The Big Ten was mainly chalk this week as the vast majority played inferior opponents. Shout out to Michigan and Iowa for taking on some actual competition but un-shoutout to the fact that they couldn't win. The top five stayed the same this week, but the shuffle all happened after. You can see last week's power rankings here.
The Grambling coach, going into the week, laughed off a question about taking on Ohio State, saying, "We know what we are getting into." They certainly did, and the Buckeyes rolled through Grambling. Ohio State has one of those weird early bye weeks now.
Penn State took forever to close the door on Florida International. The offense couldn't really get going to start the game, and it was probably making some Nittany Lions fans nervous. That will be something that needs to be looked at this week for James Franklin: a quicker start.
Dan Lanning clearly took the Oklahoma State/Mike Gundy slander personally and went out and whopped up on the Cowboys. It was never close.
The Illinois vs. Duke game this week was one of the premier games of the week. While the final score doesn't accurately reflect the competition, it was close for most of the game. However, the Illini put the Blue Devils away in the fourth quarter with 17 unanswered points.
Easy opponent, easy victory. The Hoosiers are rolling and should continue their momentum as they face another inferior opponent this week in Indiana State.
I could literally just stamp and repeat the last paragraph under Indiana and put it under Nebraska, but change the opponents. The Cornhuskers cruised through Akron and now get to take on Houston Christian. They did get to move up in the rankings this week, but it's because Michigan fell.
Washington was one of just a few teams that put up 70 points this week on their opponents. The other teams to do it are all ranked. The Huskies' offense looks legit, and Jonah Coleman could not be stopped. He had five rushing touchdowns before Jedd Fisch pulled him in the third as the game was clearly out of hand.
The Trojans actually dropped this week, as they were seventh last week. They did win, and I hate dropping teams for winning, but they let Georgia Southern score multiple touchdowns and march on them a few times. The Trojans needed to do what Indiana, Nebraska, and Washington did to their opponents against Georgia Southern.
One of the few losses in the Big Ten this week. Couldn't pull off the win over Oklahoma, and it shows that the Wolverines are not where they want to be or need to be. They did play a ranked opponent, so they can stay in the top-10 of this ranking, but they need to figure things out if they want to reach their goals this season.
The Badgers had a terrible first half: flat, slow, and out of rhythm. They came out of the locker room with a plan and put up 28 unanswered points to flatten the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders. It was a statement for offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes as he proved he can and will make adjustments.
Michigan State went into a battle with Boston College, and this game went into overtime. The Spartans pulled it off and will get a weaker opponent this week with Youngstown coming to East Lansing.
I clowned on PJ Fleck and his weird celebration last week for beating Buffalo. The Golden Gophers followed up last week's win by beating a seemingly made-up school. Northwestern State? Come on. They are playing Cal this week, and that should finally be a test.
The Iowa Hawkeyes, in a rivalry game, looked lackluster. I'm not even convinced that Iowa State is all that good, so it was a poor showing from the Hawkeyes. They couldn't get anything going offensively, and so many drives stalled out on them.
The Terrapins are 2-0, and that's where they should be. Next week they may end up in the same spot but with 3-0 as the record since they are playing Towson this week.
Rutgers looked good against Miami (OH) and may actually be able to pull off some Big Ten upsets this season. It will be interesting to see how they play when the schedule gets harder. Which doesn't happen for them this week as they play Norfolk State.
Purdue gets to play the second Big Ten game of the season when it takes on the USC Trojans. It will be the test for the essentially brand-new team. They are 2-0, though, and that has to feel good for Boilermaker fans.
Northwestern did what they needed to do to bounce back from the week 1 loss. They are now sitting at 1-1 and going into a daunting matchup against the Oregon Ducks in the first Big Ten game of the season.
UCLA is the only winless Big Ten team, and after what they looked like against UNLV, I'm not convinced they win this week against New Mexico. It's a bad product, and it makes you wonder if DeShaun Foster is the first coach fired this season.