Around the Big Ten

[Mackenzie]

One of the best things about the Big House is the total lack of advertising. Um doesn't even allow ESPN or ABC to hang a banner.

For now!

[WM Wolverine]

A few days ago I listed that Wisky had no MSU, no M, no NW... Three teams that could give them trouble; they'll likely run the table in the B10. Don't see anyone stopping them.

[Jamie H]

The cantilevered design of the roof reflects noise back down towards the field.

That is true for Washington, but I have never figured out why Oregon is so freakin' loud. They have a bowl design that only seats something like 50,000, but it sounds like a damn jet is landing on their field.

[*JD*]

Maybe Nike pumps in noise? Never underestimate Phil Knight's need to control things....

[WM Wolverine]

What helps a stadiums 'loudness' is having the east/west sidelines (most every stadium is north/south endzones, east/west sidelines) to be as close as possible and its suites/2nd deck/press box to be as tall as possible, this keeps all the sound in the stadium instead of escaping...

LSU is a good example of a stadium that keeps a high percentage of its sound inside.

[iam416]

M or NW wouldn't give Wisky problems. In any way.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I agree ...... Wilson has given Bilema's offense a whole new dimension.

The Neb shellacking moves Wisconsin to the elite level.

It looks as though they are playing at a level consistent with Bama, OU and LSU. Loaded with two and three stars (as compared to the aforementioned teams who are loaded with five stars), Bilema and his coaching sstaff deserve a lot of credit.

That tattoo on his lower left leg and appearing for the BTN's Come Into My Office segment in baggy shorts and soccer sandals makes me wonder about him though.

[iam416]

I don't think Wisky could beat Bama or LSU. Those two teams, IMO, are on another level. But, I have them right there with OU.

I don't think Wisky's defense is elite. I think LSU/Bama would pound them at the line. And I think Wisky would have trouble against either defense. They are, however, an easy 2 TDs better than any B10 team on a bad day.

Eh, it's not really my concern. All I know is Wisky is going to lay an epic beatdown on Hi State at the end of the month.

[whodean]

ESPN's Big10 rankings

Wisconsin is looking down at the rest of the conference after its dominating performance against Nebraska. Michigan deserves some love after eviscerating Minnesota, while Illinois keeps finding ways to win. Michigan State continues to play lock-down defense, while the rest of the conference doesn't look good at all.

There's not a ton of shuffling in this week's power rankings, but the league race is starting to take shape.

And away we go ...

1. Wisconsin (5-0, 1-0 Big Ten): After stomping subpar nonconference foes, Wisconsin turned its attention to Nebraska and rudely welcomed the Huskers to their new league with a 48-17 beat-down. Quarterback Russell Wilson is the big story, and for good reason, but the entire offense continues to click and looks practically unstoppable. The defense, meanwhile, capitalized on Taylor Martinez's mistakes as Wisconsin pulled away. The win left no doubt that Wisconsin is the team to beat in the Big Ten.

2. Michigan (5-0, 1-0): Minnesota is horrendous, but we're beginning to buy into this Michigan team. The defense has made some significant strides after a historically poor three-year stretch, and Denard Robinson leads a dynamic offensive attack. Michigan got creative against Minnesota and everything worked in a 58-0 romp. We'll learn more about the Wolverines as they hit the road the next two weeks against Northwestern and Michigan State. But so far, so good.

3. Nebraska (4-1, 0-1): We're keeping the Huskers here for now, but we need to see a much better performance this week against Ohio State. Coach Bo Pelini said he was embarrassed by his team's defensive performance in Madison. While Wisconsin makes a lot of defenses look bad, there's something wrong with a Blackshirts unit that entered the season with such promise. Nebraska also needs to stick to its run-based offense as Martinez still can't avoid momentum-killing mistakes.

4. Illinois (5-0, 1-0): Football is all about response and finding ways to win, and Illinois has displayed plenty of fight and fortitude this season. The Illini are making mistakes that normally get you beat, yet still finding ways to pull out the Ws. After the defense secured wins against Arizona State and Western Michigan, the offense stepped up in a big way against Northwestern. Quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase was brilliant in the second half, and A.J. Jenkins showed why he's one of the Big Ten's best receivers.

5. Michigan State (4-1, 1-0): It wasn't a pretty game in Columbus, but Michigan State will gladly take its first win at The Shoe since 1998. The Spartans have defined themselves as a defensive football team this season, as their D smothered Braxton Miller and the Ohio State offense all afternoon. Defense can carry teams a long way, particularly in difficult road games, and Michigan State will be a squad to watch during what is shaping up to be a competitive Legends division race. The offense still must eliminate mistakes in plus territory.

6. Iowa (3-1, 0-0): The idle Hawkeyes move up a bit before opening the Big Ten season this week at Penn State. It's a critical game for two teams that have the potential to improve as the season goes along. A Hawkeyes offense surging behind quarterback James Vandenberg and a talented receiving corps will face a Penn State defense that has been brilliant for most of the season. Iowa's defense, meanwhile, has a chance to gain some confidence against the Lions, who still lack an offensive identity. If Iowa can continue its win streak against Penn State, look out for Kirk Ferentz's crew.

7. Ohio State (3-2, 0-1): It's a coin flip between Ohio State and Penn State here, as both teams have significant problems on offense and good defenses. Both teams also have one semi-quality win -- Ohio State against Toledo, Penn State against Temple. Fortunately for us, the Rockets and Owls played Saturday and Toledo crushed Temple 36-13 in Philly. So congrats, Buckeyes, you're No. 7 for now. Better go fix that offense, though.

8. Penn State (4-1, 1-0): The Nittany Lions had to be thinking Saturday would provide clarity and confidence for the offense. Nope. From the quarterbacks to the offensive line, Penn State isn't generating the consistency it needs to beat better Big Ten teams, beginning this week against Iowa. The defense has been outstanding all season, especially now without star linebacker Michael Mauti and several others. But unless the offense shows some life soon -- figuring out the quarterback would be a nice start -- Penn State is headed for more mediocrity.

9. Northwestern (2-2, 0-1): Everything seemed to be coming together for Northwestern, which surged to a 28-10 third-quarter lead at Illinois behind superb play from quarterback Dan Persa (career-high 4 touchdown passes). And then it all fell apart, as it has often the past year and a half. While Persa likely won't miss time after aggravating his surgically repaired Achilles tendon, Northwestern has to fix a defense that endured multiple breakdowns and never adjusted to Illinois' passing attack. Next up: Denard Robinson and Michigan. Yikes.

10. Purdue (2-2, 0-0): We were tempted to drop the Boilers lower, and we will if they don't turn things around in Big Ten play. The major mistakes and confusion that have surfaced throughout the Danny Hope era doomed Purdue against Notre Dame in a non-competitive game. Purdue's big night went south from the start, as an interception led to a quick Fighting Irish touchdown. Notre Dame dominated on both sides of the ball, leaving Hope to mull over a "very poor showing" by his squad, which was coming off of a bye week. Not good.

11. Indiana (1-4, 0-1): After hitting rock bottom at North Texas, Indiana rebounded nicely against Penn State, particularly on defense. Hoosiers defenders responded well to coordinator Mike Ekeler's challenge and forced two turnovers in their own red zone. A short-handed offense once again struggled to get going in the first half and didn't reach the end zone for more than 56 minutes. Indiana still has a bunch of flaws, but it can build off of an encouraging performance against a more talented opponent.

12. Minnesota (1-4, 0-1): While Indiana's rock-bottom moment came last week, Minnesota's arrived at the Big House, as the Gophers absorbed the third-worst defeat in team history and the worst in Jerry Kill's 18 years as a coach. The Gophers couldn't score, they couldn't tackle and, most depressing, they couldn't compete against Michigan. There might not be worse major-conference team than Minnesota, which might take up permanent residence in the "Bottom 10." Kill likened his team to a "broken-down company." Hard to argue.

[Hannibal]

Wisky doesn't depend on 2* and 3* guys as people make them out to. They had a couple of pretty good classes in 2007 and 2008. Toon was a 4*. Montee Ball was a 4*. John Ogelsby was a 5* and John Clay was almost a 5*. Russell Wilson was rated low, but he's a fifth year senior and was developed pretty much entirely at NC State. Let's see what happens next year and the year after next when they are playing with lots more low rated players.

[entropy]

UNL has the roster to be top 2 in this conference, but right now is playing more like 6-7. The defense has been less than solid all year.

[Hannibal]

I don't think Wisky could beat Bama or LSU. Those two teams, IMO, are on another level. But, I have them right there with OU.

I don't think Wisky's defense is elite. I think LSU/Bama would pound them at the line. And I think Wisky would have trouble against either defense. They are, however, an easy 2 TDs better than any B10 team on a bad day.

Eh, it's not really my concern. All I know is Wisky is going to lay an epic beatdown on Hi State at the end of the month.

I agree pretty much on all counts. Wisky's defense is good, but not dominant. Nebraska pretty much killed themselves Saturday night.

Let's see if Wisky can handle the spotlight and the sky high expectations. Unlike UM, OSU, Penn State, and Nebraska, they have never been in the position of everyone expecting them to simply demolish everybody each week. They have never had the bullseye on them like they are going to have every game this year. I've seen way too many examples of those programs losing to teams that had no business losing to. We're also going to start hearing about how Wisky won't get into the BCS championship game without some outside help. This kind of thinking causes teams to count wins as "in the bag" and think only about margin of victory. I think that Penn State got caught doing this a few years ago at Iowa. Wisky also hasn't played a true road game yet.

[iam416]

At some point, something won't work swimmingly for Wisky. Unfortunately, I don't see anyone on their schedule that can really put them up against it. Frankly, there's no on in the B10 that can do it.

[Pasadena Blue]

I think Ohio will do a lot better against Wisky than people are thinking here... remember the Bucks still owe them some payback, and none of us can forecast how much better the Bucks will get after the return of Tat4.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I don't think Wisky could beat Bama or LSU. Those two teams, IMO, are on another level. But, I have them right there with OU.

I don't think Wisky's defense is elite. I think LSU/Bama would pound them at the line. And I think Wisky would have trouble against either defense. They are, however, an easy 2 TDs better than any B10 team on a bad day.

Boy, were splitting hairs here.

Man for man, Wisky's OL and DL creamed what is not an altogether inept DL and OL at Neb. They wore them down with what was most likely punishing physical play and after the mid second quarter, Martinez was getting frustrated. From what I'm reading/hearing, Wisconsin controlled the edges while simultaneously keeping the alley door completely shut, which shut Martinez and his RBs down. Over time, neb just quit.

I would not want to see Michigan play Wisconsin - or UA or LSU or OU for that matter right now. Bilema and his staff have those boys in the trenches playing with some fire. That will win you games. It is exactly why Florida got handled by Bama at home. Physical play; not so much technique, although that has to be good to dominate like that, but with an attitude. The talent differential helped, sure, but that game was won by beating up badly on your opponent.

A relentless willingness to pummel your opponent has a withering effect. That's what the Wisconsin win over Neb and the UA win over UF showed. Lesticles at LSU builds that sort of mentality in his teams and so does Stoops. When you've got the talent, and all of these teams we're discussing have more or less similar amounts, the difference is will to win.

With the win over Nebraska, and not just a win ..... it was an embarrassing beat down which Pelini admitted and stupdly appoloogized to the Neb Nation for (did he cry, E?), I put Wisconsin on that level.