Week 4 turned the Big Ten upside down.
What looked like a fairly routine stretch after Week 3 blew apart in a hurry, with Iowa springing the biggest shock in Ann Arbor, Wisconsin walking out of Happy Valley with a win, and Oregon grabbing a statement road victory in Los Angeles. Those results sent the conference hierarchy scrambling, and the latest rankings reflect just how much changed in one weekend.
Indiana still sits at No. 1, but the margin above the field is getting thinner by the week. The Hoosiers survived Northwestern 29-23 at home, and while that wasn’t the kind of clean finish that silences doubters, the overall body of work still keeps them on top. Indiana remains unbeaten at 4-0 and carries a ridiculous +135 scoring margin, which is hard to ignore when the teams chasing them already have a loss.
Iowa is right behind them at No. 2 after one of the weekend’s most important wins. The Hawkeyes are 4-0 now, and their 20-19 win at Michigan gives them a resume that keeps stacking up.
The style may not win beauty contests, but Iowa has handled business: blowouts over weaker non-conference opponents, a win over Iowa State, and now a road victory over the Wolverines. That’s the kind of collection of results that puts a team in the top tier.
Ohio State slides into No. 3 after beating Illinois 42-19. The Buckeyes still don’t have that clean signature win on the board, depending on how you view Illinois, but the road performance at Texas and the rest of the undefeated start have kept them near the top of the pack. They’re back in the top three, and the ranking reflects that steady climb.
Oregon lands at No. 4 after taking care of USC 41-27. The Ducks looked much more like the team people expected before the season began, and they did it with Dylan Raiola at quarterback after Dante Moore exited because of a brutal blow to the head. The Week 3 loss to Oklahoma State still sits there, but Oregon’s path is very much alive after this response.
Nebraska checks in at No. 5 after another comfortable win, this time 31-13 over Michigan State. There’s still skepticism about how good the Cornhuskers really are, but the results are the results. They’re 4-0, they’ve won every game with relative ease, and that kind of clean start earns a spot this high.
UCLA moves up to No. 6 after crushing Maryland 54-3. The Bruins are already 2-0 in Big Ten play, with conference wins over Purdue and Maryland, and they’ve done it without a blemish so far. The schedule gets much tougher after the bye, with Oregon coming next, but for now UCLA has looked sharp and has the record to match.
Wisconsin makes one of the biggest jumps of the week, landing at No. 7 after beating Penn State 24-20. Luke Fickell finally has a signature win in charge of the Badgers, and it came in dramatic fashion after Wisconsin erased a 17-0 deficit in Happy Valley.
Penn State’s exact level is still a question, but winning on the road at Beaver Stadium is always a strong line on a résumé. Wisconsin’s only loss is also a quality one to top-5 Notre Dame.
Michigan falls to No. 8 after the stunning 20-19 loss to Iowa. The Wolverines had been flirting with trouble all season, and Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor brought the full bill due.
Iowa finished the job with a walk-off touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone, and Michigan’s best win, over Oklahoma, looks shakier by the week as the Sooners struggle in the SEC. It already feels like a crossroads moment for the Wolverines.
USC drops to No. 9 after its 41-27 loss to Oregon. The Trojans are 4-1, but the problem is obvious: there just isn’t much on the résumé yet.
Their best win is that ugly game against Rutgers, and with the schedule getting harder, the margin for error is shrinking. The loss itself isn’t catastrophic, but the bigger concern is that USC still doesn’t have much to point to.
Minnesota rounds out the top 10 after a 27-24 win over Washington in Seattle late Saturday night into Sunday morning. P.J.
Fleck’s team now has a respectable win and a loss that keeps looking better as Mississippi State continues its strong season. The Gophers will have a much better sense of where they stand when they host Michigan this weekend on Big Noon Kickoff.
The rest of the Big Ten shakes out like this: Northwestern at No. 11, Washington at No.
12, Penn State at No. 13, Illinois at No.
14, Michigan State at No. 15, Maryland at No.
16, Purdue at No. 17, and Rutgers at No. 18.
In Other News...
Michigan Fans Will Be Second Guessing One Late Coaching Choice
Michigans one-point loss to Iowa was the kind of game that leaves a fan base replaying the final minutes over and over. The Wolverines had their chances in a 20-19 defeat, but the closing sequence is likely to be the part that lingers most, especially with the offense leaning on the run game when the game was hanging in the balance.
The biggest talking point is the late decision to run the ball three straight times, a choice the article attributes to head coach Kyle Whittingham. It is the sort of call that can look sensible in the moment and frustrating in hindsight, and for Michigan it now sits at the center of what went wrong in a game that slipped away by the slimmest of margins. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan Loss To Iowa Looks Even Worse After One Brutal Reality
Michigans 20-19 loss to Iowa had all the markings of one of those frustrating afternoons that sticks with a fan base long after the final whistle. The Wolverines controlled plenty of the underlying numbers and even posted a higher success rate, but the scoreboard told a far less forgiving story, one shaped by missed chances and a game that slipped away despite the statistical edge.
Iowas special teams helped tilt the night with a kickoff return for a touchdown, and Michigan did not make enough of its own opportunities in the red zone to compensate. An interception and a failed fourth-down try inside scoring range loomed especially large in a one-point game, turning what looked like a solid performance on paper into a loss that feels even harder to explain in hindsight. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan Defense Did Enough To Win Until Two Costly Mistakes
For most of the afternoon against Iowa, Michigans defense did what it had to do. It kept the Wolverines in front, squeezed the Hawkeyes offense and gave the team a chance to ride the lead, with CB Zeke Berry, edge Dom Nichols and S Chris Bracy all drawing strong grades for their work on a unit that generally looked in control.
Still, the game turned on a handful of mistakes that proved too costly to absorb. Michigan finished with seven missed tackles, and a couple of critical penalties and breakdowns helped undercut all the good work that came before them, leaving the defense with the frustrating feeling that it had done enough to win until it didnt. [Read more 🡒]