The Big Ten conference is shaping up into three tiers. There's the "Still Playing for a BCS Bowl" tier with Ohio State, Iowa and Penn State. The question is, will more than one team represent the Big Ten in the BCS bowls?
Then there's the "Trying to Play in Any Bowl Except in Detroit" tier with Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Michigan State. All these teams will qualify for a bowl - where will they play?
And finally, there's the "Can We Play in the MAC?" tier with Northwestern, Purdue, Indiana and Illinois. Northwestern could slide up into the middle tier, but the Wildcats have yet to win a single game of significance.
On to the power rankings. For the first time, I have a tie - simply because there are three teams that belong in last place.
1. (1) Ohio State (3-0, 5-1) - Is Ohio State in a tier by itself? With three dominating wins in its first three conference games, the Buckeyes are working through the easier half of their Big Ten schedule. The last three games of their season? At Penn State, home against Iowa and at Michigan.
Follow the jump for the rest of the rankings.
2. (2) Iowa (2-0, 6-0) - The Hawkeye secondary continues to prove it has one of the best secondaries in the nation. Iowa leads the Big Ten in turnovers forced with 19 and it also leads in pass defense with less than 175 yards per game.
3. (3) Penn State (1-1, 5-1) - Penn State continued to take care of its cupcake schedule - this week the Nittany Lions destroyed Eastern Illinois 52-3. Penn State's season will come down to its Nov. 7 game against Ohio State. Win and they might play in a BCS bowl. Lose and they might not even play on Jan. 1.
4. (4) Wisconsin (2-1, 5-1) - The Badgers stayed competitive with Ohio State for two-and-a-half quarters, but they needed to stay sharp for at least one extra play. Ray Small's kickoff return for a TD in the third quarter ended the Badgers' hopes for an upset. Now, the Badgers have to face Iowa.
5. (6) Minnesota (2-1, 4-2) - Minnesota is slowly creeping up the Big Ten standings and these power rankings. Will this be the highest they reach? The Gophers face a brutal two-game road stretch at Penn State and at Ohio State
6. (5) Michigan (1-2, 4-2) - Is there an unnecessary QB debate among the media and fans or is there an unnecessary QB battle being created by Coach Rodriguez? On one hand, freshman quarterback Tate Forcier has led two fourth-quarter winning drives. On the other hand, he hasn't been great in the last two weeks.
7. (7) Michigan State (2-1, 3-3) - The Spartans are still recovering from their awful start to the season. Now on a two-game winning streak, the Spartans now have a home game against Northwestern before travelling to Iowa for what could be a statement game for MSU.
8. (9) Northwestern (1-1, 4-2) - Northwestern's 4-2 record is a bit deceptive. Let's review the wins: the Wildcats dominated a bad FCS school in Towson, needed a FG to win against still-winless Eastern Michigan, barely escaped Purdue, and slogged its way through a 16-6 win against another winless school against Miami (OH).
9t. (8) Indiana (0-2, 3-3) - The implications of one game are drastic. All of a sudden, the early season wins appear to be a fluke, the close loss to Michigan doesn't seem so great (as the Wolverines continue to slide), and the Hoosier bowl chances are quickly evaporating.
9t. (10) Purdue (0-3, 1-5) - Some people said Purdue was the best 1-3 team in the country two weeks ago. But the optimism tank is running low as the Boilers haven't won since week 1. No relief this week - the Ohio State Buckeyes are visiting West Lafayette.
9t. (11) Illinois (0-3, 1-4) - Believe it or not, Illinois still has a chance to redeem its season, at least for a respectable record. The Illini face Indiana and Purdue back-to-back in the next two weeks and none of the top tier Big Ten schools are left on their schedule.
