Week 3 of the Big Ten season went about as expected. The top teams crushed MAC or worse schools. The two actual Big Ten conference games were the mismatches everyone expected. Minnesota came back to earth. UCLA is so bad they fired their coach after Week 3. Ok, maybe not everyone saw that one coming. Below we have our Big Ten Power Poll Rankings after Week 3.
#1 Ohio State Buckeyes (Previously #1)
Ohio State easily took care of THE flagship university of Ohio in the Ohio Bobcats 37-9. But they didn’t cover the 31.5 point spread. Somewhere
in rural Ohio people are still complaining. The Buckeyes get a bye before kicking off the conference season next week.
#2 Oregon Ducks (previously #2)
Another team with a convincing win, but not a cover. Northwestern played the Ducks tough and this game was close until Oregon finally ran away in the second half for a 34-14 win. They host their in-state rivals in Oregon State for the Civil War game this Saturday as 34.5 point favorites. That doesn’t sound very civil.
#3 Illinois Fighting Illini (Previously #3)
Illinois looks the part as a CFB contender taking care of the easy teams as they should. In this case a 38-0 shutout of Western Michigan. But the Illini will really get their first taste of pressure Saturday night when they need to head to Bloomington and face last year’s Big Ten darlings in Indiana—-who would like nothing more than to knock this year’s darlings down a peg. Even crazier—Indiana is a 4.5 point favorite on Saturday. That should be some strong motivation for the Illini.
#4 Penn State Nittany Lions (Previously #4)
Penn State cruses Villanova 52-6 in their final non-conference warm up. Yawn. They get a week off to get ready for the huge White Out conference opener against Oregon next week.
#5 Indiana Hoosiers (Previously #5)
Indiana got the 2024 offensive mojo back crushing Indiana State 73-0 last Friday. It took them a few games but they now appear to be clicking in just the right time to host #9 Illinois Saturday night as 4.5 point favorites. That should by far be the best game of the week in the conference.
#6 Nebraska Cornhuskers (Previously #7)
Nebraska jumps up to #6 this week moving to 3-0 after a 59-7 pasting of something called Houston Christian. We will see just how real the Huskers are as they host Michigan in the conference opener for both schools at 2:30 Saturday. The Wolverines are favored by 1.5 on the road.
#7 Michigan Wolverines (Previously #8)
Michigan gets back in the win column with a 63-3 win over Central Michigan in the Connor Stallions Bowl. Coincidently Sherrone Moore missed the game due to his suspension from that kerfuffle and will miss this weeks game in Lincoln as well after he chose to be on the sidelines at his alma matter for the Wolverines loss to Oklahoma. Will he regret that choice? We see how good the Huskers are on Saturday.
#8 Iowa Hawkeyes (Previously #9)
Iowa also jumps back in the win column to get to 2-1 with a 47-7 win over the fighting Joe Harasymiak’s and UMass. Guess Joe flashed back to his defensive days at Minnesota when the teams would play in Iowa City. Too Soon? Iowa opens up conference play on Friday night by heading to New Jersey and facing a Rutgers team that wants to make some noise of their own. Could be a sneaky interesting game. Iowa is a 2.5 point favorite.
#9 Michigan State Spartans (Previously #10)
The Spartans are 3-0 on the season after a41-24 win over Youngstown State last Saturday. Still not 100% sure what to expect from this MSU team going forward. We will know more after their 11 PM Eastern kick at USC Saturday night. Gonna be a lot of yawning people in Michigan this weekend.
#10 Minnesota Golden Gophers (Previously #6)
Minnesota takes the big slide this week after a 27-14 loss at Cal which exposed a lot of potential issues with the Minnesota offense. Koi Perich had arguably the worst game of any DI player in the country last week which definitely didn’t help. They rest and self-scout this week getting ready for a must win vs Rutgers next week at home.
#11 USC Trojans (Previously #11)
USC arguably could jump ahead of Minnesota but they didn’t look at dominant as they probably should have in defeating Purdue 33-17 last Saturday. Now the almost three hours + rain delay didn’t help, but still if you want to say you are back a just two TD win at one of the worst teams in the conference isn’t really gonna cut it.
#12 Washington Huskies (Previously #12)
Washington had an early bye last week and got ready for some Apple Cup action this weekend as they head to Pullman to face their in-state rivals in Washington State. The Huskies are 20.5 point favorites against a down Cougars squad, but anything can happen in a rivalry game.
#13 Rutgers Scarlet Knights (Previously #14)
Rutgers moves to 3-0 on the season after a 60-10 whipping of Norfolk State. Things get a lot more real this week as Iowa comes to town to open conference play before the Scarlet Knights head to Minnesota next week. We will see if Rutgers really is good, or if they fold when playing a tougher opponent.
#14 Wisconsin Badgers (Previously #13)
I mean, Wisconsin didn’t get fully smoked as badly as many thought losing just 38-14 in Tuscaloosa against Alabama. But it was definitely a tale of two different teams out there. Wisconsin is 2-1 headed into their Big Ten gauntlet, but they get a bit of a breather hosing Maryland this weekend as 9.5 point favorites.
#15 Maryland Terrapins (Previously #15)
Maryland stays at #15 even at 3-0 after a 44-17 win over Towson. This week they can show why they deserve to move up if they can go into Madison and make a statement.
#16 Purdue Boilermakers (Previously #16)
Purdue was not embarrassed on Saturday staying with USC in a 33-17 loss at home. The embarrassing might come this week as Purdue has to travel to South Bend to play a pissed off Notre Dame team who may have allready seen their CFP dreams die. Good luck Boilermakers.
#17 Northwestern Wildcats (Previously #17)
Northwestern showed some moxy in keeping the game close against Oregon for a bit, but then just ran out of talent to the Ducks. A 34-14 loss isn’t anything to sneeze about. Falling to 1-2 puts you in a bit o a hole to dig out of though, but they will get a week to think about it.
#18 UCLA Bruins (Previously #18)
Oh UCLA. Starting the season 0-3. Losing at home to New Mexico 35-10. The LOBOS? 35-10?? It got DeShaun Foster canned just three games into his second season. Then the Bruins Defensive coordinator either quit or was fired too. This looks like a disaster. They get the weekend to try and regroup before facing the rest of the Big Ten.
