It was not a great Big Ten start for one of the new teams
Week Three didn’t see anybody making a run for the top of the rankings. Our top three teams last week all had byes and they remain the top three team headed into Week Four. Washington could have made things interesting, but they fell in the Apple Cup to in-state rival Washington State and so much for that. We recap the week that was and look ahead to our most conference heavy week yet with four Big Ten games being played this weekend.
#1 Ohio State Buckeyes (Previously #1 — Bye)
The Buckeyes took a week off and didn’t have anyone make a run at their throne. They now get a 1-1 Marshall team this week in what should be another blowout win.
#2 USC Trojans (Previously #2 — Bye )
USC also had the week off and will be well rested for their first ever Big Ten conference game—and it’s a doozy as they head to the Big House to face a Michigan team that has not looked good so far this fall.
#3 Penn State Nittany Lions (Previously #3 — Bye)
Penn State had a week to regroup after their near loss to Bowling Green and will look to avoid that this weekend when Kent State comes to Happy Valley in another MAC/Big Ten crossover battle.
#4 Nebraska Cornhuskers (Previously #4 — Win 34-3 over Northern Iowa)
Nebraska moved to 3-0 with an easy win over a Northern Iowa team that had barely beat St. Thomas the week before. The Huskers are 3-0 in the Non-conference and kick off conference play with a Friday night national Fox game when they host similarly 3-0 Illinois.
#5 Oregon Ducks (Previously #7 — Win 49-14 at Oregon State)
The Civil War was a blowout as Oregon finally figured somethings out and torches their in-state rival on their own field. The Ducks looked like a preseason playoff contender last week and so they climb back up the board here. The Ducks get a bye this week before kicking off Big Ten play next week.
#6 Illinois Fighting Illini (Previously #6 — Win 30-9 over Central Michigan)
Illinois has been the surprise this September starting off 3-0 with fairly convincing wins. But it gets a lot harder Friday night when they Illini will try to defeat Nebraska and the media in Lincoln for a national Fox broadcast and the conference opener for both teams.
#7 Washington Huskies (Previously #5 —Lose 24-19 vs Washington State)
It was a bruised apple for the Huskies last week as they went into Seattle and lost to the Cougars 24-19 in the Apple Cup. Not a great end to the non-conference. They open up play in the Big Ten for the first time this Saturday when Northwestern comes to town for the Purple party.
#8 Rutgers Scarlet Knights (Previously #8 — Bye)
Rutgers could have possibly dropped here but nobody really deserved to move up that far, so at #8 they stay on their bye week. They travel to Virginia tech this week in a game to see where exactly they stack up against a middling Hokies team.
#9 Indiana Hoosiers (Previous #12 — Win 42-13 at UCLA)
Could Indiana be…good? Their offense sure seems to be as they trounced the Bruins in their Big Ten opener. Indiana hadn’t been to the Rose Bowl since 1967 and they took full advantage of their home fans packing the venue. Charlotte comes to town this eek to see if the Hoosiers can get 2⁄3 of the way to a bowl game.
#10 Michigan Wolverines (Previously #10—Win 28-18 over Arkansas State)
Another game where Michigan didn’t play great but beat a really poor opponent. Davis Warren was 11-14 passing for the Wolverines, but all three non-completed passes were completed—-to Arkansas State. It was bad enough he got the bench and Alex Orji will start at home against USC this week. Good luck Wolverines.
#11 Michigan State Spartans (Previously #11 — Win 40-0 over Prairie View A&M)
Sparty stays at 11 with a cakewalk win over Prairie View A&M. They have a tough road game this week when they head to BC for their annual Red Bandana game honoring an alum who died on 9/11. We shall see just how good MSU may be.
#12 Wisconsin Badgers (Previously #9 — Lose to Alabama 42-10)
I mean this is what we expected…right? Bama took the Badgers to the woodshed and made all the people who stood in line for over a quarter to try and buy a crappy overpriced beer even more cranky. Seriously—look it up, somehow Wisconsin screwed up selling beer. Oh yeah, and they lost their starting QB for the season after Tyler Van Dyke tore his ACL in the first quarter and will be playing their backup Braeden Locke the rest of the season. Ooof. They get a week to regroup before heading to LA and facing USC next weekend
#13 Maryland Terrapins (Previously #14 — Win 27-13 at Virginia)
Maryland bounced back from a Big Ten opening loss to Michigan State to go on the road and knock off former ACC rival Virginia. Maryland sits at 2-1 and closes out the non-conference with a snoozer as FCS Villanova comes to town.
#14 Iowa Hawkeyes (Previously #13 — Win 38-21 over Troy)
Iowa struggled against Troy before finally picking it up in the fourth quarter to win by a comfortable margin. Kaden Johnson is the real deal though and he now gets to run against Minnesota’s tough DL in the battle for Floyd on Saturday.
#15 Minnesota Golden Gophers (Previously #15 — Win 27-0 over Nevada)
For the second week in a row the Gopher defense shut out a hapless offense—-as they should. The Gopher D is playing great but might be missing Justin Walley this week after he got hurt against the Wolfpack. Not what you want with Iowa coming to town. It’s gonna be another ugly defensive battle most likely with the team that makes the fewest mistakes taking possession of the pig.
#16 Northwestern Wildcats (Previously #18 — Win over Eastern Illinois 31-7)
Northwestern bounces back with a win over an FCS team at home. A win is a win at this point. Things get considerably tougher as the Wildcats head cross-country to open Big Ten play in Seattle against Washington Saturday night.
#17 UCLA Bruins (Previously #17 Lose to Indiana 42-17)
UCLA is not good. Getting blown out out that badly by INDIANA in your first ever Big Ten game is not a great sign. Now you have to head to LSU this week. Yeah, this is gonna get worse before it gets better Bruins
#18 Purdue Boilermakers (Previous #16 Lose 66-7 to Notre Dame)
Purdue. Oh Purdue. I warned you what might happen last week. Then this happened in the comments.
Yeah, I don’t think that went how he thought it was going to go.
See you next week where we should have some significant movement thanks to Big Ten vs Big Ten play.