The delta between the top of the conference and the bottom of the conference is stark. I could see an argument for re-arranging any of the Top 5, but I think everyone's Top 5 would include those teams. The same can be said for the Bottom 5. Wisconsin feels a little low, but they get a chance to move up this week and prove they deserve to be higher. What else did I miss?
- Penn State – Penn State easily moved to 4-0 with a win over Villanova. They host a struggling Indiana at home on Saturday night and should start 5-0.
- Iowa – The Hawkeyes started slow vs Colorado State before pulling away for a 10 point win. Their wins over Iowa State and Indiana are looking less impressive by the week and they’ll be tested a bit more at Maryland this weekend.
- Michigan – Despite a horrible second half, Michigan is 4-0 and hasn’t trailed in any game this season. That’s something that hasn’t been done in Ann Arbor since 1973. We’ll find out a lot more about this team when they travel to Madison this weekend.
- Ohio State – The Buckeyes got back on track with a 59-7 trouncing of Akron. They put up 622 yards of offense with newly named starter QB Kyle McCord, but the bigger story might have been the defensive lineman K’Vaughan Pope who quit in the middle of the game and took to Twitter to share his feelings about the program and is now in the transfer portal. All is still not right in Columbus and they’ll need to bring at least their B game against Rutgers this weekend.
- Michigan State – The Spartans were likely one correctly angled punt by Nebraska from losing this game, which is why they dropped despite winning and moving to 4-0. They should beat WKU this weekend, but games vs Rutgers and Indiana don’t look quite as automatic as they did a week ago.
- Maryland – An easy win over Kent State moved the Terps to 4-0, but things get much tougher now as they host Iowa before traveling to Ohio State. Beating Iowa would be a huge boost for a program trying to grab some momentum.
- Rutgers – Despite falling behind 20-3 early, the Scarlet Knights hung tough in the second half and made Michigan sweat it out before falling 20-13. While Michigan fans will rightly blame Michigan for keeping it close, give Rutgers credit for keeping it a game. Life doesn’t get much easier as they host Ohio State this weekend.
- Purdue – The Boilermakers needed a late touchdown from their backup QB and a 4th down stop in the red zone to hold off Illinois 13-9. They eeked out the win however and moved to 3-1. Next up is a home game with Minnesota.
- Wisconsin – The final score of Wisconsin’s loss to Notre Dame was deceiving due to two late interceptions returned for touchdowns, but the Badgers are still 1-2 without any Power 5 wins so it is tough to rank them much higher for now. That could very well change after this weekend’s game with Michigan.
- Minnesota – A week after an impressive 30-0 win over Colorado in Boulder, the Golden Gophers laid an egg at home by losing to Bowling Green.
- Northwestern – The Wildcats are the biggest movers of the week after getting to 2-2 with a win over Ohio University. They still don’t have a win over a Power 5 team, but will get that chance at Nebraska this weekend.
- Indiana – The Hoosiers escaped a road game at Western Kentucky (barely) but have to regroup quickly as they travel to Penn State for a night game this weekend.
- Nebraska – The Cornhuskers were one punt coverage away from a big road victory over Top 20 Michigan State. Instead they now have 3 losses, including one to Big Ten cellar dweller Illinois. They host Northwestern and Michigan the next two weeks.
- Illinois – After a promising start to the season, the Fighting Illini have dropped 4 straight. They get a break from Big Ten play hosting a frisky 3-1 Charlotte this week.
