Iowa, USC soar in Big Ten post-Week 9 power rankings by ESPN's FPI

When it comes to Big Ten football, the saying "any given Saturday" has never been more impactful.

In the past few weeks, Ohio State beat Iowa, Iowa beat Wisconsin, Wisconsin beat USC, and USC beat Ohio State.

There's so much back and forth going on, it's hard to determine just who the top teams truly are, even if ESPN's Football Power Index still believes it's the Buckeyes and Indiana Hoosiers.

Remember, the FPI is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of a team's performance going forward for the rest of the season. FPI represents how many points above or below average a team is. Projected results are based on 20,000 simulations of the rest of the season using FPI, results to date and the remaining schedule.

Fresh off

an eventful Week 9, here is where things stand now that the calendar has flipped to November.

Every Big Ten football team ranked after Week 8, according to ESPN's FPI

1. Ohio State Buckeyes: 26.2 (FBS Rank: 2)
2. Indiana Hoosiers: 21.9 (FBS Rank: 8)
3. Oregon Ducks: 17.4 (FBS Rank: 12)
4. USC Trojans: 15.0 (FBS Rank: 15)
5. Nebraska Cornhuskers: 14.7 (FBS Rank: 17)
6. Iowa Hawkeyes: 13.9 (FBS Rank: 21)
7. Northwestern Wildcats: 13.5 (FBS Rank: 24)
8. UCLA Bruins: 12.2 (FBS Rank: 28)
9. Penn State Nittany Lions: 12.2 (FBS Rank: 29)
10. Michigan Wolverines: 10.7 (FBS Rank: 33)
11. Wisconsin Badgers: 8.5 (FBS Rank: 39)
12. Washington Huskies: 7.2 (FBS Rank: 44)
13. Illinois Fighting Illini: 5.9 (FBS Rank: 48)
14. Minnesota Golden Gophers: 2.7 (FBS Rank: 58)
15. Purdue Boilermakers: 2.3 (FBS Rank: 60)
16. Michigan State Spartans: 0.8 (FBS Rank: 68)
17. Maryland Terrapins: -4.1 (FBS Rank: 86)
18. Rutgers Scarlet Knights: -4.3 (FBS Rank: 88)

This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: Iowa, USC soar in Big Ten post-Week 9 power rankings by ESPN's FPI