For years, the Big Ten conference had the not-so-subtle nickname \u201cThe Big Two and the Little Eight\u201d.\u00a0 The \u201cBig Two\u201d were conference heavyweights Ohio State and Michigan.\u00a0 While the Buckeyes (ranked second in this week\u2019s AP Poll) and Wolverines (fourth) are certainly powerhouses again so far this year, they are not alone.\u00a0 The Big Ten is also represented in the top ten of the AP Poll by Wisconsin and Nebraska, who are eighth and tenth respectively.\u00a0 This gives the conference four teams in the top ten in a regular season poll for the first time in 56 years.\u00a0 It might not last long, though, as the Buckeyes and Badgers play each other this weekend. The Badgers will look to get their first win in five tries against Ohio State.<\/p>\n
Another top ten matchup occurs in Knoxville, where Alabama comes to town for the \u201cThird Saturday in October\u201d against Tennessee.\u00a0 The Volunteers had the somewhat unusual distinction of not dropping any spots in the AP Poll despite losing to Texas A&M, remaining at #9 overall.\u00a0 This means that both teams will be ranked in this classic rivalry for the first time since 2005, and the first time both are in the top ten coming into the game since 1999. This has been a big game for a long time for both teams.\u00a0 Alabama has played no other team except Mississippi State more than Tennessee, who has only played Kentucky and Vanderbilt more often than Alabama.\u00a0 \u00a0It\u2019s also hard-fought; no one has beaten Alabama more times than Tennessee (38), and no one has beaten the Volunteers more than the Crimson Tide (52). \u00a0Alabama has won nine straight in this series, but Tennessee has already snapped one long series streak to Florida this year\u2026<\/p>\n
Other poll notes: the Western Michigan Broncos make their first appearance ever in the poll!\u00a0 They are 6-0 thus far this year, with wins over Northwestern and Illinois.\u00a0 Navy jumps back into the poll after a 46-40 upset over Houston this past week; the Midshipmen\u2019s only loss is to Air Force.\u00a0 Houston\u2019s loss is Boise State\u2019s gain.\u00a0 They are currently ranked 15th<\/sup> in the poll, and though Houston is 13th<\/sup>, have the inside track to the automatic New Years\u2019 Six bowl bid for the Group of Five.\u00a0 Why? You have to be a conference champion to qualify, and with their loss, Houston now needs at least two losses by Navy in conference to even win their division in the American Athletic Conference.\u00a0 \u00a0The Pac-12 is down to just two teams in the poll \u2013 Washington and Utah (although Arizona State is in the coaches\u2019 poll). Stanford and Oregon, the two teams that have monopolized the Pac-12 championship since 2009, already have a combined five conference losses between them.<\/p>\n In small-school news, a local traditional power is making their way up the Division II rankings.\u00a0 Tuskegee, the HBCU founded by Booker T. Washington, has a rich history in football.\u00a0 The Golden Tigers have won the second-most games in Division II history, behind only Pittsburg State, and have won seven Black College National Championships, but have generally not been ranked very high in Division II polls. \u00a0That\u2019s not the case this year, though.\u00a0 After their 28-19 win over rival Morehouse, Tuskegee is ranked 5th<\/sup> in the latest AFCA poll, their highest ranking ever.\u00a0 The Golden Tigers have a bye week before facing Kentucky State on October 22.<\/p>\n Congratulations to AllySun<\/strong>, who takes week 6 honors with 114 points!\u00a0 In second place was maestro<\/strong>, with 113, and JagRag<\/strong> was third with 112.<\/p>\n Standings after six weeks:<\/p>\n This weekend features 21 games, so we\u2019ll have a lot of points up for grabs! The first game is Navy at East Carolina, Thursday, October 13 @ 7:30 ET<\/strong>, so make sure to get your picks in by then!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For years, the Big Ten conference had the not-so-subtle nickname \u201cThe Big Two and the Little Eight\u201d.\u00a0 The \u201cBig Two\u201d were conference heavyweights Ohio State and Michigan.\u00a0 While the Buckeyes (ranked second in this week\u2019s AP Poll) and Wolverines (fourth) are certainly powerhouses again so far this year, they are not alone.\u00a0 The Big Ten […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.e-systems.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.e-systems.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.e-systems.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.e-systems.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.e-systems.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.e-systems.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":332,"href":"https:\/\/www.e-systems.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions\/332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.e-systems.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.e-systems.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.e-systems.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n\n
\n 1st<\/sup><\/td>\n maestro <\/strong><\/td>\n 1153<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2nd<\/sup><\/td>\n AllySun <\/strong><\/td>\n 1149<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n T-3rd<\/sup><\/td>\n Crimson Gator <\/strong><\/td>\n 1136<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n T-3rd<\/sup><\/td>\n JagRag <\/strong><\/td>\n 1136<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n T-3rd<\/sup><\/td>\n In Accord <\/strong><\/td>\n 1136<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 6th<\/sup><\/td>\n AUBrian <\/strong><\/td>\n 1127<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 7th<\/sup><\/td>\n Shame! Shame! <\/strong><\/td>\n 1124<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 8th<\/sup><\/td>\n bamaken <\/strong><\/td>\n 1123<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 9th<\/sup><\/td>\n JagAL <\/strong><\/td>\n 1121<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 10th<\/sup><\/td>\n Ralphie <\/strong><\/td>\n 1115<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n