Big Ten Football Power Rankings Week 13: Michigan State reigns supreme
Nov 21, 2015; Iowa City, IA, USA; A Iowa Hawkeyes fan holds up a sign showing the Hawks record after beating the Purdue Boilermakers at Kinnick Stadium. Iowa beat Purdue 40-20. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports
Everyone was picking the Ohio State Buckeyes to hold strong and take care of business against a Michigan State team without Connor Cook on Saturday, but that wasn’t the case as the Buckeyes’ offense was silenced completely.
Outside of two short drives set up by miscues on the Spartans’ part, the Buckeyes couldn’t get anything going against Michigan State and Ezekiel Elliott sounded off after the game, calling out his coaching staff for not getting him the ball enough — Boobie Miles style. The Buckeyes are no longer unbeaten and have been dethroned by the Spartans.
The Iowa Hawkeyes are the most surprising team in the Big Ten this season maybe outside of Northwestern. No one would have guessed that Iowa would be 11-0 heading into the final game of the season against Nebraska on the road, but a 40-20 win over Purdue has set that up.
C.J. Beathard has been an absolute revelation as he basically went from zero to hero as Jake Rudock’s backup to the start for a team heading to the Big Ten title game. The Hawkeyes are one of the top five teams in the nation and if they win out, they’ll be bound for the College Football Playoff.
Zero chance. That’s all the Spartans head throughout the week heading up to the road game in Columbus against Ohio State. There was zero chance Michigan State could upset the No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes on their own turf the J.T. Barrett at quarterback and Ezekiel Elliott running the ball.
Well, the Spartans did so and didn’t even need Connor Cook. Michigan State held Elliott to just 33 rushing yards and Barrett had under 100 yards passing. Michigan State is everyone’s favorite to win the Big Ten right now and it’s because of their quality wins. Imagine if the Spartans didn’t lose controversially to Nebraska, they’d likely be in the conversation for the No. 2 or No. 3 ranking in the nation right now.