It was a weird week in some ways in the Big Ten. The top teams won convincingly, as expected, but a few teams found themselves in struggles they perhaps didn’t expect.
Top of mind (of course, on WolverinesWire) was how much Michigan football struggled with a Purdue team that’s gotten increasingly competitive, but has also been the worst team in the conference for much of the year. USC and Nebraska — two teams known for offense, particularly their passing games — were unable to pass the ball. Minnesota and MSU were locked up and went to overtime. Six teams were on bye.
With that in mind, here are our updated Big Ten power rankings after Week 10.
This week: BYE
Previous ranking: 18
Hi/Lo: 16/18
Wisconsin was on bye this week, but will host Washington next week.
This week: L, at Illinois, 13-35
Previous ranking: 17
Hi/Lo: 14/17
We had to move Rutgers down because the other teams that were below it last week, which lost this week, at least lost competitively. The passing offense under Athan Kaliakmanis continues to be the shining star, but Greg Schiano’s team has struggled defensively this season — something of an about-face from recent Scarlet Knight squads. Making a bowl game seems increasingly difficult, but Rutgers faces a Maryland team next week that’s also struggled in Big Ten play.
This week: L, at Minnesota, 20-23 OT
Previous ranking: 17
Hi/Lo: 12/18
Give MSU credit: without Aidan Chiles this week, the Spartans at least had a chance to win on the road at Minnesota. However, even as backup quarterback Alessio Milivojevic had more than 300 yards passing, and the run game got going, the Spartans couldn’t finish drives, and didn’t take the lead until late. And then the defense not only allowed the Gophers to tie the game with 29 seconds left, but then lost in overtime.
Even still, this was two relatively competitive games in a row, which is an improvement. And that’s something?
This week: L, at Michigan, 16-21
Previous ranking: 16
Hi/Lo: 15/17
Another valiant effort from Barry Odom’s team, and this time, not against Rutgers. Purdue had looked atrocious for much of the year, but now it is starting to show some life. The pass game against Michigan wasn’t very explosive, but the run game, surprisingly, was. And the defense? That was the big shock of them all. The game wasn’t exactly in doubt for the Wolverines, but it remained close, thanks in large part to forcing two Bryce Underwood red zone turnovers. This was about as good as you could ask for from the Boilermakers, even if they’re in no position to contend for anything this year.
This week: L, at Ohio State, 14-38
Previous ranking: 14
Hi/Lo: 3/16
The good news? Penn State scored the first touchdowns that Ohio State has given up in the first half all season. The bad news? That’s all it was able to do. The defense struggled mightily, as it gave up over 300 yards to Julian Sayin. OSU receivers were open early and often, and the Nittany Lions put up very little resistance. Ethan Grunkemeyer didn’t have a good homecoming in Columbus, and while the run game looked good early, the game situation dictated that Penn State get away from it.
The disaster season continues for PSU.
This week: BYE
Previous ranking: 13
Hi/Lo: 9/18
UCLA was on bye this week, but hosts Nebraska at the Rose Bowl next week.
12. Maryland Terrapins (4-4, 1-4)
This week: L, vs. Indiana, 10-55
Previous ranking: 10
Hi/Lo: 10/12
Well, this can be said of Maryland this week: freshman quarterback Malik Washington threw for a lot of yards. And the defense forced yet another turnover. Those are perhaps the sole positives.
The Terps had a close start, but then turned the ball over constantly, while allowing Indiana almost 600 total yards of offense. Meanwhile, the run game (though somewhat out of necessity considering the predicament they found themselves in) didn’t even eclipse 40 yards.
As it is with most teams, burn the tape and live to fight another day. But even so, Maryland still has just one win in the conference, and while it has two winnable games left (honestly, all four could be on the table), it’s going to be a fight to get bowl eligibility even after the stellar start to the season.
11. Northwestern Wildcats (5-3, 3-2)
This week: BYE
Previous ranking: 8
Hi/Lo: 8/18
Northwestern was on bye this week, but will return with a game at USC on Friday night.
This week: W, vs. MSU, 23-20 OT
Previous ranking: 9
Hi/Lo: 9/14
Minnesota tried to lose the game, but ultimately took the game back from MSU. Despite leading for nearly the whole game, the Gophers ended up surrendering the lead only to take it back in walk-off fashion in overtime. Given the up-and-down nature of this team, it’s somewhat surprising that PJ Fleck got six wins this year, and even though this win against Michigan State isn’t exactly impressive, bowl eligibility is here, and that’s a good thing for the team in Minneapolis.
This week: L, vs. USC, 17-21
Previous ranking: 8
Hi/Lo: 5/10
Two two-loss teams entered Memorial Stadium, but it wasn’t the Black Shirts and company who left unblemished with the record they came in with. It was an ugly slog of a performance (from both teams), and though Nebraska had the lead for two-thirds of the game, it couldn’t manage the win at home. With less than 100 yards passing, the entire thing was off for the Huskers. The secondary stood tall against a vaunted passing attack (as it tends to do), but given that Dylan Raiola couldn’t take advantage of USC’s abysmal offensive outing, it ended up being moot.
The team is still improved, but perhaps hasn’t fully turned the corner.
8. Illinois Fighting Illini (6-3, 3-3)
This week: W, vs. Rutgers, 35-13
Previous ranking: 7
Hi/Lo: 4/9
We moved Illinois down one after the win, not because it didn’t look the part vs. Rutgers (it was a good bounce-back win), but because we moved another team up. Even still, the defense played better against the run, though it did allow over 250 yards to Athan Kaliakmanis (which, he’s had a fantastic season, individually). The offense got back on track, too, led by Luke Altmyer doing it both on the ground and through the air.
Illinois will be on bye next week.
This week: BYE
Previous ranking: 6
Hi/Lo: 5/9
Washington was on bye, and yes, we dropped them a spot (due to our decision to move another team up). Up next is a trip to Madison.
6. Michigan Wolverines (7-2, 5-1)
This week: W, vs. Purdue, 21-16
Previous ranking: 5
Hi/Lo: 4/8
This was supposed to be a romp against a bottom team. Supposed to be.
And yet, with Bryce Underwood playing easily his worst game of his career (with two red zone turnovers), the Wolverines needed to rely on defense and their run game. The defense had its lapses (which was to be expected given Purdue’s offense), but mostly held strong. The offense just couldn’t get out of its own way for the entire evening. Injuries continue to mount, and even with Jaishawn Barham leaving at the beginning of the game, and with Jimmy Rolder and Cole Sullivan out, the freshmen and redshirt freshmen who played increased minutes on that side of the ball did well.
This was a bad game for Michigan, no way around it. But a bad game with a win in the books, you take that every time.
This week: BYE
Previous ranking: 10
Hi/Lo: 5/13
The Hawkeyes were on bye this week, but given how things have looked in retrospect, Iowa may be a real contender in-conference. We’ll know more next week when it hosts Oregon.
This week: W, at Nebraska 21-17
Previous ranking: 4
Hi/Lo: 4/8
It was a hard-fought game in Lincoln, and though USC trailed for much of the game, it persevered and escaped with a win. Jayden Maiava had perhaps his worst career game against the stingy Husker secondary, going 9-for-23 for just 135 yards and an interception, but the run game managed over 200 yards, allowing the Trojans to stay in it (though Nebraska had similar stats in both the pass and the run game). It just so happened that USC didn’t have to settle for any field goals, while the Cornhuskers had to once. That was the difference.
The Trojans host Northwestern next week, which might not give much in terms of an offensive bounce-back game.
This week: BYE
Previous ranking: 3
Hi/Lo: 1/3
Oregon was on bye this week, but travels to Kinnick to face Iowa next week.
This week: W, vs. Penn State, 38-14
Previous ranking: 2
Hi/Lo: 1/2
In the preseason, this was supposed to be a heavyweight matchup, but instead, it was the least competitive game in some time between the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions. Ohio State’s passing game was efficient and explosive. And while the run game managed to get going eventually, that’s still something that OSU is working on. The same can be said of the run defense — even though Penn State didn’t eclipse 60 yards in the game (it had more to do with going down big in the third quarter than anything). The defense made life awful for Ethan Grunkemeyer, the Columbus native, while the Jim Knowles defense folded as if it were playing Michigan. All-in-all, this Buckeye team appears destined to face Indiana in Indianapolis, but that game at the end of the season may have something to say about that.
1. Indiana Hoosiers (8-0, 5-0)
This week: W, at Maryland, 55-10
Previous ranking: 1
Hi/Lo: 1/4
What more can be said about IU that hasn’t been said already? The Hoosiers exited the first quarter in a tight game with the Terps, but then the offensive explosion finally started. Indiana ran for nearly 400 yards against Maryland while holding the Terrapins to just 37 yards on the ground. IU more than doubled up the Terps via yards, with 588 yards to 293. Curt Cignetti’s team continues to clown nearly every team it plays — except Iowa, it seems.
