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Week 5 games with current B1G Power Ranking:

• #1 Penn State vs #9 Indiana
• #2 Ohio State at #8 Rutgers
• #3 Iowa at #7 Maryland
• #4 Michigan at #6 Wisconsin
• #10 Purdue vs #12 Minnesota
• #11 Nebraska vs #13 Northwestern
• #5 MSU vs Western Kentucky
• #14 Illinois vs Charlotte

Highlights:

Michigan at Wisconsin is big for both teams. 
The Badgers are in the unusual position of being below .500 and they've already lost a league game (vs PSU).  If they lose this one they'll be 0-2 and they have yet to play a conference game on the road.  In theory they could win the B1G-W even with a loss here (they host Iowa) but they'd probably need to win out and even then they'd need help.  

The Wolverines looked great for the first three-and-a-half games of the season then just stagnated in the second half against Rutgers.  They kicked a FG as time was running out in the first half to take a 20-3 lead and after that their drives were:

• 3 plays, 0 yards, punt
• 3 plays, -1 yard, punt
• 3 plays, 7 yards, punt
• 3 plays, 5 yards, punt
• 8 plays, 33 yards, missed FG
• 2 plays, 3 yards, ballgame

At this point the question is whether Michigan is the high-end team that they appeared to be for the first 3.5 games this year or are they the team that looked atrocious last year?  

I know it is early for this but I think that Purdue and Nebraska are both facing basically must-win situations this weekend:

Purdue is 3-1 and their win over OrSU looks pretty good now that OrSU is 3-1 but their victims are still OrSU, UCONN, and cellar-dweller Illinois.  If they beat Minnesota they'll only need two more wins to go bowling and that looks reasonably likely.  If they lose they'll still need three more wins and that starts to look tricky.  Their opponent is Minnesota and who knows what to make of the Gophers.  In their two games against P5 opponents they were competitive with Ohio State then just obliterated Colorado.  That looks like a B1G-W contender.  In their two games against MAC opponents they barely survived a (now) 1-3 Miami, OH then lost to a (now) 2-2 BGSU.  That looks like a team that will not win again this year.  

Nebraska is 2-3 with wins over Buffalo and Fordham.  They need four more wins to go bowling.  If it happens they would most likely be this game (vs NU), @MN, vs PU, and an upset (vsM, vstOSU, @UW, or vsIA).  If they lose this one they'll likely be eliminated from contention for a bowl before we flip our calendars to November.  Their opponent is a Northwestern team that is now 2-2 with a blowout loss to MSU and a blow out half by Dook and blowout wins over InST and OhioU along with a blowout of Dook for a half.  Maybe Fitz has figured things out?  

And yet the line, for Purdue at home, opened at -3. Effectively Vegas says it's a pick'em at a neutral site and give the Boilers 3 for HFA.

Not that Vegas is or isn't anything, but clearly they don't have a lot of faith.

I think that is mostly because nobody can possibly know what to make of Minnesota.  If you look at their games against tOSU and Colorado you'd take the Gophers +3 without hesitation.  Conversely, if you look at Minnesota's games against the two Ohio MAC schools you'd take Purdue -3 without hesitation.