Big Ten Football Power Rankings heading into conference play
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Week 3 was fairly ho-hum in the Big Ten, as most games went as expected. The only real surprise was Northwestern’s beatdown of Deion Sanders and Colorado.
While there isn’t a ton of change from last week, here’s what we have headed into the first full week of Big Ten play:
10. UCLA Bruins: 3-0, Def. Purdue 52-38, Last Week: 10
UCLA picked up their first Big Ten win of the season by defeating Purdue at the Rose Bowl. The Bruin offense looked good with Nico Iamaleava throwing for 276 yards and three touchdowns with Wayne Knight contributing 177 yards and two more scores on the ground. However, it was a bit surprising to see them give up 488 yards and 38 points to Purdue.
9. Northwestern Wildcats: 2-0, Def. Colorado 41-7, LW: 13
David Braun’s squad had arguably the most impressive win of the week amongst Big Ten programs. Aidan Chiles and the Wildcats didn’t just upset Colorado, they were clearly the superior team. Time will tell if the Wildcats are for real or not but early returns have been promising.
8. Oregon Ducks: 2-1, Def. Portland State 84-0, LW: 8
The Ducks obliterated Portland State and are likely still one of the better teams in the conference. However, I can’t move Oregon ahead of teams who also blew out inferior opponents when all they did was beat a winless Portland State squad.
7. Nebraska Cornhuskers: 3-0, Def. North Dakota 34-7, LW: 7
Nebraska’s offense has been one of the pleasant surprises in the Big Ten this season. However, caveats do apply given the level of competition. The Cornhuskers have a gentle start to the Big Ten slate with a trip to Michigan State and a home game with Maryland before hosting Indiana.
6. Iowa Hawkeyes: 3-0, Def. Northern Iowa 55-0, LW: 6
The Hawkeyes had three separate running backs rush for more than 100 yards on Saturday which is an incredible feat regardless of opponent. ESPN’s FPI has Iowa just outside the top 25 in the country. Iowa’s matchup with Michigan this weekend should be illuminating for both programs moving forward.
5. Ohio State Buckeyes: 2-1, Def. Kent State 59-3, LW: 5
The Buckeyes are almost certainly better than fifth in the Big Ten this season. However, I can’t jump them over the top four teams because of a win over lowly Kent State. They’ll have more than enough opportunities to climb up the power rankings as time goes on.
4. USC Trojans: 4-0, Def. Rutgers 42-35, LW: 3
I dropped USC one spot because of how much they struggled to put away Rutgers on Saturday. The Trojans were never in real danger of losing the game, but they continually let the Scarlet Knights hang around, which is usually a recipe for disaster.
3. Penn State Nittany Lions: 3-0, Def. Buffalo 55-13, LW: 4
Penn State’s schedule has been incredibly soft so far, but they also haven’t had any trouble with it. Tough to ding a team when they’ve played as well as the Nittany Lions have.
2. Michigan Wolverines: 3-0, Def. UTEP 52-17, LW: 2
Interestingly, the Wolverines lead the Big Ten in ESPN’s SOR metric. That’s hard to argue when they’ve got wins over a MAC powerhouse and an above average SEC team. I don’t expect Michigan to remain this high throughout the season, but for now No. 2 feels appropriate.
1. Indiana Hoosiers: 3-0, Def. Western Kentucky 38-0, LW: 1
I feel slightly bad continuing to reward the Hoosiers for playing absolutely nobody. However, they don’t deserve to fall in the rankings with a shutout win and without any conference contenders picking up a noteworthy win in Week 3. For now, the Hoosiers remain on top.
Everybody else:
- 11. Washington Huskies
- 12. Michigan State Spartans
- 13. Illinois Fighting Illini
- 14. Wisconsin Badgers
- 15. Minnesota Golden Gophers
- 16. Maryland Terrapins
- 17. Purdue Boilermakers
- 18. Rutgers Scarlet Knights
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