Big Ten Power Rankings: Week 10

A log jam in the Big Ten West, a couple of disappointing teams and two surprises who have been surging as of late: week nine's games in the Big Ten have dramatically changed my power rankings heading into week 10.

Let's take a look below and breakdown exactly our risers, fallers and everyone in between.

| Wisconsin #5 --> #4 | Nebraska #8 --> #5 | Rutgers #7 --> #6 | Northwestern #13 --> #10 |

Wisconsin moves up after a loss and Iowa falls to eighth place after a bye week. You may be scratching your heads but let me explain myself:

Wisconsin looked like a decent team against Ohio State in a game that they were just hanging onto late. I am getting higher and higher on the Buckeye's defense so the the Badgers 14 point loss is not especially concerning. That said, the differences between the number four and eight spots are pretty darn close. Hence, why there were so many movers in this week's ranking.

Nebraska goes all the way up from to number five from eighth place, a sign of my confidence in their stability as a team. The Cornhuskers have an identity. They run the ball and play good defense. We have seen that play itself out to the tune of four straight wins. At 5-3 overall and 3-2 in conference they are right in the thick of the race for the Big Ten West.

Rutgers has performed in a similar way to Nebraska. Their consistency, stability, and identity has impressed me. I am not confident in their passing ability (akin to Nebraska) but this team runs the ball well and plays good defense.

The Scarlet Knights are now 6-2 and have a remaining schedule that could see them get to eight wins on the year. Their two other games are Penn State and Ohio State, which are possible but unlikely upsets.

Northwestern is the other biggest mover, besides Nebraska, surging from second to last in the conference to 10th place. The Wildcats have now upset Minnesota and Maryland for their two conference wins. They are currently 4-4 overall, having a better record than Michigan State, Purdue, Illinois and Indiana.

Their QB play has actually looked fine this year, particularly of late with Brendan Sullivan, and if they can avoid turnovers and play ball control offense then they have a shot to beat any of their four remaining teams: Iowa, Wisconsin, Purdue and Illinois.

| Michigan #1 | Ohio State #2 | Penn State #3 | Minnesota #9 | Michigan State #12 | Indiana #14 |

The Michigan Wolverines rolled through their bye week with controversy swirling, but the team seems to have remained focused and their play on the field sits above the rest in the Big Ten.

Ohio State marched to Camp Randall to play Wisconsin and came out on top for their third impressive win of the season. Kyle McCord struggled, leaving a ton of continuing questions, but TreVeyon Henderson returned and looked like his normal self. Marvin Harrison Jr. also had an impressive game, but that is par for the course at this point.

Penn State had what turned out to be a tough home matchup with Indiana, who played them tough well into the fourth quarter. The Hoosiers have not really shown me much, but could be getting better based on that result. Still, neither of these team's did anything to warrant change.

Minnesota got a nice home win over Michigan State, 27-12, as the Spartans do not look good at all. The Golden Gophers did what they were supposed to do while MSU looked like we sort of expected: unmotivated and unimpressive.

The bottom four of the conference is a battle between MSU, Illinois, Purdue and Indiana, so I expect fluctuation there the rest of the way.

| Iowa #4 --> #8 | Maryland #6 --> #7 | Illinois #10 --> #11 | Purdue #11 --> #13 |

Iowa is my biggest faller since early in this season and I will explain why. I have seen no progression from QB Deacon Hill since he has taken over for Cade McNamara. Hill has statistically been the worst starting QB in the conference and one of the worst in the nation.

Sure, Iowa is 6-2, but their best win is Wisconsin in a mucky old-fashioned Big Ten game. Fortunately for them, their schedule is rather light the rest of the way, but I still see 2-3 losses on the table for them going forward.

Maryland has been a huge disappointment for me this year. From their coaching staff to the talent on their roster, this is the best team that Mike Locksley has had during his tenure with the Terrapins. Their lack of focus, execution and attention to detail has led to three straight losses.

With a tough four game stretch of Penn State, Nebraska, Michigan and Rutgers, things are not getting any easier. If you are a glass half full person, they get to play Penn State at home for week 10. That is definitely upset territory and having Michigan at home in week 12 is another shot to impress. They can try to salvage their season against those teams, but it will not be easy.

Illinois dropped one spot from #10 to #11 in a bye week for them. This was more of a symptom of what other teams have done than what they did. Northwestern has been looking decent, so they jumped over the Illini.

Purdue dropped from #11 to #13 after a 31-14 blowout by Nebraska. The Cornhuskers dominated the whole game until a couple of late scores in the fourth quarter by the Boilermakers kept it from being a goose egg. Purdue has drastically underperformed and disappointed, dropping them down to second to last place in the conference.

Spots 4-9 are going to move and change constantly in the remaining weeks. All of those teams are 5-3 or 6-2 overall and 3-2 or 2-3 in conference play. The race for the Big Ten West is on and four teams remain tied for first place.

Obviously there are 4 more games left with plenty of rivalry matchups, so it should be interesting to see how things round out by the season's end.

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