Big Ten football power rankings after Week 13: Penn State escapes trap game

It may have expanded to 18 teams this season, but as far as the 12-team College Football Playoff is concerned, the Big Ten is a four-team conference. In Week 13, two of those four teams, No. 2 Ohio State, and No. 5 Indiana met in Columbus and the Buckeyes made it even more clear that they belong atop the conference power rankings. 

Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles swarmed Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke with a variety of pressures from different looks and outside of a well-scripted 70-yard touchdown drive to open the game, and a 75-yard touchdown drive when it was already over in the fourth quarter, the Hoosiers gained eight yards, ending the game with 153 to Ohio State’s 316. 

The Buckeyes have problems along their offensive line after the season-ending injury to potential All-American center Seth McLaughlin, and Ryan Day and Chip Kelly’s offense showed a few warts in Week 13, but Ohio State is talented enough to bulldoze Indiana and remain the betting favorites to win the national championship. 

Indiana will take a slide down the CFP rankings on Tuesday night, but with three SEC teams suffering their third loss on Saturday, Curt Cignetti’s Hoosiers will likely remain in the 12-team field. IU also falls down the power rankings, one spot behind the 10-1 Penn State Nittany Lions, though James Franklin’s team didn’t inspire much faith with a 26-25 win over Minnesota. 

If not for special teams mishaps that spotted the Golden Gophers nine points at the end of the first half, the Nittany Lions may have run away with it, but instead, Franklin had to call a fake punt on the final drive of the game to help salt away the clock. The Nittany Lions have real concerns on offense, namely a lack of talent at wide receiver, and Andy Kotelnicki’s creative usage of Tyler Warren isn’t always able to overcome it. However, with a win, Penn State deserves to creep ahead of Indiana, especially because the Nittany Lions looked much better against the Buckeyes at Beaver Stadium earlier this year. 

Outside of that immovable top four, Illinois continues to win, but Bret Beielema’s Fighting Illini needed even more dramatic than a successful fake punt. To knock off Rutgers, which has been much better since getting healthier, Luke Atlmyer connected with Pat Bryant for a 40-yard catch-and-run touchdown as time expired. The Illini can’t leapfrog Minnesota, who they lost straight up to a few weeks back, or Iowa which continues to win without Brendan Sullivan, who took over for Cade McNamara at quarterback midseason, but they could be the league’s most important team.