Big Ten Power Rankings: Week 4
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The first full week of Big Ten play is in the books. UCLA is coming up out of nowhere. Mike Locksley still has a job and will fix things. Our Iowa Hawkeyes talking…playoffs?
1. #6 Indiana (4-0, 1-0)
Holding on at the top, but only just. Yeah, they got some big chunk plays on Northwestern’s run defense. Yes, they won. But that was tight. The Northwestern onside at the end…so close for the Wildcats. I guess I leave this slightly down on IU, but way up on Northwestern. That’s a tough out for anyone.
Week 5 – at Rutgers
2. #5 Ohio State (3-1, 1-0)
The offense is as explosive as you’d expect. It was enough to get Illinois’s defensive coordinator fired this week. But they gave up a huge amount of yardage to the Illini and allowed 6 yards a carry. Something to file away. Yeah, they only gave up 19 points and that’s the big thing here. But can they be had on defense? MAYBE!!
Week 5 – at #14 Iowa
3. #14 Iowa (4-0, 1-0)
Here we go, baby! Winning away at Michigan is tough no matter what, and Iowa escaped with a win. The offense came alive in the 4th quarter, just as it did against Iowa State, Hank Brown was great, Iowa scored on special teams, won the turnover battle, and had fewer penalty yards. There were a TON of hidden yardage advantages that went Iowa’s way. Whatever the case – this is exactly where Iowa wants to be from this Michigan-Ohio State-Washington stretch. Also Kirk is now big-time.
Week 5 – vs. #5 Ohio State
4. #15 Oregon (3-1, 1-0)
Back from the dead! That’s as impressive a win as a team has had all year, winning in the Coliseum by two scores, and without their starting quarterback (more on that later.) Really impressive stuff from the Ducks. They’re right back in the thick of it.
Week 5 – Bye
5. Nebraska (4-0, 1-0)
Saturday is the kind of game Nebraska has lost over and over in the recent past. Road game, possibly tricky venue, against a good coach. And Nebraska had Sparty in a head lock right away. Really impressive.
Week 5 – Maryland
6. #23 UCLA (4-0, 2-0)
TOP OF THE STANDINGS. Really impressive here too, and this was hard to rank between Nebraska, UCLA, and our seventh-ranked team, Wisconsin. They go three time zones east – remember last week’s rule with USC-Rutgers – and they didn’t miss a beat. Instead, they completely destroyed Maryland. This game also featured one of the worst Pick 6’s I’ve ever seen. Maybe even the worst.
LOL!
Week 5 – Bye
7. Wisconsin (3-1, 1-0)
Another team hard to rank! This is massively impressive, going to Penn State and winning. Not only that, but Wisconsin trailed 17-0 almost immediately. Then it’s very Wisconsin, stealing a note from Iowa, to have a tight end (a BIG tight end; that was close to a big man TD) score a long touchdown that ends up being the game-winner. I’m not sure if Wisconsin is THAT good, but this is a nice response for Luke Fickell after such a lousy start to his tenure in Madison. They’re playing hard.
Week 5 – Michigan State
8. Northwestern (2-1, 0-1)
See above. I have to give them some kudos for how they played the Indiana game. They nearly won it. I think it’s worthy of a move up. They have vulnerabilities on defense but they fought and nearly had a possession to win the game at the end. Now they get to host Penn State in their new stadium. Good luck, Nittany Lions.
Week 5 – Penn State (Friday)
9. Michigan (2-2 3-1, 0-1)
Michigan committed a ton of silly errors in their loss to Iowa that turned out to be fatal. Turnover at the 2. Failure to convert a fourth and 1 deep-ish in Iowa territory. Late hit on Tony Diaz that extends Iowa’s winning drive. But it’s also weirdly a game where it feels like they’ve improved after a couple of so-so games and a stolen victory. Not great, not terrible despite a gut punch loss. If Bryce Underwood plays like that the rest of the way, Michigan will be just fine. Underwood was GREAT on Saturday minus…two throws? Three? Dude is a unit.
Week 5 – at Minnesota
10. Minnesota (3-1,1-0)
Great win for Minnesota, winning in the Pacific Northwest. And doing so pretty handily. They were in charge through most of this game.
Week 5 – Michigan
11. Penn State (3-1, 0-1)
Uh oh. Matthew Campbell already feeling a little heat in Happy Valley? Turns out taking a ton of dudes from a Big XII team that went 8-4 a year ago and trying to make that work in the Big Ten is tough to do. This could go sideways.
Week 5 – at Northwestern (Friday)
12. #18 USC (4-1, 1-1)
We’ve found our fake ID team. They struggled with Rutgers on the east coast. They then have a huge game against a former league rival, and they do…that. Get ragdolled all night. Then they knock Dante Moore out and guys are seemingly celebrating it? Really gross. This could get hairy for Lincoln Riley, who has the same record at this point in his tenure as Clay Helton had in his (39-19.) Future games this year include at Penn State, at Wisconsin, Ohio State, at Indiana, and the cross-town game with UCLA. Lots of travel east.
Then there’s this from USC’s radio crew. A look so bad the color guy hits the Jim Halpert look at the end.
Week 5 – Washington
13. Washington (3-1, 0-1)
What’s going on here? Seriously. I think they’ve had some guys banged up but…? This team has a good talent level, even if a bit young. No issue for Minnesota, who hammered them all night long. From an Iowa angle – free hit this weekend with Ohio State, then pour it all into this game.
Week 5 – at #18 USC
14. Illinois (2-2, 0-1)
The good: good yardage total against Ohio State, at the Horseshoe. Not many teams do that. They found some holes in Ohio State’s armor.
Week 5 – Purdue
The bad: fired the DC after 4 games. Gave up a billion yards themselves. Only scored 19 points.
15. Michigan State (2-2, 0-1)
I thought they’d hang in there with Nebraska all night and maybe steal that. Nope. Not really close. Tough year for Patrick Fitzgerald.
Week 5 – at Wisconsin
16. Rutgers (1-3, 0-1)
Look, they still have to go. It’s not really a big deal beating Howard. Whatever. But since the silly opening losses (UMass might actually be good; 4-0, receiving votes, and they’ve already scored more points this year than they did all of last season), they’ve been…ok. They’ve competed. Still bad, still leave…but others did far worse this week. Far worse.
Week 5 – #6 Indiana
17. Purdue (1-3, 0-1)
The slide continues. No surprise. Sure, Notre Dame is a tough ask but this was over within about 10 minutes. They can’t get a stop at all. They’re just a bad team and they’ll be in the bottom 2-3 teams in these rankings all year.
Week 5 – at Illinois
18. Maryland (2-2, 0-1)
You can also leave. You get a team heading east, their body clocks are all off, it’s a early-ish start…and you get blasted into outer space like that? Good thing Mike Locksley is committed to getting this fixed!
Week 5 – at Nebraska
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