1. Penn State (Beat Iowa 21-19, next week Indiana) - Now here is a game of overcoming adversity. On the road in a hostile environment, PSU played well, but couldn't catch a break until the very, very end of the game. Despite appearing to struggle offensively, they piled up 579 yards and the defense was exceptional, with the exception of about three plays. Heck of a game. Indiana coming to town with a different look offensively.
2. Wisconsin (Bye, up next Northwestern) Leaving them here as they didn't play - Northwestern should give them a decent test.
3. Michigan (Beat Purdue 28-10, up next bye) Did Michigan turn the corner offensively against Purdue? I'm skeptical. Korn was running for his life and they still struggled to run the ball until Purdue lost half their defense. But the defense is humming right along, and winning the conference ugly is no different from winning it pretty.
4. Ohio State (Beat UNLV 54-21, up next @Rutgers) Pretty much a layup of a win so not much to gather. Rutgers should present a tougher if still not very good matchup.
5. Michigan State (Lost to Notre Dame 38-18, next up Iowa) Not often you outgain a team by 150 yards and lose by 20, but here we are. MSU is a good team, but they made critical errors that cost them a chance to win the game. Is this the return of Sparty No? No. This is a Dantonio coached MSU team and they will get that corrected.
6. Iowa - (Lost to PSU 21-19, next @MSU) Showed a lot of moxy against Penn State, but they still gave up a ton of yards and couldn't do much with the ball except in the most dramatic moments. They are still Iowa, and still figure to get a puncher's chance in every game.
7. Minnesota (Bye, up next Maryland). Maryland getting worked dampens what looked like a game between up and comers in the B1G.
8. Purdue (Lost to Michigan 28-10, up next bye) No shame in that loss. When this offense can run the ball they will be scary. The defense played with a lot of energy. Overall, an impressive performance, but this is still Purdue and I'm leaving them here until I see them against the middle of the B1G.
9. Indiana (Beat Georgia Southern 52-17, up next @PSU) A layup of a game. Uphill battle next week, but should be interesting to see if they can move the ball against another top team.
10. Northwestern (Bye, up next @Wisconsin) Can they give Wiscy a game?
11. Maryland (Lost to UCF 38-10, up next @Minnesota) What the hell was that? At this rate one of us could be quarterback for Maryland by the end of the season.
12. Nebraska (Beat Rutgers 27-17, up next @Illinois) Meh.
13. Rutgers (Lost to Nebraska 27-17, up next OSU) Eh
14. Illinois (Bye, up next Nebraska) Blech