Big Ten power rankings, Week 3: Ohio State rolls, Iowa loses to FCS team
By David Rouben
After Week 3, the Big Ten proved why they belong in the same class as the SEC. Here are the Power Rankings for every team.
The Big Ten has yet to have a bad College Football week. But in the last week before the conference schedule starts, they absolutely showed out. Across the board, the Big Ten went 9-2 with Michigan State, Ohio State, and Nebraska all beating ranked opponents.
The biggest misstep came from Iowa, who lost to a North Dakota State team without Carson Wentz. But North Dakota State are an FCS powerhouse, and that loss just proved that scheduling them is a bad idea.
And while Ohio State is often referred to as Alabama North, their dominant display in Norman gives them a strong case to be considered the number one team over them. With a difficult conference schedule, they know their work is far from done, but not making the College Football Playoff would be a huge disappointment.
The Big Ten runs far deeper than Ohio State, though. Whoever makes the Playoff will be considered a National Championship contender, and weeks like this prove why they’re among the best conferences in the country. So with that in mind, here’s where every Big Ten team stands after Week 3.
Lovie Smith giveth, and Lovie Smith taketh away. That was the case during his tenure with the Chicago Bears, and it’s proven to be true during the start of his Illinois career.
Despite a 312 yard outing by Wes Lunt, the offense could only muster up 10 points. A lot of that was due to the anemic run game, Ke’Shawn Vaughn was Illinois’ leading rusher with just 22 yards. The defense was a big let-down too, as they committed seven penalties and let the Broncos run all over them.
Granted, Western Michigan is better than we’re giving them credit. This win takes them to 3-0, and Illinois is the second Big Ten victim they’ve claimed, with Northwestern in Week 1 being the first. Even in a week as successful as Week 3, you can always count on MACtion to take hold in the Big Ten.
Purdue was off this week, but you have to figure that this week was a stressful one as a spectator. Even though the Big Ten West is wide open, there are plenty of teams that are ahead of them. And their first conference game against Maryland on the road will hardly be an easy test.
It wasn’t pretty at all, but beating Duke was important for Northwestern to get back on track. After going into halftime tied at 7, the Wildcats put up 17 points in the second half to pull away. The defense, meanwhile, was a complete team effort as they limited Duke to 13 points and had two turnovers.
Clayton Thorson had a big bounce-back game by throwing for 320 yards and three touchdowns. He also completed 46% of his passes and had two interceptions, so there’s definitely room to improve. A big part of Thorson’s success was wide receiver Austin Carr, who tallied 135 yards and a touchdown on just six catches.
The biggest reason Northwestern needed to win is because it doesn’t get any easier from here on out. Their first conference game is against Nebraska who, after defeating Oregon, suddenly likes their chances in close-game situations.