Ben Bolch’s Big Ten Power Rankings
Game of the week: No. 5 UCLA (8-0 overall, 5-0 Big Ten) at Minnesota (5-3, 3-2), 9 a.m. PST Saturday on FOX. This is perhaps the biggest remaining hurdle the Bruins must clear on their way to the College Football Playoff. The Golden Gophers are incredibly hard to beat at home, where they’ve toppled Michigan and Iowa in low-scoring slugfests.
1. UCLA (8-0) Hasn’t faced a challenge it couldn’t meet under Bob Chesney. (Last week: 2)
3. Ohio State (6-2) After that performance we’re tempted to drop Buckeyes below Rutgers. (1)
3. Indiana (8-1) Hoosiers have two weeks to figure out their shaky quarterback situation. (3)
4. Iowa (6-2) Hawkeyes wishing USC was on their schedule after dismantling Wisconsin. (7)
5. Wisconsin (5-3) Fans are going to badger Luke Fickell again after that pathetic showing. (4)
6. Minnesota (5-3) Good? Average? This is the most difficult team to figure out in the Big Ten. (6)
7. Oregon (5-3) Ducks quack under pressure, pulling out a big win over ranked Wildcats. (8)
8. USC (7-2) This version of the Trojans is worthy of the College Football Playoff. (10)
9. Northwestern (6-2) Chip Kelly’s offense runs out of magic in return to Eugene. (5)
10. Illinois (5-3) Can suddenly lay claim to being Big Ten’s second-hottest team. (11)
11. Michigan (5-3) Alternating wins and losses like this is a sign of true mediocrity. (12)
12. Washington (5-3) It’s Demond Williams Jr. to the rescue as QB confusion continues. (13)
13. Nebraska (5-3) Safe to say that Matt Rhule will never remind anyone of Tom Osborne. (9)
14. Penn State (4-4) Yay! The once-mighty Nittany Lions won’t go winless in the Big Ten. (15)
15. Purdue (3-5) Boilermakers suffering from regression to mediocrity. (14)
16. Michigan State (2-5) Wants Protect College Sports Act to include more bye weeks. (16)
17. Rutgers (2-6) Just a bad, bad team in the land of goodfellas. (17)
18. Maryland (2-6) 2027 can’t get here soon enough. (18)
