For SMU to leap frog two other bye week teams and a winning team is some ACC bias though.
Week 8 Polls - Illinois #22 in AP Poll
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Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
It is actually more than I expected. Texas has been the most dominant team in football this year (to this point). Texas does play Georgia this week, so there is about a 45% chance (using current betting odds) Oregon is #1 when Illini visit Eugene.
MoCoMdIllini
- Montgomery County, Maryland
Agree 100% They had the best win of the week.
From what we’ve seen so far... the Big Ten teams have basically separated their performance level into thirds.
The top third is the Elite Group. We know all the names. The same ones every year for decades.
The middle group is where The Illini are. In the upper range of the Middle Group but not yet at the Upper Elite level.
And the bottom third are the ones just playing out the string.
If the Illini can at least hold their position the rest of the way it will be a nice positive season. Something to build upon while we hope for a rise soon into the Upper Elite Group.
Establishing that winning culture and expectation of success and making that a routine. And of course... having good luck in The Portal every year.
Confidence without arrogance. Expecting success while never taking that for granted. And never letting the program backslide like the Nebraska program did from the Heights to the Depths. And now as they are moving up again after a long wait.
The top third is the Elite Group. We know all the names. The same ones every year for decades.
The middle group is where The Illini are. In the upper range of the Middle Group but not yet at the Upper Elite level.
And the bottom third are the ones just playing out the string.
If the Illini can at least hold their position the rest of the way it will be a nice positive season. Something to build upon while we hope for a rise soon into the Upper Elite Group.
Establishing that winning culture and expectation of success and making that a routine. And of course... having good luck in The Portal every year.
Confidence without arrogance. Expecting success while never taking that for granted. And never letting the program backslide like the Nebraska program did from the Heights to the Depths. And now as they are moving up again after a long wait.
If Bama leapfrogged them for beating Georgia, Oregon should at least be in the vicinity of doing so for beating Ohio State (who is better than Georgia).
It's 100% the best win in the country thus far.
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Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
So the #1 team who won by 31 to a ranked foe on neutral site, who also went to Big House and won by 19, should be leapfrogged? Just wasn't happening. It is also debatable if the Oregon win last night was the best win this year. Time will tell on that. I would agree if the win came at the Horseshoe, but it was at home.
Oregon is getting the respect they deserve, and they will be #1 next week if Texas loses to Georgia.
Ranking and point spread makes it as close to an even matchup as it gets! Then loud, sold-out home field tilts it in our favor.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
Curious -- which 6 are "ELITE"?
So let's see if that theory flies....
SMU moves up 2 spots, because Oklahoma and Utah lost. No biggie, makes total sense. They leapfrogged Illinois, I'm guessing because voters weren't really impressed with the win over Purdue. Could go either way on that one in my view.
The odd one is why would SMU leap Michigan, both of which were idle? Well, I think it's more a case of voter correction, than "ACC bias". See, after last week's loss to Washington, three voters still had Michigan rated 16th, 15th and even *12th*, when their aggregate rating was 24th. Those voter were notabe outliers in the voting distribution. Might even argue this was "B1G bias", right? Ha.
Those three voters were from Raleigh, Auburn and Miami. "ACC country, see!". Yeah, this week, those same three voters have Michigan 18th, 18th, and not rated. Collectively this is much closer to their aggregate rating of 24th.
On the other side of the equation, 2 voters have been pretty heavy on SMU these last couple weeks, and both of them moved the Mustangs up one spot to 15th and 17th on their ballots. Those voters are from New Jersey and South Bend.
One voter moved SMU up from not rated on his week 7 ballot, to 19th this week. That was a TV guy from Spartanburg, SC.
A random sample of three voters who last week didn't rank SMU, but did this week (generally 21st), were from....checks notes....Lansing, MI, Los Angeles, and Cleveland.
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
It doesn't help Michigan that Washington got spanked in Iowa City.
Illini in Italy
- Illini HQ, Florida Panhandle
i love when illinois is ranked but i hate what tends to happen to us when we're ranked
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I'm not Sage, but I would say that at this point in the season (i.e., halfway), the "elite" in our conference are the ones who control their destiny to go to Indy ... and right now, there is clear separation for Oregon, Ohio State and Penn State, IMO. PSU and Oregon are obviously undefeated with some nice wins, and OSU went to the wire with one of those three on the road.
Then, you have UCLA and Purdue at the bottom who are just trying to pull upsets at this point and would need a miracle to even sniff bowl eligibility. However, between that? It is a bit of a mess. Not long ago, I would have said Iowa and Wisconsin look down, and Washington and Rutgers were slightly above each ... and then Iowa beat Washington handily, and Wisconsin embarrassed Rutgers in Piscataway. And Northwestern won at Maryland, and Minnesota beat USC, lol.
I'm also (like many) a bit spooked from our Purdue performance. Our performance vs. Michigan will be a huge signal at a pivotal point in the season if we are still a contender for that second tier.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Zone of Meh, I'm telling you.
It beckons even for Penn State.
(You'd have to put Maryland on Zone of Meh probation at this point though, in fairness)
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Yeah, I don't know what to think of PSU ... I would to believe they are elite, given they beat us. While they will obviously get their chances to prove themselves later this year, I think how good one thinks PSU is depends HEAVILY on Illinois and USC not being definitively "meh," haha.
You left out Indiana
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Correctly
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Not sold. I mean, I think they're "good" to the extent that I think USC, Michigan and even Illinois are "good" football teams. However, I need to see more from them. If they beat Nebraska at home, for example, would that be more impressive than us winning in Lincoln? I'd argue no, literally by definition.
blackdog
- Champaign
But the nature of the win could be telling. If they go out and drop 40+ on Nebraska it will lend a lot of weight to their legitimacy.
Besides the top 2-3 in the conference the B1G generally abides by the any given Saturday principle. We love chaos in this conference.
Why was Bama #1 then? Same exact scenario, if not an even more favorable one for Oregon. Oregon should be #1
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
Disagree completely, since it is not the same scenario at all. Texas beat a terrible Mississippi State team at home the same day that Bama beat Georgia. It made sense to see some movement there, especially since it was still the first month of the season. We are slightly deeper into the season now, where the volatility in rankings begins to stabilize a bit.
The primary issue with your argument is that it completely ignores the fact that Texas took a ranked Oklahoma team to the woodshed 34-3 in the Red River Rivalry Game (on a neutral location). Oregon had a very important and huge win at home; but without the QB blunder at the end, Ohio State would have had the opportunity to kick a field goal to win the game. No one is doubting that Oregon is a very good team, and could very well be #1 after this week concludes. However, to think they should jump Texas after what Texas did to Oklahoma is crazy. You simply cannot drop Texas after that dominating win over a ranked foe.
Oklahoma will win as many games the rest of the way as Miss St will.
I wouldn't pick Oklahoma to win more than 1 game the rest of the way - look at their schedule. They don't have an offense, had pretty much all of their top guys out, had 50% of their starters/first string out...Oklahoma is very mid this year and the injuries sure don't make the cause better. It's a better win than Miss St but this had no reason to be considered in the "big win category."
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I’ll say it again (as I have on these pages before)...
THANK GOD FOR THE PORTAL.
The Portal has allowed for greater overall parity in College Ball and more middling-teams now have real chances of success against the old legacy football powers that have ruled college ball ad nauseam for generations.
While there still are (and will be) general levels of group success within Conferences as I mentioned above... many more programs have upgraded their footballers and are making permanent strides up the ladder.
And the Conferences reshuffling is making for several new great matchups each and every week now. Watching the West Coast powers in the Big Ten. Seeing how Texas and Oklahoma fare against their new opponents. The great new additions to the Big 12 Conference.
I give credit to Texas A&M. They had the vision to split with their old conference years ago and hook up with the powerful SEC. That started the trend for programs to look for greener pastures and new beginnings. And the results have been terrific.
College Ball has never been more fun to watch overall than now.
Illinivek23
- Gurnee
I don't think Northwestern is a bad team, especially on defense. Indiana hung 41 on them - unfortunately think they are fairly legit.
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