Big Ten power rankings, Week 8: Michigan replaces Penn State in top 2

The Cornhuskers are only marginally better than the Rutgers Scarlet Knights right now in these Big Ten power rankings, but Nebraska is still winless in conference and overall. The first year of the Scott Frost era has been horrific so far and it’s really not clear if it will get better anytime soon.

Against the Northwestern Wildcats, Frost and his team had a great chance to come away with their first win of the season. Nebraska and Northwestern went back and forth, trading scores throughout the contest. With a little over five minutes left in the game, the Cornhuskers held a 10 point advantage over Northwestern.

Then, the Wildcats scored twice, forced overtime, and won. Nebraska choked and lost another game. The fact that they look like they can be better is keeping them above Rutgers, but the fact that they keep losing will keep the Cornhuskers at the bottom of these power rankings.

Illinois was slowly starting to prove that it could field a decent team. The Fighting Illini have a 3-3 record this season and actually won a Big Ten conference game against Rutgers a couple of weeks ago. But, well, when you lose to Purdue by 39 points, you’re going to drop a few spots. Illinois falling gives Minnesota an opportunity to climb on up a bit.

The Golden Gophers barely budged from their spot last week after their game against the Ohio State Buckeyes. The only reason they moved up was because Illinois played horribly against Purdue. Minnesota did a great job of keeping things close with the Buckeyes up until the fourth quarter. On the road, P.J. Fleck’s team did a solid job of making things uncomfortable for the best team in the Big Ten.

Ohio State didn’t turn the ball over once and the Buckeyes’ offense gained over 500 yards. And still, it took until the final moments of this game for Ohio State to put Minnesota away. That’s a commendable effort from Minnesota, but it doesn’t necessarily move the Gophers up in these power rankings and it definitely doesn’t move them up in the Big Ten standings.

Indiana similarly had a rough weekend. The Hoosiers turned the ball over a couple of times, couldn’t get their offense generated, and simply couldn’t go score-for-score at home against the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday. Indiana is closing in on bowl eligibility and has a Big Ten conference win against Rutgers. The fact that they have that conference win and Minnesota doesn’t have one yet is the sole reason that Indiana is ahead of the Golden Gophers right now.