Another week is in the books for the 2022 Big Ten football season, and it was another wild and surprising week. It’s hard to know what the true identity of some of the teams in the league is with the level of competition they’ve played so far, but we at least now have a few weeks to observe.

And observe we have. After each weekend we try to make sense of all the action in the Big Ten and provide a power ranking of which teams are playing best. It’s not a prediction of what will happen, but rather what we’ve seen with our own eyes and how each team looks.

So far, we’ve had Ohio State on top despite others criticizing a lack of offense, but that can’t be the case any longer. So where are things this week with the pecking order of the conference? Purdue suffered a heartbreaking loss, Indiana, Nebraska, and Northwestern struggled, and Penn State made a massive statement in SEC country.

Here’s how it affected the Week 3 Big Ten football power rankings.

I know Nebraska has been searching for its former glory years and there have been some lean times over the last couple of decades, but I’m not sure it’s ever been as deep in the valley as now. After a public flogging administered at the hands of Oklahoma, there are even more questions with very few answers.

Sept. 30, 2017; Madison, Wisconsin; Northwestern Wildcats helmets on the field prior to the game against the Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium. Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

It’s beginning to look like the first win of the year in Ireland was more about Nebraska than Northwestern. The Wildcats have struggled mightly since coming back across the pond and did so again this week in a loss against Southern Illinois.

Dec. 4, 2021; Indianapolis, Indiana; Detailed view of Iowa Hawkeyes helmet on the sidelines in the Big Ten Conference championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

It was good to see Iowa get a little offense going for the first time this year, but we have to see it more and against better competition. You feel like the Hawkeyes will eventually figure things out to some extent, but there are still concerns with the schedule getting much more difficult ahead. Until we see more, we’re keeping the Hawkeyes pretty low on this list.

Dec. 30, 2019; Santa Clara, California, USA; General view of the Illinois Fighting Illini helmet during the second quarter against California Golden Bears at Levi’s Stadium. Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

The Illini were idle this week, so there’s no reason to move Bret Bielema’s crew anywhere crazy. We still don’t really know how this team will respond once the heart of Big Ten play arrives.

Sept. 5, 2015; Bloomington; Indiana Hoosiers helmet sits on the ground while the players warm up before the game at Memorial Stadium. Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports

Indiana is 3-0 but really had to pull victory out of the fire this week against Western Kentucky. It appears Tom Allen has turned this team into an improved bunch, but we have a feeling winning games will be harder in the weeks to come once the rough and tumble Big Ten gets a crack at the Hoosiers.

Oct. 14, 2017; Madison, Wisconsin; A Purdue Boilermakers helmet during the game against the Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium. Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Purdue played well, coming from behind on the road but couldn’t finish the deal in a bizarre game at Syracuse. To be fair, the Boilermakers received a very bad break with a pass interference call late in the game, and this team still looks like it could factor into the West division race … if it can finish games that is.

Nov. 19, 2011; East Lansing; Michigan State Spartan helmet on the sideline during the game against the Indiana Hoosiers at Spartan Stadium. Michigan State won 55-3 to clinch the Legends division of the Big Ten. Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

Michigan State received its reality check this week in a disappointing loss to Washington. It looked like the slow start in Week 1 had been figured out in an impressive showing in Week 2, but now there are some things to correct, most notably on offense. It will not get any easier from here.

Nov. 9, 2019; Madison; Wisconsin Badgers helmet during the game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Camp Randall Stadium. Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

That was more like it from Wisconsin this week. The Badgers did what you expect them to do by physically dominating an inferior opponent, New Mexico State. There’s still the bad look against Washington State last week, so we can’t go all knee-jerk here. We’ll know a lot more when Wisconsin heads to Columbus to play Ohio State next week.

Nov. 20, 2021; University Park, Pennsylvania; A detailed view of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights football helmets during a warmup prior to the game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium. Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports

Rutgers is still unbeaten but received about as stiff as a test as you can get on the road against Temple. There’s really no reason to move Greg Schiano’s crew up or down too much until we see more, but so far, so good.

Oct. 1, 2021; College Park, Maryland; A detailed view of a Maryland Terrapins helmet on the sidelines during the second half of the game between the Maryland Terrapins and the Iowa Hawkeyes at Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium. Scott Taetsch-USA TODAY Sports

We finally got to see Maryland challenged against a decent SMU opponent and things didn’t go quite as well as the prior two games. Still, it was a decent win, and we’ll see if the Terps can continue to be competitive when they get into the Big Ten because that’s been a “Lord of the Rings” journey in recent years.

Oct. 26, 2019; Minneapolis, Minnesota; A general view of Minnesota Golden Gophers helmet before a game against the Maryland Terrapins at TCF Bank Stadium. Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Minnesota continues to impress with another blowout victory, this time against a bad Power Five squad Colorado. To be fair, the Golden Gophers haven’t really played anyone to test them yet, but you still have to like what you see on both sides of the ball. Could this be your West Division favorite right now?

Nov. 16, 2013; University Park, Pennsylvania; General view of a Penn State Nittany Lions helmet prior to the game against the Purdue Boilermakers at Beaver Stadium. Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

We were tempted to move Penn State up with that impressive win on the road vs. Auburn but still believe the two teams ahead of the Nittany Lions in this ranking are better. Penn State sure looks like it could have something to say about Ohio State and Michigan’s claim to the East, but we’ll have to see how things play out the rest of the way and if quarterback Sean Clifford can keep from displaying some of the inopportune mistakes he has in the past.

Nov. 18, 2017; Madison, Wisconsin; An Michigan Wolverines helmet during the game against the Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium. Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Michigan continues to beat up on really bad teams. Still, the offense looks like one that can also get things done against really good teams, especially with J.J. McCarthy now inserted for good under center. The Wolverines now get ready for Big Ten play where we might find out just how good they really are.

Jan. 1, 2022; Pasadena, California; A special rose helmet stripe adorns Thayer Munford’s helmet before the start of the 108th Rose Bowl Game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Utah Utes at the Rose Bowl. USA TODAY Sports

After some questions about Ohio State’s underwhelming performance on offense the first two weeks, the Buckeyes broke out against Toledo with an onslaught of points, yards and highlights in a 77-21 victory. The defense may not be as happy with its performance, but some of the plays were a bit flukey. I know Michigan fans will disagree, but OSU is the class of the Big Ten and seems to be finding itself as the season wears on.

Sign up for the Buckeyes Wire newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning

Wisconsin Badgers vs Ohio State Buckeyes: @Tipico odds show money movement toward OSU! #GoBucks

College football Week 4 @Tipico Friday night best bets

We took a stab at what the CFP rankings might have looked like if released after Week 3.

Powered by WordPress.com VIP

Please enter an email address.

Please check your email for a confirmation.