The Big Ten race looks a lot different after Week 7, and not just because Ohio State and Indiana went toe-to-toe at the top. The Buckeyes still sit first, but the weekend also opened the door for USC to climb, UCLA to keep rolling, and a few other teams to keep forcing their way into the conversation. At the same time, several of the league’s top names left more uncertainty than clarity behind them.
Ohio State remains the team to beat at 6-1 after a signature conference win, but the Buckeyes walked away with more questions than comfort. The biggest one is obvious: their starting quarterback went down at the worst possible moment, right as the season is tightening up.
At full strength, Ohio State still looks like the conference’s best team. The concern now is how much injury trouble is about to hit.
Indiana, also 6-1, made the Buckeyes work for everything. The Hoosiers pushed them hard, but the loss came with another warning sign after Julian Sayin went down with an injury early in the fourth quarter.
That changes the feel of this team. Josh Hoover may end up being the biggest obstacle to Indiana matching last season’s success, and the path to beating USC no longer looks nearly as clean as it once did.
UCLA has quietly moved into the No. 3 spot at 6-0, and the message is simple: this team knows how to win regardless of the setting. The Bruins handled Wisconsin in a way that made the Badgers look short-handed without their starting quarterback, and the results keep stacking up. Right now, UCLA feels less like a surprise and more like a team trending toward inevitability.
USC is right behind them at No. 4, and the Trojans may have been one of the week’s biggest winners without taking the field. While others around them dealt with injuries and concerns, USC got a clearer path into the upper tier of the conference. If Lincoln Riley and the Trojans want a shot at the top spot, that opportunity is there.
Iowa checks in at No. 5 and looks well-positioned coming out of the bye. The Hawkeyes have a real opening to make the College Football Playoff and even the Big Ten title game based on what remains on the schedule.
Oregon follows at No. 6 after another season that has swung back and forth, though Week 7 showed the Ducks are still close to the team people expected before the season. They also remain the standard Nebraska is still chasing.
Nebraska sits seventh at 5-2, and the Cornhuskers have clearly taken a step forward. Anthony Colandrea continues to play with edge and talent, giving this team a quarterback who can force problems for defenses.
The issue is closing. Nebraska still has not shown it can put games away, and that leaves the frustrating sense that it should be 7-0 with big wins over Indiana and Oregon.
Northwestern lands at No. 8 and keeps building momentum at 5-1. The Wildcats were tested by Michigan State, but they keep finding ways through those kinds of games. The offense has found a steadier rhythm, and winning the games you’re supposed to win is at least giving this group a real foundation.
Michigan moves up to No. 9 at 4-2, and the formula finally looks right. The defense has been elite, and now the offense has started to support it instead of dragging behind it. The quarterback change helped unlock that balance, and Tommy Carr looks like the player who can take the Wolverines to another level after a big comeback win.
Wisconsin drops to No. 10 at 4-2, and the problem is hard to miss. The Badgers lean too heavily on transfer quarterback Colton Joseph, and that alone has not been enough against stronger teams. The road trip to USC was a missed chance, and this is the kind of game where Wisconsin can get overwhelmed again.
Penn State’s slide continues at No. 11, with the Nittany Lions now 3-4 and completely off the track they were on early in the season. Rocco Becht’s turnovers have piled up, and the second half has become a repeated problem over three straight weeks. The collapse has been fueled by bad coaching and bad quarterback play.
Washington comes in at No. 12 after showing some life offensively. The Huskies’ run game has brought juice back into the offense and played a major role in the last two weeks.
Elijah Brown gives them the aggressive edge they need, even if it may be too late for this season. The brighter note is that next year could be the one where Washington makes its mark in the Big Ten.
Illinois is No. 13 at 3-3, and the outlook has turned sour fast. Instead of being a team opponents fear, the Illini now feel like a chance for other teams to reset. That is a bad spot to be in with six games left, and they could very well stay where they are in the win column.
Purdue sits at No. 14, but the Boilermakers are at least more functional than the record suggests. Payton Browne has put together a strong season, and while the win total may not change much, the team is more competent than it was earlier.
Minnesota drops to No. 15 after the bye week, and the schedule ahead looks rough enough to shake up what had been a promising year for P.J. Fleck. The Golden Gophers already felt the sting of the Purdue loss, and the next three opponents could make things worse.
Michigan State is No. 16 at 2-5. Pat Fitzgerald has kept the Spartans competitive, but the roster still lacks the talent and overall makeup needed to turn those close games into wins. This feels like the start of something that could matter again in a few years.
Rutgers checks in at No. 17 at 2-4. The Scarlet Knights have enough talent to pop for explosive stretches, but the flaws are obvious. Even so, the rest of the schedule still leaves room for them to climb a little.
Maryland is last at No. 18 after losing the showdown between the conference’s bottom teams and ending up with the label of worst team in the Big Ten.
In Other News...
USCs Playoff Push Now Rests On One Jayden Maiava Question
Jayden Maiava gave USC exactly the sort of road performance it needed at Penn State, delivering 301 yards and three touchdowns while handling the environment with the kind of poise Lincoln Riley said stood out immediately. The Trojans have been waiting for that steadiness from their quarterback, and for one night Maiava looked comfortable, composed and in command in a game that demanded it.
The larger question now is whether that version of Maiava shows up consistently enough to carry USC through the rest of its playoff chase. His season has included some uneven stretches, but Riley's praise after one of his best outings only sharpened the focus on what comes next, both for the Trojans and for Maiava's own draft stock. The talent is obvious, but USC still needs proof it can count on him when the margin gets tight again. [Read more 🡒]
USC's Big Ten Path Suddenly Looks More Open After Chaotic Weekend
A chaotic Big Ten weekend gave USC a clearer read on the conference landscape, even if the Trojans were watching from a distance. Wins by Washington, Northwestern, Ohio State, Rutgers, Michigan, UCLA and Oregon helped reshape the conversation around the league, with quarterback play and key injuries again tilting games in unexpected directions.
Ohio State had to deal with Julian Sayin leaving the action, while Oregon got a boost from Dylan Raiolas comeback, and those swings were part of a slate that reinforced how quickly things can change in this conference. For USC, the broader takeaway is simple: the path is still going to be demanding, but after a weekend this uneven, it looks a little more open than it did a few days ago. [Read more 🡒]
USCs Playoff Path Just Got More Complicated After Ohio State-Indiana
Ohio States 19-15 win over Indiana in Week 7 did more than shake up the top of the rankings. It also nudged the College Football Playoff race into a different lane for USC, which is still looking at both teams through the lens of its own postseason path. The Buckeyes handed Indiana its first loss after a 22-game winning streak, and the ripple effect matters for the Trojans because both programs are on USCs upcoming schedule.
The bigger twist for USC is the quarterback situation in Columbus, where Julian Sayin is expected to miss several weeks after suffering a right shoulder injury, leaving Luke Fahey likely to step in. For the Trojans, that changes the scouting report in real time, even as the larger challenge remains the same: navigating a stretch that features two playoff-caliber opponents, each with enough talent to force USC to be sharp on both sides of the ball. [Read more 🡒]