Penn State had Week 10 circled before the year, and nobody thought that the Nittany Lions would go into Columbus with James Franklin gone, Terry Smith as the interim head coach, and Ethan Grunkemeyer at quarterback. It went about as well as you would’ve expected considering those circumstances.
Penn State managed to hang around in the first half with a strong running game and a fortunate turnover, stripping Ohio State running back CJ Donaldson Jr. and setting up Grunkemeyer and the offense with a short field. The only problem is that the Nittany Lions' defense needed about three or four more of those.
In the second half, the Buckeyes picked the Penn State defense apart, with Julian Sayin producing the most efficient day for an Ohio State quarterback against a Power 4 opponent this century. He faced them every day in practice last season, but Jim Knowles didn’t have any answer for Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate, letting the elite wide receiver duo combine for 247 yards and three touchdowns.
I’ve given Penn State a bit of a bump in this edition of the power ranking because hanging with the No. 1 team in the country for a half is better than most Big Ten teams could do, and the athletes that Franklin assembled on the roster are still worthy of at least the No. 12 spot, despite the 0-5 start to conference play. That will be 0-6 next week with Indiana coming to Happy Valley.
Indiana or Ohio State at No. 1?
There’s a clear top two in the Big Ten and in the country. Ohio State and Indiana have been the two most impressive teams, but who deserves the No. 1 spot? Indiana put up 55 on Maryland in Week 10, its fourth 50-point outing and second-straight. The Hoosiers have a historic average scoring margin so far, but I still lean Ohio State by a hair.
Indiana has a championship-caliber defense that does an excellent job of challenging the opposing offense’s pass protection rules. So often, Indiana defensive coordinator Bryant Haines gets his best linebackers matched up with running backs or his edge rushers working one-on-one with a tight end. They find the weak point and exploit it. Still, Ohio State’s defense is another level.
The Buckeyes can be susceptible to a physical run, and if an opposing offense lives in third-and-short, it could have a chance. However, the moment you get knocked off schedule, Matt Patricia swarms with coverage disguises and post-snap rotations in the secondary, leveraging his veteran defensive backs to confound quarterbacks.
Offensively, Sayin and Fernando Mendoza are two of the best quarterbacks in the country. Yet, while Mendoza has elite college pass-catchers in Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper Jr., Ohio State’s combination of Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate would be one of the most dynamic pass-catching duos in the NFL, right now. It’s marginal, but the edge on both sides of the ball has to go to the Buckeyes, the best team in the country.
Nebraska nearly caught USC
The other game of intrigue, at least as it pertains to the College Football Playoff, was USC’s trip to Lincoln. Matt Rhule hasn’t beaten a top 25 team since 2016 at Temple, and Nebraska’s drought is even longer, and it nearly came to an end before Dylan Raiola suffered an ankle injury that knocked him from the game.
Lincoln Riley still isn’t trustworthy on the road, but the Trojans escaped and retain their spot at No. 4 in the Big Ten, narrowly above Michigan, while Nebraska stays slotted behind Illinois at the bottom of Tier 3.
Michigan’s spot in that second tier is becoming tenuous, however, because it appears that Bryce Underwood has hit a freshman wall. He was so poised early in the season, even in losses to Oklahoma and USC. In the last two weeks, though, he’s been sped in the pocket and incredibly pressure sensitive, leading to inaccuracy. Unless he can clean things up, the Wolverines could slide, and while they won’t lose to Northwestern or Maryland, they could get blown out by Ohio State in the Big House.
Tier 1:
1. Ohio State, 8-0 (5-0), vs Penn State 38-14 W
2. Indiana, 9-0 (6-0), at Maryland 55-10 W
3. Oregon, 7-1 (4-1), BYE
Tier 2:
4. USC, 6-2 (4-1), at Nebraska 21-17 W
5. Michigan, 7-2 (5-1), vs Purdue 21-16 W
Tier 3:
6. Iowa, 6-2 (4-1), BYE
7. Washington, 6-2 (3-2), BYE
8. Illinois, 6-3 (3-3), vs Rutgers 35-13 W
9. Nebraska, 6-3 (3-3), vs USC 21-17 L
Tier 4:
10. Northwestern, 5-3 (3-2), BYE
11. UCLA, 3-5 (3-2), BYE
12. Penn State, 3-5 (0-5), at Ohio State 38-14 L
13. Minnesota, 6-3 (4-2), vs Michigan State 23-20 W (OT)
14. Maryland, 4-4 (1-4), vs Indiana 55-10 L
Tier 5:
15. Rutgers, 4-4 (1-4), at Illinois 35-13 L
16. Purdue, 2-7 (0-6), at Michigan 21-16 L
17. Michigan State, 3-6 (0-6), at Minnesota 23-20 L (OT)
18. Wisconsin, 2-6 (0-5), at Oregon 21-7 L