Big Ten Football Power Rankings reassess the conference after a few upsets

Big Ten Football Power Rankings reassess the conference after a few upsets

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Big Ten Football Power Rankings reassess the conference after a few upsets
STATE COLLEGE, PENNSYLVANIA – SEPTEMBER 26: Jacob Harris #89 of the Wisconsin Badgers stiff arms Audavion Collins #2 of the Penn State Nittany Lions to score the game winning touchdown during the fourth quarter at Beaver Stadium on September 26, 2026 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Week 3 was pretty ho-hum with expected results across the board. Week 4 was anything but. Iowa pulled off a stunner in the Big House, Wisconsin shocked Penn State in Happy Valley, and Oregon picked up a huge road win in Los Angeles. Those results and more drastically affected our rankings this week. Here’s what we’ve got at the conclusion of Week 4:

10. Minnesota Golden Gophers: 3-1, Def. Washington 27-24, LW: 15

Minnesota picked up a moderately surprising win over a decent Washington squad in Seattle late Saturday night/Sunday morning. P.J. Fleck’s squad now has a solid win to point to as well as a loss that is aging like fine wine, as Mississippi State continues a dream season. We’ll learn a whole lot more about the Gophers this coming weekend on Big Noon Kickoff as they host Michigan.

9. USC Trojans: 4-1, Lost to Oregon 27-41, LW: 4

Lincoln Riley and the Trojans couldn’t get the job done against Dylan Raiola and the Oregon Ducks. While not a terrible loss on the surface, USC’s resume is struggling because they don’t have any quality wins to point to. Their best win to date is an ugly, ugly matchup with Rutgers just a few weeks ago. There’s plenty of time to turn things around in Los Angeles, but the schedule just gets tougher and tougher.

8. Michigan Wolverines: 3-1, Lost to Iowa 19-20, LW: 2

After flirting with disaster nearly all season, the crow came to roost on Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor. Iowa stunned Michigan thanks to a walk-off touchdown pass in the corner of the endzone. In addition, Michigan’s signature victory over Oklahoma is looking worse and worse as the Sooners struggle in the SEC as well. It may only be Week 4, but Michigan is already at an inflection point in their season.

7. Wisconsin Badgers: 3-1, Def. Penn State 24-20, LW: 14

Luke Fickell finally picked up a signature win as head coach of the Badgers. Wisconsin overcame a 17-0 deficit to snatch victory away from the jaws of defeat late in Happy Valley. While we don’t quite know how good Penn State is or isn’t, a win on the road at Beaver Stadium is always impressive. Not to mention, Wisconsin’s only loss at this point is a quality loss to top-5 Notre Dame.

6. UCLA Bruins: 4-0, Def. Maryland 54-3, Last Week: 10

UCLA is 2-0 in Big Ten play already with conference wins over lowly Purdue and Maryland. This past weekend’s blowout was particularly impressive. I don’t expect Bob Chesney and company to seriously contend for the conference crown as the schedule stiffens (UCLA travels to Oregon after a bye), but they are yet to have a blemish on their resume and have looked good doing it.

5. Nebraska Cornhuskers: 4-0, Def. Michigan State 31-13, LW: 7

Do I think Nebraska is legitimately good this season? Not really. But they’ve won all four of their contests and have done so with relative ease. If we base these rankings solely off of what teams have done on the field, you can’t argue that Nebraska should be in the top five. For now, Matt Rhule’s squad gets a lofty ranking.

4. Oregon Ducks: 3-1, Def. USC 41-27, LW: 8

Oregon finally got back on track Saturday night and looked like the team we expected before the season started. Interestingly, they did this with Dylan Raiola at the helm instead of Dante Moore because of a brutal blow to Moore’s head, causing him to leave the game. As shocking as Oregon’s loss to Oklahoma State was in Week 3, everything is still in play for the Ducks moving forward.

3. Ohio State Buckeyes: 3-1, Def. Illinois 42-19, LW: 5

Somehow, someway the Buckeyes are already back into the top three. Ohio State doesn’t have a quality win yet, depending on what you think of Illinois, but they did go wire-to-wire with Texas on the road and have looked good in their other three wins.

2. Iowa Hawkeyes: 4-0, Def. Michigan 20-19, LW: 6

Don’t look now, but Iowa quietly has one of the best resumes in college football. While their style of play is aesthetically unappealing, the Hawkeyes now boast blowout wins over bad non-conference teams along with solid wins against Iowa State and at Michigan. They’ve done everything they’ve needed to do to be a top contender up until this point.

1. Indiana Hoosiers: 4-0, Def. Northwestern 29-23, LW: 1

I was very tempted to drop the Hoosiers down a notch or two thanks to an uninspiring win at home against Northwestern. However, Indiana is still undefeated and has a bonkers scoring margin of +135. Their main challengers for the No. 1 spot already have a loss to by default; the Hoosiers remain in the top spot.

Everybody else:
  • 11. Northwestern Wildcats
  • 12. Washington Huskies
  • 13. Penn State Nittany Lions
  • 14. Illinois Fighting Illini
  • 15. Michigan State Spartans
  • 16. Maryland Terrapins
  • 17. Purdue Boilermakers
  • 18. Rutgers Scarlet Knights

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