Unlike the ACC, which got conference play started in Week 1, and the SEC and Big 12, which featured some of their marquee matchups of the entire season in Week 3 with Lane Kiffin’s return to Oxford and Texas Tech hosting Houston on Friday night, the Big Ten eases into its conference slate.
14 of its 18 teams have yet to play a conference matchup, but Week 3 delivered two matchups as USC made the trip east to Rutgers and Purdue ventured out to UCLA.
With so few conference matchups, it's hard to gauge where teams belong in the Big Ten hierarchy, but non-conference matchups against Power Four foes have provided some clues. In Week 4, we’ll start to get answers; until then, this will have to do.
Tier 5
18. Rutgers 0-3 (0-1) vs. USC 42-35 L
Rutgers went score-for-score with Lincoln Riley’s USC Trojans in Piscataway on Saturday. That doesn’t change the fact that UMass comprehensively handled this team. It takes more than an encouraging loss against a team that has historically struggled to travel east to change minds.
Tier 4
17. Purdue 1-2 (0-1) at UCLA 52-38 L
16. Michigan State 2-1 (0-0) at Notre Dame 27-10 L
15. Minnesota 2-1 (0-0) vs. Akron 41-7 W
14. Illinois 2-1 (0-0) vs. S Illinois 48-10 W
13. Wisconsin 2-1 (0-0) vs. Eastern Michigan 54-10 W
12. Northwestern 2-0 (0-0) vs. Colorado 41-7 W
11. Maryland 2-1 (0-0) vs. Virginia Tech 35-26 L
You may be wondering how Wisconsin is ahead of Michigan State when Notre Dame pounded the Badgers 41-13 in Week 1 and two weeks later, the Spartans hung around most of the night in a 27-10 defeat. Well, the answer is that Notre Dame had an 18% net success rate advantage over Michigan State and 5% vs. Wisconsin. Yes, the final score matters, but it can be misleading, and when both teams lost, it’s worth disregarding the margin and looking at the deeper numbers.
The biggest mover in this group is Northwestern, up from No. 17 to No. 12. That may seem hasty, but with just two games as data points, a 41-7 win over Colorado on Saturday in the final game on the lakefront is looming large. Ugly as it was, Colorado has a win over Georgia Tech, and Northwestern pounded Deion Sanders’ Buffaloes. That’s not nothing, and neither is Aidan Chiles, who has always had a lot of talent, completing 17/22 passes for 241 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Tier 3
10. UCLA 3-0 (1-0) vs. Purdue 52-38 W
9. Washington 3-0 (0-0) vs. Eastern Washington 48-16 W
8. Nebraska 3-0 (0-0) vs. North Dakota 34-7 W
7. Iowa 3-0 (0-0) vs. Northern Iowa 55-0 W
This was largely a week of teams answering some questions, at least temporarily, and against lesser competition. Washington finally got the offense going, hanging 48 points on Eastern Washington. Iowa, which couldn’t establish the run game against Iowa State in Week 2, was even more emphatic, rushing for 422 yards in a win over Northern Iowa. Are those answers just an aberration? We’ll find out.
Nebraska, however, may not have those same questions after back-to-back convincing wins over Bowling Green and North Dakota. Anthony Colandrea seems to be a perfect match with Dana Holgorsen, and Jamal Rule is an up-and-coming star for the Cornhuskers. The only question left is how well this translates into conference play. We’ll find out with a trip to East Lansing next week.
Tier 2
6. Penn State 3-0 (0-0) vs. Buffalo 55-13 W
5. Michigan 3-0 (0-0) vs. UTEP 52-17 W
4. Oregon 2-1 (0-0) vs. Portland State 84-0 W
3. USC 4-0 (1-0) at Rutgers 42-35 W
Maybe there isn’t as clear a dividing line between Tier 2 and 3 because, behind the top two teams in this conference, everyone has warts. Well, everyone except Penn State, which has been excellent and has played nobody.
Michigan let UTEP hang around until it couldn’t; USC couldn’t put Rutgers away; and Oregon, after losing to Oklahoma State, took out all of its frustrations on Portland State. Honestly, what do you do with any of that? Especially considering that USC’s struggles are seemingly tied to its travel troubles, and while that may cost the Trojans eventually, it’s hard to ding them much in power rankings. At least they won their ugly outing, unlike Oregon, and barring the extra second, unlike Michigan.
Tier 1
2. Ohio State 2-1 (0-0) vs. Kent State 59-3 W
1. Indiana 3-0 (0-0) vs. Western Kentucky 38-0 W
Indiana hasn’t been particularly sharp in non-conference play. The Hoosiers didn’t score in the first quarter and led just 7-0 until the final minute of the first half, and that first touchdown came on a two-play, three-yard drive after an interception. Georgia hung 70 on Western Kentucky in Week 2, and Indiana missed a field goal, punted, and turned the ball over on downs on three of its first five possessions.
Is that something? It’s not enough to knock the defending champs from the No. 1 spot. Just like the Buckeyes beating up on Kent State isn’t enough to jump the Hoosiers, with concerns about a No. 2 wide receiver opposite Jeremiah Smith and a pass rush that was non-existent in the second half against Texas.
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