The Whistlestop Tour: Week 5 of Big Ten Football

The Whistlestop Tour: Week 5 of Big Ten Football

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The Whistlestop Tour: Week 5 of Big Ten Football
CHAMPAIGN, IL – OCTOBER 03: Purdue Boilermakers DL Drake Carlson (98) celebrates with The Cannon Trophy following a college football game between the Purdue Boilermakers and Illinois Fighting Illini on October 3, 2026 at Gies Memorial Stadium in Champaigni, IL. (Photo by James Black/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Purdue won a Big Ten game!

After almost three years, I don’t think we can really celebrate that enough. There were close calls. There were blowouts. There was a lot of bad football. For one Saturday, at least, Purdue was better than someone else. Now we don’t have to worry about finishing dead last in the league!

Sure, there was more Big Ten football this weekend, but Purdue won, and we’re going to relish it.

Week 5 Power Rankings

  1. Indiana (Last week: 1, 5-0, 2-0) – Beat Rutgers 47-15 – Just another light workout for the Hoosiers this week as they mark time before hosting Ohio State in two weeks. Nebraska next week could be fun.
  2. Ohio State (Last week: 2, 4-1, 2-0) – Beat Iowa 31-14 – I thought Iowa would put up more of a fight here, but Ohio State played like Ohio State and just smothered them in Iowa City. Probably the most impressive win in the league this week.
  3. Oregon (Last Week: 4, 3-1, 1-0) – BYE – The Ducks were off this week, but they seem to have gotten things together after the Oklahoma State loss.
  4. UCLA (Last Week: 5, 4-0, 2-0) – BYE – In the same boat as Oregon. If the Big Ten is getting three playoff teams the third is probably UCLA or Oregon.
  5. Nebraska (Last Week: 6, 5-0, 2-0) – Beat Maryland 48-23 – Is it time to rank Nebraska? The Huskers struggled with Maryland, but flipped things on a long pick-6. If they beat Indiana this coming week that will be a huge statement.
  6. Northwestern (Last Week: 9, 3-1, 1-1) – Beat Penn State 34-13 – Northwestern opened their new stadium with a bang and looks like a top 25 team. They are honestly kinda scary.
  7. Minnesota (Last Week: 10, 3-1, 1-0) – Beat Michigan 20-14 – Congrats to the Gophers for beating Michigan at home for the first time in 49 years. Hopefully they have worked it all out of their system and we can get a W over them this coming week.
  8. USC (Last Week: 7, 5-1, 2-1) – Beat Washington 25-21 – This was a bit of a back and forth game, but a second half fumble-six flipped the game and kept the Trojans in the running.
  9. Wisconsin (Last Week: 12, 4-1, 2-0) – Beat Michigan State 31-3 – Is Wisconsin putting things together at the right time? The Badgers have been pretty solid the last couple of weeks and had no trouble vs. Sparty.
  10. Iowa (Last Week: 3, 4-1, 1-1) – Lost to Ohio State 31-14 – Is it a little harsh to drop the Hawkeyes seven spots after losing to Ohio State? Maybe, but it was a rather disappointing effort at home.
  11. Purdue (Last Week: 15, 2-3, 1-1) – Beat Illinois 24-17 – Conversely, is moving Purdue up to 11 too much after one win? Probably, but Michigan and Penn State have been ass and its my poll. We finally won a Big Ten game so I am fully entitled to overreact.
  12. Washington (Last Week: 8, 3-1, 0-1) – Lost to USC 25-21 – The Huskies gave it a game in Los Angeles, but they now find themselves 0-2 not long after they were a top 25 team. They are feeling kinda fraudulent.
  13. Penn State (Last Week: 8, 3-2, 0-2) – Lost to Northwestern 34-13 – Northwestern absolutely smacked them around to the tune of413 rushing yards. If you give up 400+ yards on the ground you got your ass beat.
  14. Michigan (Last Week: 13, 3*-2, 0-2) – Lost to Minnesota 20-14 – Get used to seeing 20-14 as the score for the Michigan game, because we are going to see a lot of similar scores, win or lose, for them going forward
  15. Maryland (Last Week: 17, 2-3, 0-2) – Lost to Nebraska 48-23 – They get points for bouncing back to at least make Nebraska work for this one, but it is still not a great team.
  16. Illinois (Last Week: 14, 2-3, 0-2) – Lost to Purdue 24-17 – You guys made the Purdue defense look good. That’s really bad, guys. Like, REALLY bad.
  17. Michigan State (Last Week: 16, 2-3, 0-2) – Lost to Wisconsin 31-3 – Is it just me, or is Michigan State getting worse each and every week? They barely put up a fight against Wisconsin.
  18. Rutgers (Last Week: 18, 1-4, 0-4) – Lost to Indiana 47-15 – Not everyone can be Howard, Rutgers, especially the defending national champions.

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