Week 1 in the Big Ten wasted no time turning messy, and the first power rankings of the season reflect it. Ohio State stays put at No. 1 after doing what Ohio State does to Ball State, but the rest of the league already feels like it’s been through a blender.
The Buckeyes’ hold on the top spot looks solid for now, though the real test comes Saturday night in Austin against No. 4 Texas.
Indiana, meanwhile, keeps earning the benefit of the doubt after last year’s Week 1 showing against Old Dominion, when future Badgers quarterback Colton Joseph piled up 179 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Until someone gives a good reason not to trust Curt Cignetti’s group, it stays high.
USC keeps climbing after a clean, ruthless outing against Missouri State. Jayden Maiava was sharp, finishing with more touchdown passes than incompletions, and Oregon’s shaky escape against Boise State helped open the door for the Trojans to move up. The Ducks, on the other hand, didn’t look much like a No. 2 team while getting pushed around by a strong Group of Six opponent.
Penn State’s first game under Matt Campbell was as straightforward as it gets: a 45-0 demolition of Marshall. Washington also survived its rivalry game, though it took Demond Williams Jr. doing Demond Williams Jr. things to pull away from Washington State in the Apple Cup. The Cougars aren’t much, and the final margin should have been more comfortable, but a Week 1 rivalry win gets some slack.
Iowa didn’t need a quarterback answer to crush Northern Illinois 40-0, and that’s probably for the best because the issue is still there. Minnesota is tucked into the middle of the pack after handling FCS Eastern Illinois, though the bigger story around the Gophers right now is the way Michigan has slid into a free-fall after one of the most egregious displays of ref-ball the season has already seen.
UCLA made one of the more interesting statements of the weekend, going on the road and beating a hyped California team while piling up 277 rushing yards. Nico Iamaleava wasn’t especially electric, but the Bruins’ ground game was. Whether that holds up against Big Ten defensive fronts is a different question entirely.
Illinois gets a mild bump only because the win over UAB came with signs of something usable at quarterback in Katin Houser. The tackling, though, was rough and needs work.
Wisconsin sits just behind that group, and the Badgers’ ranking has more to do with what happened elsewhere than anything dramatic they did or didn’t show against Notre Dame. There’s not much they can prove this week against FCS Western Illinois.
Michigan is in a rough spot after the kind of game that set off a national argument. Western Michigan won that game in the eyes of just about everyone, even if the record books say otherwise.
The extra second on the clock only made the whole thing feel worse. On top of that, Bryce Underwood’s line - 12-of-22, 170 yards, one touchdown and one interception - did not exactly scream second-year leap.
Northwestern showed balance in a win over FCS South Dakota State, throwing for 273 yards and rushing for 224. The Wildcats now get a bye before a brutal stretch that includes Colorado at home, a trip to Indiana, and Penn State coming to Evanston. Maryland also handled business against Hampton and did it by running for 365 yards, while Michigan State’s uncomfortably close call with Toledo suggests the long season many expected in East Lansing is still on track.
Purdue escapes the bottom after leaning on a late push to finish off FCS Indiana State, even though it was only 16-6 at halftime. Rutgers, though, takes the last spot after one of the strangest results of the weekend.
The Scarlet Knights’ loss to 0-12 UMass was a stunner, and by the second quarter the Minutemen were fully in command at SHI Stadium. For Greg Schiano, the second run in Piscataway is looking awfully grim.
In Other News...
Luke Fickell Finally Explained Wisconsins Second Half Collapse
Wisconsins Week 1 loss to Notre Dame left the Badgers with more questions than answers after a strong first half gave way to a flat finish. Luke Fickell addressed that collapse by pointing to something less visible than conditioning, saying the team was mentally and emotionally worn down as the game wore on, even as Notre Dame kept its intensity level high.
Fickell also noted that Wisconsins roster included a lot of new players, which made sustaining that early performance even more difficult in a demanding opener. For the Badgers, the explanation matters because it frames the loss as more than a simple physical fade, and it leaves the real test in how quickly they can absorb the lesson and show growth the next time they are in that spot. [Read more 🡒]
Wisconsins Front Seven Just Made The Badgers Biggest Defensive Debate Clear
For a defense that spent much of the first half looking organized and disruptive, Wisconsins snap counts from the Notre Dame loss offered a revealing snapshot of where the front seven stands right now. The Badgers were competitive early before the game slipped away in a 41-13 defeat, and the workload split along the front reflected both the trust the staff has in a few key pieces and the rotation it is still trying to sort out.
Sebastian Cheeks and Mason Posa emerged as the most noticeable positives, while Dillan Johnsons rough afternoon underscored how uneven the group can still be when the game wears on. The second-half drop-off made the discussion even more pointed, because Wisconsins biggest defensive question is no longer whether the front can flash - it is which combination can keep doing it for a full game. [Read more 🡒]
Wisconsin Fans Have A New Reason To Revisit The Dilin Jones Exit
Dilin Jones did not wait long to make his presence felt at LSU. The former Wisconsin redshirt sophomore running back, who transferred after a change of scenery in Baton Rouge, was handed the starting job right away and responded in his first game with 23 carries, 113 yards and two touchdowns. For Wisconsin fans, it is the kind of early flash that brings an old decision back into view, especially because Jones fit in the Badgers offense had already become a talking point before he left.
His style has looked like the kind that can thrive when the blocking is cleaner and the lane opens on time, which only sharpens the questions around what he was walking away from in Madison. Wisconsin has dealt with its own offensive line issues, and those struggles were part of the backdrop around Jones exit. Now the Badgers are watching him settle in quickly somewhere else, while the reason the split happened in the first place still hangs over the conversation. [Read more 🡒]