Big Ten football power rankings after Week 10: Penn State falls after Ohio State loss

For the 10th time in James Franklin’s 11 seasons as the head coach of Penn State, the Nittany Lions fell to the Ohio State Buckeyes. Ryan Day’s $20 million roster marched into Happy Valley and despite costly turnovers from Pennsylvania native Will Howard, they got a timely goalline stand and closed out a 20-13 win. However, in the previous 10 years of Franklin’s tenure, he had just one shot at Ohio State, but now with the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff, both teams like almost certainly make it to the dance and could meet for a rematch with even greater stakes. 

Penn State kept it close but was clearly a tier below Ohio State. The talent discrepancy between Ohio State’s cornerbacks and Penn State's wide receivers was so vast that Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles lived in press-man coverage and never got burned. Elite quarterback play was Franklin and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki’s only hope, but without any open receivers, Drew Allar couldn’t deliver it. 

The Nittany Lions are still one of the best teams in the Big Ten, but in this week’s power rankings, they’re falling from No. 3 to No. 4 behind Curt Cignetti’s Indiana Hoosiers. Indiana trailed for the first time this season in Week 10, falling behind Michigan State 10-0, and they proceeded to respond with a 47-unanswered point onslaught in East Lansing. 

With sixth-year QB Kurtis Rourke back quickly from his thumb injury, the Hoosiers are very likely to reach 11 wins for the first time in program history, it’s just No. 12 that will be very tricky. There’s plenty of excitement surrounding a potential Ducks and Bucks rematch in Indianapolis for the Big Ten championship game, but Cignetti could spoil that with an upset win in Columbus in Week 13. The Hoosiers will be underdogs, but right now, I believe they have a better shot to pull it off than Penn State. 

Indiana’s defense plays with relentless aggressiveness and with Elijah Sarratt, who followed Cignetti from James Madison, on the outside, IU is more likely to challenge an Ohio State secondary that was exposed by Oregon. 

Elsewhere in the conference, Iowa’s offense has come alive since making the switch from Cade McNamara to Brendan Sullivan at quarterback. Sullivan completed just seven passes for 93 yards and a touchdown in Iowa’s 42-10 beatdown of Wisconsin, but the threat of his legs in the ground game has opened up running lanes for Kaleb Johnson, who went for 135 yards and three touchdowns on Saturday. 

Another team to keep an eye on is Minnesota. PJ Fleck’s Golden Gophers are 6-3 after taking down No. 24 Illinois on the road in Week 10 and could be a threat to Penn State when the Nittany Lions make the trip up north in a few weeks.