Big Ten Power Rankings

1) Penn State- Yeah, they lost, but there are no teams in the Big Ten ready to take PSU's place atop the Power Rankings. Plus, it saves them the embarrassment of losing in the National Championship.

2) Ohio State- You stay classless Ohio State. At first it was just the fake punt up 21 in the fourth, which was actually okay, but then the Bucks went in for a touchdown with seven seconds left. "Oh, our backups were in..." They can't take a knee?

3) Michigan State- No change in the top three this week as the Spartans dealt with Purdue 21-7. I couldn't have been more bored watching this game. MSU will have a week off before playing Penn State for a chance at sharing the Big Ten Championship.

4) Northwestern- There is a significant drop-off at this point. Both the Buckeyes and Spartans handled Northwestern easily, but Northwestern has wins over the next group of teams in the conference. A win against Michigan could result in a very respectable bowl bid.

5) Iowa- The Hawkeyes move up with the huge upset against Penn State. The whole conference can thank Iowa for avoiding another National Championship loss. Iowa's four losses this year are by a total of 12 points.

6) Minnesota- A terrible loss for Minnesota this week. They played without Decker and have a history of struggles against Michigan (they've never beaten UM in the Metrodome), but this was the year to win the jug and they didn't get the job done. I still love that Gopher mascot.

7) Illinois- The Illini suffered the worst loss of the weekend, dropping what was supposed to be their bowl clinching win to Western Michigan. No offense to the Broncos, but this is awful. If the rest of the teams weren't so horrible, Illinois would be last this week.

8) Purdue- Purdue returned to its non-scoring way against Michigan State this week, only getting a late touchdown to lose 21-7. I have nothing humorous to say about Purdue.

9) Michigan- Huge win for Michigan! So big that they get to move pretty much nowhere in the Power Rankings. The ball finally bounced their way; in other words, Nick Sheridan's passes were bouncing off defenders' chests instead of being intercepted.

10) Wisconsin- I'm not feeling much love or admiration for Wisconsin at this point. But here is a gem via Awful Announcing that shows the fall Wisconsin has taken and the IQ it takes to get in the booth: "You know, I think this is a sign of the Big 10 being better than everyone thinks it is, when Wisconsin, a top 10 team before the season started, being at the bottom of the conference." - Dave Pasch

11) Indiana- The Hoosiers are ranked below Dave Pasch. That's okay, because Kelvin Sampson just called to tell me basketball is starting up!