Week 7 didn’t just shake up the national picture. It jumbled the Big Ten from top to bottom, and even after Ohio State beat Indiana in the rematch of last year’s Big Ten Championship Game, the league’s center of gravity still feels like Bloomington.
That’s because Indiana came within inches of knocking off the Buckeyes, held Jeremiah Smith in check for most of the afternoon, and did it without losing its starting quarterback to a long-term injury. Ohio State may sit ahead in the AP conversation, but in a power ranking, the Hoosiers still own the inside track to the top spot in the conference.
And once you get past those two, the rest of the Big Ten is a mess to sort through.
At the bottom, Rutgers is no longer alone. The Scarlet Knights still carry the league’s worst loss after falling to UMass in Week 1, but Maryland’s home loss to Rutgers in Week 7 now looks almost as ugly. Rutgers has also looked sharper on offense, with KJ Duff emerging as a first-team All-Big Ten-caliber receiver, while injuries to Illinois and Michigan State have pulled both teams deeper into the pack.
Maryland sits at 18, Rutgers at 17, Michigan State at 16 and Illinois at 15 after a bye.
The middle tier has been even harder to pin down because nobody there can stay still. Purdue beat Minnesota, Minnesota beat Washington, and then Washington turned around and beat Purdue. Add in Minnesota’s Week 5 win over Michigan, and the whole group starts to look like one long loop with no clean answer.
If there’s a lead dog in that cluster, it’s Minnesota. The Golden Gophers own the best win of the bunch, and when Drake Lindsey is at his best, he’s the most dangerous quarterback any of those teams can put on the field.
SP+ agrees, slotting Minnesota at No. 57, 15 spots ahead of Washington. The Huskies may be trying to steady themselves with Elijah Brown at quarterback after Demond Williams’ injury, but they’re still in survival mode.
Penn State, meanwhile, feels a little better than its record suggests even after four straight losses. The Nittany Lions were actually slightly better than Michigan on a down-to-down basis, finishing with a +1% net success rate edge, but Rocco Becht’s three second-half turnovers directly set up 21 Michigan points. Backup quarterback Tommy Carr, who took over for Bryce Underwood, finished the job for the Wolverines.
That also adds another wrinkle to a league already thick with quarterback changes. Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Washington have all had backup QBs in starting roles, and that’s before even getting to Oregon and UCLA, both of whom won with backups in Week 7.
Wisconsin also took a tumble after losing at UCLA, where the Bruins stayed unbeaten at 6-0. Nico Iamaleava’s season-ending injury turned what looked like a looming challenge into a test for backup Ty Dieffenbach, and he passed in a 17-7 win.
It wasn’t flawless, but UCLA’s run-heavy offense gave him manageable answers all game long. Wisconsin crowded the line to stop the run and had real success with a linebacker tandem that could be the best in the conference, but Dieffenbach still made enough plays through the air, producing 0.39 EPA/dropback.
The Bruins still need more from that position if they want the offense to move beyond the between-the-20s version we saw here, but the quarterback change hasn’t sent them off the rails.
Oregon’s situation has gotten shakier. With Dante Moore still out, Brock Thomas started Week 7 before Dylan Raiola took over and led a late comeback against Nebraska in Eugene on Saturday night.
Nebraska kept pushing, and once again came up short. The Huskers were right there, which has become a familiar theme, but they still couldn’t grab the result they wanted.
That leaves Nebraska and Oregon right behind USC in the upper-middle of the conference, while the Trojans sat out the week on a bye. Nebraska’s near-miss keeps it in the conversation, but not far enough along to make a real statement in the race for a College Football Playoff spot or even that first meaningful breakthrough win the program has been chasing.
The conference’s top two remain clear, even if the order between them is split depending on the format. Ohio State moved to 6-1 and 4-0 with the 19-15 win over Indiana, while the Hoosiers dropped to 6-1 and 3-1 after the 19-15 loss. But in this kind of ranking, the margin matters more than the result, and Indiana’s showing was strong enough to keep the title conversation pointed straight at Bloomington.
In Other News...
Rocco Becht Faces A Penn State Question Fans Can't Ignore
Rocco Bechts season has become one of the biggest reasons Penn States offense has stalled during a four-game losing streak. Through seven games, the quarterback has dealt with turnovers and uneven play, even as his completion percentage has climbed from last season. The bigger concern is that the improvement has not translated into cleaner overall production, especially on the short throws that are supposed to keep an offense on schedule.
Penn State has not done him many favors either. The running game has been weak, and injuries to key receivers have left Becht operating with less margin for error than he would like. Even so, the questions around him are growing because the underlying issues are showing up in the same places week after week, and the Nittany Lions still need a way to turn a frustrating stretch into something more sustainable. [Read more 🡒]
Penn States QB Faces Mounting Pressure After Painful Michigan Loss
Rocco Bechts latest outing left Penn State with plenty to sort through after a 21-18 loss to Michigan, a game in which the quarterbacks mistakes helped tilt the second half. Becht was part of a messy afternoon that featured two interceptions and a lost fumble, the kind of turnover-heavy performance that can linger after a tight road loss and raise questions about how a team moves forward.
Matt Campbell, though, did not sound ready to shift away from his starter. He pointed to Bechts competitiveness and the room he still has to grow, while Becht acknowledged the challenge and said he believes in himself and in the work ahead. For Penn State, the storyline now is less about one bad night than whether its quarterback can steady things quickly enough to keep the season from slipping into something more complicated. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State's Bowl Push Suddenly Has An Emotional Twist
Penn States path to a bowl game has become a little more complicated, and a lot more interesting, as ESPNs Kyle Bonagura has the Nittany Lions projected to meet Virginia Tech in the Dukes Mayo Bowl. It is the kind of postseason matchup that would carry some extra familiar faces, too, with the Hokies featuring several former Penn State players on their roster.
Among them are quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer and tight end Luke Reynolds, adding a layer of personal history to a game that would already matter plenty for both programs. The bigger immediate concern in State College, though, is simply getting there at all, since Penn State sits at 3-4 and needs to win three of its final five games to become bowl eligible. [Read more 🡒]