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1. Penn State - (Beat Indiana 45-14, next week at Northwestern)  Another fine defensive performance.  Another performance from the offense that was somewhat pedestrian outside of Saquon Barkley.  Probably something they want to improve on, as the schedule will get tough soon.

2. Michigan (BYE, next week hosts Michigan State).  Got a week to sort out their offensive problems.  Whatever they do gets a trial by fire against a fired up and suddenly sound MSU team.  

3. Wisconsin (Beat Northwestern 33-24, next week at Nebraska)  Been shuffling them and Michigan each week.  They are very similar teams with tough defenses and ok offenses.  But Michigan has a better defense, so they get the nod.

4. Ohio State (Beat Rutgers 56-0, next week hosts Maryland)  Another layup of a game, but winter is coming.

5. Michigan State (Beat Iowa 17-10, next week at Michigan) They've found themselves a guy with Lewerke at QB.  The defense has found it's footing.  It's a good old fashioned MSU team, except they have yet to find a consistent running game, which doesn't bode well going into Michigan.

6. Iowa (Lost to MSU 17-10, next week hosts Illinois) Perfectly fine Iowa performance on the road against a team a little better than they are.

7. Maryland (Beat Minnesota 31-24, next week @OSU) Did not see a bounce back performance coming for the Terps, but here they are.  Get a bear of a challenge against OSU which might show whether they are a bottom half or top half type of team.

8. Purdue (BYE, next week v. Minnesota)  Now we get to the portion of the schedule where we see if Purdue is a contender or pretender in the B1W. 

9. Northwestern (Lost to Wisconsin 33-24, next week v. Penn State)  Competed against the Badgers.  Now go do it again.

10. Minnesota (lost to Maryland 31-24, next week at Purdue) Tough loss against the east, now in must win mode to stay in the conference race.  Still finding their identity.

11. Indiana (Lost to PSU 45-14, next week against Charleston Southern)  Well they aren't in the class of the B1G's best, so we know that.

12. Nebraska (Beat Illinois 28-6, next week v. Wisconsin).  Not taking them out of the pit until they show something against a good team, but an encouraging performance.  Beating Wisconsin after looking so bad is exactly the type of thing Mike Riley teams do.  At least I hope, so they don't try to pull that against OSU.

13. Rutgers (Lost to OSU 56-0, next week BYE) Had some good plays and good ideas against OSU.  Just not enough of them.  Also no Janarian Grant is bad for them.

14. Illinois (Lost to Nebraska 28-6, next week at Iowa) Blech

This weekend's games only made this harder, instead of easier.

1. Michigan - I expect the defense to continue to dominate, and I think the bye week will really help the offense, but O'Korn needs to prove he can be consistently effective.
2. Penn State - Took advantage of Indiana's mistakes and Barkley is good, but their defense looks vulnerable.
3. Wisconsin - The offense is looking better, but the defense let up in the 4th quarter.
4. Ohio State - If they destroy Maryland, I'll move them up.
5. Purdue - Looking like the best of the rest at this point.
6. Maryland - Nice win and the QB looks serviceable. UCF might be the top non-power team (dominated Memphis yesterday), so there's no shame in that loss afterall.
7. Michigan State - They're definitely better than expected, but they caught Iowa at the right time.
8. Iowa - I should know better than to expect them to play against other teams like it does in home night games. That fumble / INT was a microcosm of the game, though.
9. Northwestern - At least they made a decent come back attempt to make it respectable, but they still only have two bad wins.
10. Indiana - Made a lot of stupid mistakes against Penn State, and their defense isn't as good as expected.
11. Minnesota - Their non-con wins aren't any good, and Maryland exposed their defense, while their offense is still inconsistent.
12. Nebraska - They beat the two worst teams in the league. Can they beat anyone left on their schedule? Admittedly, NIU and Oregon looked good last night so those aren't bad losses.
13. Illinois - I thought they might be slightly improved from last year but apparently not. In fact, I'm not even sure they'll beat...
14. Rutgers - They'll get their shot at 13th in two weeks.

1 Lions
2 Bucks
3 Badgers
4 Wolverines

5 Spartans
6 Hawkeyes
7 Terps
8 Boilers

9 Gophers
10 Hoosiers
11 Wildcats
12 Huskers

13 Knights
14 Illini

1. PSU
Nice biunce back after escape at Iowa.

2. Wisc
Which is the real wisconsin?

3.  OSU
Its tempting to move OSU up, but they were playing Rutgers afterall.  No nred to over react.

4.  Mich

5.   Nobody?  Ok. MSU
Nobidy really looks like the 5th best team, but you have to pick somebody.  

6.  MD
Hard team to read

7.  Iowa
0-2 in Big Ten.  Looks like another 7-5 season for Iowa.  Maybe Iowa can fix their offense against ILL

8.  Minn
Close loss to MD.  Minn is probably right in the middle fior the Big Ten.

9.  Pur
Decent team.  Just not great.

10.  Indy
11.  NW
12.  NEB
13. iLL
14. Rut

Decided to ignore the polls and rank on what I saw Saturday..

1. Ohio State  - Deepest talent, excellent coaching, putting it together, and now with a shiny chip on their shoulder put there by Oklahoma.
2. Penn State - Leading Heisman candidate held to 56 yards rushing, team 39 by otherwise most helpful Indiana team.
3. Michigan  - Michigan's offense looked much better in the first half than Wisconsin's.
4. Wisconsin
5. Michigan State
6. Northwestern
7. Iowa
8. Maryland
9. Indiana
10. Minnesota
11. Purdue
12. Nebraska
13. Illinois
14. Rutgers

1) Penn State
2) Ohio State
3) Wisconsin
4) Michigan
5) Michigan State
6) Maryland
7) Iowa
8) Purdue
9) Minnesota
10) Northwestern
11) Indiana
12) Nebraska
13) Illinois
14) Rutgers

Wisconsin / Michigan is a take your pick right now. I get the sense that TODAY Wisconsin has a slightly better offense, with Michigan having a better defense. Michigan has some nice special teams weapons, but I haven't watched enough games to rank those two against each other. 

The best part about this one is it will be settled on the field. Michigan has 3 pick-ems left with Penn State, Wisconsin, and Ohio State. They also have a sneaky, tough one this week against a hungry rival that is finding their way back to strength as well. They need to win 3 out of 4 to think B1G title. That doesn't look likely with a beleaguered offense and two of those games being on the road, and both potentially at night.