Big Ten power rankings: What’s up with Scott Frost and Nebraska?

This week’s Big Ten power rankings take a look at what’s wrong with Scott Frost and the Nebraska Cornhuskers who are headed for another losing season.

Nebraska’s struggles continued as the Huskers couldn’t keep up with the Purdue Boilermakers in West Lafayette, Indiana. Sure, struggling while on a road trip is relatively normal and isn’t unheard of. However, struggling against a team that previously had two wins doesn’t exactly look good for Scott Frost and Nebraska.

Frost and the Huskers were, prior to this season, the Big Ten West team everyone wanted to talk about. Now, heading into its second bye week of the season, Nebraska is 4-5 and is probably going to miss a bowl game.

That’s not where Frost wanted to be at this point of the season. That’s certainly not where Nebraska fans want this program to be. And after Husker fans had their hopes elevated by preseason praise that was heaped on the Huskers, crashing back down to earth has probably been less than enjoyable.

Rutgers is still bad and the Scarlet Knights are still looking for a new coach. Apparently Butch Jones is reportedly interested, so that’s something. It’s not something I’d necessarily recommend, but it is indeed something.

Northwestern, like Rutgers, is also still bad. The Wildcats were run flattened by a surprisingly good Indiana that has goals set on a solid bowl destination this season. Northwestern, meanwhile, just wants more than one win this season. There’s a very real chance Northwestern ends up losing this spot to Rutgers before this year is over.

Oh, Nebraska. The Huskers had high hopes for what this season could be. But this isn’t UCF and Scott Frost will need more time to get this program to where he wants it to be. Losing to Purdue likely isn’t going to encourage any fans about the future of this program.

The Maryland Terrapins were steamrolled by the Michigan Wolverines. There’s not much else really notable here. Maryland simply couldn’t keep up with a much better team. Michigan also suddenly looks like a solid team again. It remains to be seen if the Wolverines will look this good against a team like Ohio State, however.

Look at you, Purdue! The Boilermakers got a much-needed win to help steer things back in the right direction. There’s no guarantee Purdue will make it to a bowl game given the sort of hole the Boilermakers dug for themselves, but this team, with its back against the wall, played well against Nebraska.

Michigan State had a bye week and it was something the Spartans probably could have used a few weeks earlier. At this point, the Spartans are reeling on a three-game losing streak. There’s a very real chance Michigan State loses to Illinois when they meet this Saturday.

There was a point this season the Wisconsin Badgers looked like the team to beat in the Big Ten West. There was a point this season where it seemed like Wisconsin would be able to challenge Ohio State for the Big Ten title. Now, at this point in the season, Wisconsin has failed to live up to the hype and has fallen short, losing to Illinois and then getting steamrolled by Ohio State in back-to-back weeks. As they come off a bye week, the Badgers will look to avoid getting beaten for a third straight time when they meet up with the Iowa Hawkeyes.

One more win and the Illinois Fighting Illini are eligible for a bowl game. After losing four consecutive games earlier this season, it looked like Illinois would fail to make a bowl, yet again. But, after rattling off three straight wins, including this weekend’s victory over Rutgers, Illinois is one win away from being bowl eligible. With games at Michigan State, at Iowa, and against Northwestern, it’s no guarantee Illinois will make it to a bowl game, but it sure feels likely the Fighting Illini get one win out of those three games.

At 7-2, the Indiana Hoosiers have had a delightful season. Having already locked up bowl eligibility, the Hoosiers are looking to make it to the best bowl possible and to make this season a special one. Indiana had no issue against Northwestern, no surprise there, and now the Hoosiers will prepare for the toughest stretch of their season. Indiana finishes out the year with a bye week this week, then goes to Penn State, returns home to host Michigan, and then goes to Purdue. That could challenge the Hoosiers.

Like five other teams in the Big Ten, Iowa took the week off. The Hawkeyes have rattled off back-to-back wins and are looking to continue winning as they head to Wisconsin. It’s unlikely the Hawkeyes will win the Big Ten West, but if they can beat Wisconsin, that following matchup with Minnesota sure looks interesting.

At this point in the season, who would’ve thought the Minnesota Golden Gophers would be unbeaten? If you’ve got your hand raised, you should probably put it down. Minnesota looked like a mess, having struggled to beat South Dakota State, Fresno State, and Georgia Southern to start the year. But P.J. Fleck and his team have gotten things figured out. And now, as the Golden Gophers get ready to host a top 5 ranked Penn State team, we’re about to find out just how good this team is.

Michigan followed up a dominant win over Notre Dame with a dominant win over Maryland. It’s probably too late for the Wolverines to actually make this season interesting, as there’s no realistic path to the Big Ten title for this team. That said, if Michigan can find a way to finally beat Ohio State, then this season will suddenly get very interesting for the Wolverines.

James Franklin and the Penn State Nittany Lions are set on claiming the Big Ten East this season. The Nittany Lions have already gotten past one hurdle in the Michigan Wolverines. They’ll need to survive surprisingly good upstarts like Minnesota and Indiana, but if the Nittany Lions can do that, a potential meeting of unbeaten giants lies up ahead as the Ohio State Buckeyes host Penn State in a few weeks.

Speaking of Ohio State, the Buckeyes had a bye week, like Penn State and so many other teams in the Big Ten. Ohio State is still the best team in the conference and will remain here at No. 1 until someone is able to knock off the Buckeyes.

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