Big Ten week 5 power rankings: The East, including Penn State, is dominating

Penn State Football continues its ascension up the national rankings, and in the Big Ten, it’s the East Division that is dominating 

We are already a third through the 2021 college football season, and the Big Ten race is taking shape.

The Big Ten continues to have a successful season, especially in the East division, where the seven teams have combined for only four losses so far. Considering one of those losses was a head to head matchup with Michigan beating Rutgers, that’s an impressive start.

The West on the other hand, has had a tough start to the season, but with conference play now in full swing, things should start to even out.

Here’s how things stand in the Big Ten after four weeks of action.

Illinois continues to battle, but continues to come up short. The Illini fell to Purdue 13-9 on Saturday, their fourth straight loss.

Just like last week against Maryland, Illinois blew a fourth quarter lead to Purdue. Purdue scored a touchdown with 5:44 left to win 13-9 .

Illinois offense continues to struggle, even with the return of starting quarterback Brandon Peters. The defense did not have a bad day, but Purdue starting quarterback Jack Plummer was knocked out of the game and star wide receiver David Bell didn’t play. Those two are the heartbeat of the Boilermakers offense.

Freshman running back Joshua McCray had a career day, running for 156 yards on 24 carries, so that’s something for Illinois fans to be optimistic about.

Already with four losses, and games against Penn State, Wisconsin and Iowa to come, it’s not looking good for Illinois’ bowl chances.