Big Ten Power Rankings: Week 5
We’re already nearing the midpoint of the season, which feels impossible, but here we are. Ohio State has locked in its place at No.
- Nebraska and UCLA are climbing.
Iowa slides a spot. The top half of the Big Ten is crowded and difficult to sort out.
The bottom half? Not much of a debate.
Here’s how the league stacks up after Week 5.
- #7 Indiana (5-0, 2-0)
Indiana handled a bad Rutgers team and piled up almost 600 yards of offense while doing it. The Hoosiers are now riding a 21-game winning streak, which is a wild thing to say out loud: Indiana, on a 21-game winning streak.
Their next stop is Nebraska, and that one has real juice. From there, the schedule gets serious in a hurry with Ohio State coming to Bloomington, a trip to Michigan, and Minnesota plus USC still ahead at home.
Week 6 - at Nebraska
- #5 Ohio State (4-1, 2-0)
Iowa threw a real defense at them, and it still didn’t matter. Ohio State just lives on another level when it comes to talent.
Losing to them is one thing; beating them is another universe entirely. They get Maryland next before the October 17 showdown at Indiana.
Week 6 - Maryland
- #13 Oregon (3-1, 1-0)
The Ducks got a deserved week off and now jump right back into it with a visit from old Pac-12 rival UCLA.
Week 6 - #23 UCLA
- Nebraska (5-0, 2-0)
For a while, Maryland made this one interesting. Then Nebraska stepped on the gas in Lincoln and turned it into a blowout.
Now the Huskers get a huge home game with the defending champs rolling in. This feels like it should be a night game.
It also remains ridiculous that Nebraska still isn’t ranked.
[Editor’s Note: Sir, this is an Iowa blog, please stop saying nice things about Nebraska.]
Week 6 - #7 Indiana
- #23 UCLA (4-0, 2-0)
UCLA also had the week off, and now it heads north to Eugene. The Bruins have been the league’s surprise team so far. Sure, this weekend could bring a step back, but that doesn’t change the bigger picture: they’ve found their coach of the future.
Week 6 - at #13 Oregon
- #20 Iowa (4-1, 1-1)
The key word going into the Ohio State game was “perfect.” Iowa could not afford turnovers, and it needed to stay on schedule offensively.
There was a path where the Hawkeyes could have gone into halftime down 10-6, gotten a stop to start the third quarter, and tried to drag the game into their kind of fight. That didn’t happen, and once Ohio State got control, the game got away.
Jeremiah Smith is the likely Heisman winner, and that matters too. Still, the response has to come fast.
Iowa now heads to Washington on Friday night, and a 5-1 start to the first half would be huge with several good teams waiting in the next stretch, starting in late October.
Week 6 - at Washington (Friday)
- Wisconsin (4-1, 2-0)
I came close to putting Wisconsin ahead of Iowa. Honestly, spots 6 through 9 are almost interchangeable.
The Badgers are playing solid football, and then they get a bye week. That 31-3 win over a Pat Fitzgerald team definitely got my attention.
Week 6 - Bye
- Northwestern (3-1, 1-1)
Northwestern can move up too. Penn State is in rough shape, and the Wildcats are proving they’re no easy out.
They pushed Indiana to the end and then hammered Penn State. That’s the kind of team that can spoil things for everybody.
Week 6 - Ball State
- Minnesota (4-1, 2-0)
Minnesota is another team on the rise after that Mississippi State disaster. Beating Washington on the road and then reclaiming the Jug at home for the first time since 1977 will do that. The bye is followed by a trip to Minneapolis for Iowa, and that one looks very, very tough.
Week 6 - at Purdue
- USC (5-1, 2-1)
The Trojans aren’t finished yet. After getting flattened by Oregon, they bounced back against Washington despite trailing by 11 at one point. Now they head east for a White Out at Penn State.
Week 6 - at Penn State
- Washington (3-2, 0-2)
Washington isn’t dead either, even after the USC loss. They probably should have won that game, and the talent is still there. The Iowa game matters too, but the rest of the slate is no joke: Nebraska, Penn State, Indiana, and a season-ending trip to Oregon.
Week 6 - #20 Iowa
- Michigan (3-2, 0-2)
This is where the rankings get messy. Michigan dropped the Little Brown Jug in Minneapolis for the first time since the Carter Administration, and the reaction from the fan base has already turned loud, with calls for both a quarterback change and a coaching change.
Relax. Also, Iowa’s win in Ann Arbor looks a little less shiny than it did a week ago.
Week 6 - Bye
- Penn State (3-2, 0-2)
Penn State got embarrassed at Northwestern. Northwestern ran for more than 400 yards, which is the kind of number that makes you do a double take.
The Nittany Lions now face USC, then Michigan on October 17, then Washington, then Minnesota in mid-November. That’s a brutal stretch.
You don’t fire somebody after a year, but things could get weird fast for Matthew Campbell. Penn State fans want a journey, but only if it comes with wins.
Right now, this isn’t Iowa State, Matthew. That sort of language doesn’t work in Happy Valley.
Week 6 - #18 USC
- Purdue (2-3, 1-1)
I’m not sold on Purdue as a team, but they’re sitting at 1-1 in league play after winning on the road in Champaign. In this part of the standings, that matters.
Week 6 - Minnesota
- Illinois (2-3, 0-2)
Illinois was awful too. Expectations were high, but this has turned into a mess.
And now there are people calling for Bret Bielema’s head? That feels over the top.
Programs like this can swing wildly when transfers miss, the roster doesn’t fit, and players leave through the portal. The schedule doesn’t get any kinder either, with Oregon, Nebraska, and Iowa still coming to town and trips to UCLA and Northwestern ahead.
Week 6 - at Michigan State
- Michigan State (2-3, 0-2)
They stink. Wisconsin handled them easily in Madison.
Week 6 - Illinois
- Rutgers (1-4, 0-2)
There’s not much to say here. Rutgers was always going to get rolled by Indiana.
Week 6 - Bye, mercifully
- Maryland (2-3, 0-2)
Maryland doesn’t even get the mercy of a bye. Since joining the Big Ten in 2014, the Terps are 0-39 against ranked Big Ten teams.
This week brings another brutal assignment: Ohio State on the road. Maryland did hang around with Nebraska, leading after the first quarter 16-7 and still making it a five-point game entering the fourth before the Huskers pulled away.
Still, the bigger question now is how much damage Jeremiah Smith can do in this one.
Week 6 - at #5 Ohio State
In Other News...
Pat McAfee Just Gave Hawkeye Fans A Reason To Smile
A day after one of the more visible voices in college football put the spotlight on Iowa City, Hawkeye fans had something else to feel good about. During a live show on October 5, Pat McAfee said he would be donating $1 million to the University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Childrens Hospital, a sizable increase from his original pledge and another reminder of how the programs charity connection reaches well beyond the scoreboard.
The gesture also drew support from an unexpected corner, with Ohio State coach Ryan Day writing a letter to the children at the hospital ahead of the Iowa-Ohio State game. Kirk Ferentz later publicly thanked McAfee for the donation at a press conference, a nod to how much the hospital means to the Iowa community and how even a football weekend can become part of a much bigger story. [Read more 🡒]
Iowa Heads Into Dangerous Friday Test With One Big Concern
Iowa is trying to regroup quickly after a significant loss to Ohio State, and the timing does the Hawkeyes no favors. A Friday night trip to the West Coast to face Washington leaves little room to reset, especially with the emotional and physical wear of a heavyweight Big Ten matchup still fresh.
Hank Browns status adds another layer of uncertainty after he reportedly sustained an AC joint sprain, with Jeremy Hecklinski a possible next man up. Even so, Iowa has a track record of answering back after losses to top-five teams, and the Hawkeyes have generally handled Friday games well, which at least gives them a familiar kind of confidence entering a tricky test. [Read more 🡒]
Iowas Washington Trip Suddenly Hinges On One Huge Offensive Question
Iowa heads to Washington this week still trying to steady itself after the loss to Ohio State, and the trip already feels like a referendum on how much the offense can absorb before it breaks. The matchup comes with the usual Big Ten backdrop of injury updates, weather watch and a little series history, but the most important storyline remains simple for the Hawkeyes: how they handle the quarterback situation will shape everything else around the game plan.
Washington presents a different kind of test, one where availability could matter just as much as scheme. With both teams sorting through injury concerns and the elements expected to be part of the conversation, Iowa needs clarity on the most important spot on the field before kickoff if it wants this game to be about more than surviving the trip. [Read more 🡒]