The Ohio State Buckeyes, who sit atop our Big Ten power rankings, were absent from the college football landscape on Saturday due to an "open" date. However, there was plenty in the way of fireworks in the conference, and the biggest impression was left by the Wisconsin Badgers.
Wisconsin went into East Lansing and trampled a top-10 team in Michigan state and, in the process, the Badgers made a real statement in the league. Michigan was able to pound Penn State into submission to hold on to the number two spot, but that game will be a virtual toss-up in Ann Arbor next weekend and fans have plenty to look forward to with that match-up.
Elsewhere, Iowa struggled (mightily) before vanquishing Rutgers and the Scarlet Knights really battled in that particular game. Minnesota also rises based on a nice out-of-conference win over Colorado State and, don't look now, but Maryland remains undefeated before conference play arrives.
With all of that out of the way, here are this week's Big Ten power rankings. Be gentle.
Big Ten Power Rankings: Week 4 (last week's rank in parentheses)
- Ohio State (?")
- Michigan (?")
- Wisconsin (?' 1)
- Michigan State (?" 1)
- Nebraska (?")
- Iowa (?")
- Minnesota (?' 1)
- Maryland (?' 2)
- Penn State (?" 2)
- Rutgers (?' 1)
- Northwestern (?' 1)
- Indiana (?" 1)
- Purdue (?' 1)
- Illinois (?" 1)
