The Big Ten is still in that part of the season where one Saturday can scramble the whole board, and this week’s rankings reflect just how tangled things have gotten. Ohio State remains No. 1, though even the Buckeyes have questions to answer coming out of the bye with a backup quarterback starting.
Indiana holds at No. 2, just ahead of unbeaten UCLA. The Hoosiers’ lone loss came against Ohio State, and their wins over Nebraska and at Michigan carry a little more weight here than UCLA’s victory at Oregon. That said, the Bruins keep looking the part.
Oregon is the team that makes the list feel especially uneasy. The Ducks land at No. 8, a placement that comes with real discomfort given what their schedule looks like after losing to Illinois.
Still, they stay in front of Nebraska and USC because they already beat both. Illinois, meanwhile, climbs to No. 11 after returning from its bye and taking down Oregon.
Bret Bielema has been strong after bye weeks, and he did it again.
That result matters for Nebraska, too. Husker fans noticed it immediately, and not in a good way, especially after last week’s fourth-quarter sting. Illinois is next on Nebraska’s schedule, so the Illini’s rise only sharpens the focus on what comes next.
Purdue is the ranking that feels the most uncomfortable to place at No. 14.
The Boilermakers own a 28-point win over Minnesota and also beat Illinois, but they sit behind Washington after losing the head-to-head meeting. At this point in the season, the results have been mashed together into a messy stack of contradictions.
That’s not just a Big Ten problem. College football has reached the kind of year where the undefeated list is vanishing fast.
Brandon Marcello noted that the last time the FBS had three or fewer undefeated teams by Oct. 24 was 1977. Right now, only Miami, UCLA and Utah are still unbeaten.
Inside the Big Ten, the middle is packed tight. Northwestern sits at No. 4 and has earned its place, even if the Wildcats were fortunate to escape East Lansing with a win a couple of weekends ago. Wisconsin has also moved into a stronger position and is right behind them.
Penn State checks in at No. 15, a spot that helps frame how close a lot of these teams are when the record line gets stripped away and only the results remain. The Nittany Lions are still a respected opponent, but the question lingers: where would Nebraska land with the same set of results?
The answer, in this ranking, is clear enough. The board is still shifting, the arguments are still alive, and Nebraska will get another chance to press its case starting Oct. 31.
In Other News...
Nebraska Fans Are Running Out Of Patience With Matt Rhule
Nebraskas frustration with Matt Rhule has been building for a while, and the latest comparison only adds to it. While the Cornhuskers keep searching for a breakthrough win, Scott Frost is already in his second season at UCF with more victories over ranked teams than Rhule has managed across four years in Lincoln, and Luke Fickell, hired the same year as Rhule, has also stacked up multiple ranked wins with Cincinnati.
The pressure only grows after a close loss to Indiana, a game that again left Nebraska without the kind of signature result fans have been waiting for this season. The Cornhuskers have stayed competitive, but until they finally get over the hump against a ranked opponent, the patience around Rhule is likely to keep wearing thin. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraskas Bye Week Put Even More Heat On Matt Rhule
Nebraskas bye week did not bring much relief to Matt Rhule, because the longer the Cornhuskers sat without a game, the more their own situation seemed to stand out against the rest of the Big Ten. The conferences quarterback picture has been messy, with injuries and benchings creating constant turnover, while Nebraska has been forced to live with the pressure that comes from waiting, watching and measuring itself against every other storyline around the league.
Anthony Colandreas durability has been one of the few steady notes in that chaos, and it only sharpened the contrast as other programs kept dealing with instability at the most important position. Add in Scott Frosts recent win over a Top 25 team, and the broader backdrop becomes even less forgiving for Rhule, whose program could have used the bye week as a reset but instead saw the conversation drift further toward what Nebraska still needs to prove. [Read more 🡒]
Blackshirts Are Taking Heat For A Much Bigger Nebraska Problem
Nebraskas defense has been easy to point at after the last two losses, especially with the Blackshirts under scrutiny for the way late-game drives slipped away against Indiana and Oregon. But the bigger picture is a little messier than a simple defensive breakdown. The unit has put together strong stretches, held up well statistically and gotten important efforts from key players, even while the games still ended with frustration attached.
The criticism sharpened when Oregon drove for the winner, with Dylan Raiola facing little pressure on the final march, but the problem in those losses did not stop there. Nebraskas offense struggled to do enough, and special teams errors added more weight to the margin for error, leaving the defense to absorb more blame than it probably deserves. If the Cornhuskers are going to turn these narrow losses into something better, the fix will have to be broader than just the Blackshirts. [Read more 🡒]