Big Ten Week 3 brought a familiar kind of Saturday for the league: not much drama at the top, a few ugly losses in the middle, and plenty of teams still stuck in the “are they good or not?” zone.
Indiana holds the top spot after another clean start, USC stays put after handling business on the road, and Ohio State’s blowout of Kent State barely moves the needle. The real movement comes a little further down the board, where Northwestern suddenly looks like a team on the rise after flattening Colorado, while Maryland, Purdue, and Rutgers keep sliding the wrong way.
- #5 Indiana (3-0, 0-0)
No shock here. The Hoosiers are still unbeaten and sitting in the top five, even if the score line wasn’t exactly enough for Cig against that opponent. For now, it’s simple: 3-0, top five, no complaints.
Week 4 - Northwestern (2-0) Friday
- #12 USC (4-0, 1-0)
USC doesn’t move, and there’s no reason to punish a team for making the cross-country trip and getting the win. That three time zone rule matters, especially going from west to east. The Trojans took care of business, got home, and now turn to a showdown with an old Pac-8/10/12 foe in the Coliseum.
Week 4 - #20 Oregon (2-1)
- #7 Ohio State (2-1, 0-0)
There wasn’t much to linger on here. Ohio State handled Kent State 59-3, which is exactly what was supposed to happen. The energy level matched the result.
Week 4 - Illinois (2-1)
- #17 Iowa (3-0, 0-0)
Iowa had a comfortable day in what amounted to a men vs. boys game. The depth showed up, with third-, fourth-, and fifth-stringers hammering on UNI and blowing past Panther defenders all afternoon.
It’s hard not to feel for programs in that spot, because in this college football environment there’s just not much room for them. The best players get taken by FBS schools, and all they can really do is accept pay games - twice a year now.
Week 4 - at #18 Michigan (3-0)
- #13 Penn State (3-0, 0-0)
The separation between Iowa and Penn State comes down to something pretty basic: homer picks. That’s the tiebreaker. The challenge gets tougher with Wisconsin coming to town on Saturday, and even if nobody knows exactly how good Wisconsin is, it’s still a clear step up from what Penn State has seen so far.
Week 4 - Wisconsin (2-1)
- #18 Michigan (2-1 3-0, 0-0)
Michigan is one of those teams that’s tough to figure out right now. The Iowa game won’t help answer much, and neither will a result like the one against the University of Texas in El Paso, where the Wolverines trailed for most of the first half before turning it on after halftime.
Are they good? No idea.
Saturday should tell us more.
Week 4 - #17 Iowa (3-0)
- Nebraska (3-0, 0-0)
Nebraska stays steady. The backfield is the part that jumps out most, because the running back looks like a good player.
That’s enough for now, but the trip to Michigan State is the kind of game that can trip them up. They’ve stepped on this banana peel before.
Week 4 - at Michigan State (2-1)
- UCLA - (3-0, 1-0)
UCLA may have a defense problem. Or maybe Purdue’s offense is fine.
Hard to say. What’s not hard to say is that giving up nearly 500 yards and still putting up almost 650 yourself while forcing three turnovers is a pretty productive day.
The bigger test comes next, with a trip east against a better opponent than Rutgers.
Week 4 - at Maryland (2-1)
- Northwestern (2-0, 0-0)
This probably won’t last long, especially with a trip to Bloomington to face the former “we stink” roommate now living in the penthouse. But for one weekend, Northwestern gets the rise after a 41-7 rout of Coach Prime in The Library.
And yes, The Library is a mess. There’s no juice there.
It’s wild that CU could owe Prime up to $33 million if he’s fired without cause, but that’s where things sit. They tried something unconventional to stir up support, which makes sense given the sports landscape around them, but it still isn’t working.
The Broncos are down the road, the Avalanche and Nuggets have both won titles in the last four years, and the program still feels poorly supported even in one of the nicest towns in the country. Then there were guys quitting after the game?
Were they cut?
Week 4 - at #5 Indiana (3-0) Friday
- Wisconsin (2-1, 0-0)
Wisconsin also spent part of the day trailing a completely overwhelmed opponent before eventually running away with it. Michigan did the same thing in its own game.
Still, this is another team that leaves you asking the same question: are they good or not? The lean here is not.
Week 4 - at #13 Penn State (3-0)
- Michigan State - (2-1, 0-0)
Getting a win at Notre Dame was always going to be a tall order. Notre Dame is really good and one of the teams that can win the title this year, so the Spartans were never expected to pull it off, even if they kept it respectable. Now they get Nebraska, and that makes this a swing game for both teams.
Week 4 - Nebraska (3-0)
- #20 Oregon (2-1, 0-0)
It’s hard to make a huge jump after a dominant win over Portland State, even if the score looked great. The Ducks are moving into real games again now, starting with USC.
Week 4 - at #12 USC (4-0)
- Washington (3-0, 0-0)
Washington is another team that still hasn’t revealed much. The Eastern Washington game was the best the Huskies have looked all season, but the same question remains: are they good or not?
Week 4 - Minnesota (2-1)
T14. Minnesota (2-1, 0-0), Illinois (2-1, 0-0)
Minnesota and Illinois both took care of smaller opponents and padded their records. Philip John Fleck loves that kind of matchup, and so does Bret Bielema.
Minnesota heads west, where Washington may start to find some rhythm, while Illinois gets a major step up in class. Both teams could stay in this range for a while.
Week 4 - at Washington (3-0), at #7 Ohio State (2-1)
- Maryland (2-1, 0-0)
Maryland edges Purdue here, though a switch was definitely on the table. It’s the same old story with the Terps: a promising start, then they’re down 21 going into the fourth quarter against Virginia Tech.
And when Virginia Tech got the ball back with 5:34 left up nine, Maryland never saw it again. They couldn’t get a stop.
Never change!
Week 4 - UCLA (3-0)
- Purdue (1-2, 0-1)
Purdue’s slide keeps going after the loss to Wake and now the setback in the Rose Bowl. There was some fight here - they were down 21-7 in the first quarter, then briefly led in the third - and the offense produced 38 points and 488 yards on the road.
That ought to be enough to win. But it wasn’t.
- Rutgers (0-3, 0-1)
Rutgers at least showed a better effort against USC. Maybe that was because Rutgers actually tried.
Maybe USC didn’t. Maybe USC had all those time zones to deal with.
Whatever the explanation, Rutgers is still headed for the door.
Week 4 - Howard (1-2) Friday
In Other News...
Braeden Jackson Just Added To Iowas Walk-On Tradition
Braeden Jacksons name already carries some football weight in Iowa circles, and now the walk-on running back has given Hawkeye fans another reminder of why that tradition still resonates. In a notable game, he flashed the kind of burst and versatility that can turn a roster afterthought into a real storyline, piling up 125 rushing yards, adding 24 more as a receiver and finding the end zone twice.
It fits the family history, too. Jackson is the son of Fred Jackson, the former Coe College standout who went from unrecruited long shot to a nine-season NFL career with the Buffalo Bills, and Braeden followed a similarly determined path after a strong high school career as both a football player and track star. He chose to walk on at Iowa in part because of his fathers connection to the coaching staff, and performances like this only deepen the sense that the Hawkeyes may have found another name worth remembering. [Read more 🡒]
Braeden Jackson Just Made Iowas Backfield Picture A Lot Tougher
Braeden Jackson turned a lopsided afternoon into something worth watching for Iowa. In the Hawkeyes 55-0 win over Northern Iowa, the second-year running back piled up 125 rushing yards and scored two touchdowns, continuing the kind of steady rise that has made him easy to notice in a crowded backfield. A preferred walk-on who arrived in December 2024, Jackson has been one of the quieter development stories on the roster, but his progress has been hard to miss.
What stands out most is how much cleaner and more complete his game looks now. Iowa quarterback Hank Brown and head coach Kirk Ferentz have both pointed to Jacksons improved awareness and physical development, and his background helps explain why he keeps trending up. As the son of former NFL running back Fred Jackson, he has had the benefit of football knowledge at home, and it is starting to show on the field in a way that could make the Hawkeyes backfield even harder to sort out. [Read more 🡒]
Ferentz Sends Iowa Fans A Promising Message Before Michigan Test
Iowa is heading into its first Big Ten game of the season with a familiar kind of test waiting on the other side, and Kirk Ferentz spent part of the buildup offering a reassuring look at his roster. The Hawkeyes are set to face No. 18 Michigan on Sept. 26, and Ferentz said the recovery process is moving in the right direction for several key players, including Kamari Moulton and Bryce Hawthorne, as the team tries to get healthier at an important point on the schedule.
The matchup itself brings the bigger challenge, of course, and Ferentz made clear that Iowa will need its defense locked in against a Michigan offense led by quarterback Bryce Underwood. For a Hawkeyes team trying to open conference play on solid footing, the combination of improved health and a stern test against a ranked opponent gives this week a little extra weight, even before the game kicks off. [Read more 🡒]