big 12: 4 teams (AP)
- Pac 12: 3 teams (AP)
- SEC: 3 teams (AP)
Thoughts
The only changes worth noting here are the rise of Illinois and the continued dislike for Michigan seen among the voters. Illinois is legitimately only a few ballots away from being ranked and it is a safe bet that if they beat Indiana on New Year's Eve, they will be ranked in Week 10. One interesting thing to note is that Missouri is the final team that is a ranked. The Tigers are a solid squad, but the interesting point is that Illinois just beat the Tigers when they faced off on December 21st. For some reason, pollsters view Missouri as the better team right now. It will be interesting to watch that over the season.
Also interesting is the fact that Michigan still remains so low in the receiving votes category. This is certainly not crazy given that Michigan has 4 losses on the season, but they have certainly proven themselves more than some of the teams receiving more votes than them right now. I'm looking at teams like Oklahoma and UCLA. Michigan's wins over Stanford and Florida State alone are probably more than what either of those teams have proven this year. On another great note, Florida State is above Michigan in the receiving votes category, despite losing to them earlier this year. Just another example of the rankings logic that rules the national polls.
In terms of conference ranks, the Big Ten remains at the top with 4 ranked teams. The Big 12 is tied with them and it's a solid debate about which conference has the best 4 teams at the top. One thing worth noting is that the Big 12 has 3 teams in the receiving votes category and the Big Ten only has 2 so things could definitely move around quite a bit in the next few weeks.
