Another terrific week of Big Ten football is in the books. Penn State’s hopes have left the building and the Indiana Hoosiers are on cloud nine after beating the Oregon Ducks on the road, and oh yeah, the UCLA Bruins won again.
Even though Indiana got the massive win, they still find themselves behind the reigning champs, the Ohio State Buckeyes, in this week’s Big Ten power rankings.
18 – Wisconsin Badgers
The bright spots are few and far between for the Badgers, with Wisconsin falling 37-0 to Iowa, pushing their losing streak to four. The slate only gets tougher as they’ll face Ohio State and Oregon in their next two games.
17 – Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Outside of a three-point loss to Minnesota, the Scarlet Knights haven’t been particularly close in the Big Ten. Rutgers got handled on the road by Washington on Friday and will likely get blown out by a motivated Oregon team next week.
16 – Michigan State Spartans
Michigan State got spanked at home by the UCLA Bruins on Saturday in a 38-13 blowout loss. After starting the season 3-0, the Spartans have dropped their first three conference games, with each loss coming by at least 11 points.
15 – Purdue Boilermakers
Purdue nearly got their first Big Ten of the season on the road against Minnesota. The Boilermakers’ offense has been able to put up some points but it hasn’t resulted in wins against any equal competition.
14 – Penn State Nittany Lions
Penn State lost their third-straight Big Ten game and also lost their quarterback, Drew Allar, for the rest of the season. It’s been a season from hell for the Nittany Lions.
13 – Northwestern Wildcats
Northwestern got themselves another Big Ten win on Saturday with a win over the flailing Nittany Lions. The Wildcats aren’t blowing out their opponents but have shown the ability to win close games.
12 – UCLA Bruins
UCLA did it again on Saturday, with the Bruins giving Michigan State a beatdown to move to 2-1 in Big Ten action. UCLA is looking like a new team under Jerry Neuheisel and Tim Skipper.
11 – Minnesota Golden Gophers
Minnesota got blown out by Ohio State but avoided a close call against Purdue on Saturday to boost their record to 4-2. They’re not real contenders but are firmly entrenched in the group of pesky Big Ten teams.
10 – Maryland Terrapins
After a 4-0 start to the season, the Terrapins have lost two straight to Washington and Nebraska. Maryland will hit the road next week to face UCLA which suddenly looks like a tough matchup.
9 – Nebraska Cornhuskers
Nebraska moved to 5-1 with a 34-31 win over Maryland. All five of the Corn Huskers wins have come against unranked opponents. Nebraska will now face Minnesota, Northwestern and USC in their next three games, with the Corn Huskers getting an opportunity to stack some wins.
8 – Iowa Hawkeyes
Iowa picked up a shutout win over the lowly Wisconsin Badgers with the Hawkeyes moving to 4-2 with losses to two ranked teams in Iowa State and Indiana.
7 – Michigan Wolverines
Michigan couldn’t go on the road to beat USC. The Wolverines’ offense couldn’t do much against a struggling Trojans’ defense which is a cause for concern. Michigan now faces five-straight unranked opponents before closing out their regular season against Ohio State.
6 – Washington Huskies
Washington handled business against Rutgers, picking up a 38-19 home win. The Huskies are now 5-1 with their lone loss coming against Ohio State. Not too shabby.
5 – Illinois Fighting Illini
Illinois lost to the Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday but out of all the teams to lose to, the defending champs isn’t the worst team to lose to. Illinois fought hard but don’t seem to have the juice to beat the best teams in the country.
4 – USC Trojans
The Trojans bounced back from a loss against Illinois with an impressive win over the Michigan Wolverines in primetime on Saturday. Most importantly, the USC defense stood strong.
3 – Oregon Ducks
Oregon finally lost a regular season Big Ten game with their 30-20 defeat to Indiana. It’s a disappointing result for the Ducks coming off a bye but they still remain in the thick of College Football Playoff contention.
2 – Indiana Hoosiers
Indiana walked into Autzen Stadium and left with a 30-20 victory. The Hoosiers are now 6-0 with their offense still looking great and their defense doing just fine too, picking off Dante Moore twice on Saturday.
1 – Ohio State Buckeyes
The Buckeyes continue to just keep winning. They went on the road and handed Illinois a 34-16 loss. Ohio State’s defense forced another three turnovers and has a legit argument for the best defense in the nation.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: Big Ten football power rankings: How far does Penn State fall after loss to Northwestern?
Reporting by Dylan McNeill, UCLA Wire / UCLA Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
