Week 7 of the 2026 college football season will be remembered for a long time. Half of the AP Top 10 went down, including the top 2 teams in the country: Georgia and Notre Dame. However, aside from Indiana and Ohio State playing a rematch of last year’s Big Ten Championship Game, nearly all of the chaos happened elsewhere.
However, that doesn’t mean the Big Ten isn’t chaotic. With Ohio State QB Julian Sayin out for “several weeks,” according to Ryan Day’s postgame comments, it appears that the conference title still runs through Bloomington, even after the Hoosiers fell half of Nick Marsh’s left foot from beating the Buckeyes. Either way, though, the top of the league has long been set; it’s everything below that that’s hard to sort out.
I’ll try my best.
Tier 4
18. Maryland 2-4 (0-3) vs. Rutgers 37-30 L
17. Rutgers 1-4 (0-2) at Maryland 37-30 W
16. Michigan State 2-4 (0-3) vs. Northwestern 24-21 L
15. Illinois 3-3 (1-2) BYE
The bottom of the Big Ten is no longer a one-team tier. Yes, Rutgers has lost to UMass in Week 1, and that’s still the worst loss that any Big Ten team has taken this year. Not to play the transitive property game, but now Maryland’s home loss to Rutgers in Week 7 looks about just as bad.
Rutgers has improved, especially offensively with KJ Duff, who is a first-team All-Big Ten-caliber wide receiver leading the way, and with injuries to Illinois and Michigan State, and Illinois, the back of the pack has slid even further back to Rutgers.
Tier 3
14. Purdue 3-4 (2-2) vs. Washington 38-26 L
13. Washington 4-3 (1-3) at Purdue 38-26 W
12. Minnesota 4-2 (2-1) BYE
11. Penn State 3-3 (0-3) at Michigan 21-18 L
10. Wisconsin 4-2 (2-1) at UCLA 17-7 L
9. Iowa 5-1 (2-1) BYE
8. Michigan 4-2 (1-2) vs. Penn State 21-18
7. Northwestern 5-1 (2-1) at Michigan State 24-21 W
So, Purdue rolled Minnesota, Minnesota beat Washington, and in Week 7, Washington downed Purdue. What do you do with that group, especially considering Minnesota beat Michigan in Week 5? It’s hard to say.
Minnesota has the best win of the bunch, and at his best, Drake Lindsey is the best quarterback any team in that group can boast. I’ll take the Golden Gophers on a neutral field, and so will SP+, which has Minnesota at No. 57, 15 spots ahead of Washington, which looks to potentially be saving its season with Elijah Brown replacing the injured Demond Williams at QB.
Ahead of that group is Penn State, which appears to be slightly improved even amid its four-game losing streak. The Nittany Lions actually outperformed Michigan on a down-to-down basis for the game, with a +1% net success rate edge, but Rocco Becht’s three second-half turnovers led directly to 21 points for the Wolverines and backup QB Tommy Carr, who replaced Bryce Underwood.
If you’re keeping track, that’s now four backup QBs in starting roles between Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Washington, and that’s before we’ve even gotten to Oregon and UCLA, which both won with backups in Week 7.
Tier 2
6. USC 6-1 (3-1) BYE
5. Nebraska 5-1 (2-1) at Oregon 17-14 L
4. Oregon 4-2 (2-1) vs. Nebraska 17-14 W
3. UCLA 6-0 (4-0) vs. Wisconsin 17-7 W
Week 6 was supposed to be the first big test for UCLA, and after the Bruins downed Oregon, it didn’t appear they had another until the final two weeks of the season against Michigan and USC. However, Nico Iamaleava’s season-ending injury turned Wisconsin into a pop quiz, and backup QB Ty Dieffenbach passed with a 17-7 win.
It wasn’t perfect from Dieffenbach, but with UCLA’s run-first identity, he was in manageable situations all game. Wisconsin loaded up to stop the run and had quite a bit of success with a linebacker tandem that could be the best in the conference, but Dieffenbach made them pay over the top, generating 0.39 EPA/dropback.
UCLA needs Dieffenbach’s success to translate to more movement on the scoreboard, not just between the 20s, but the Bruins haven’t fallen off completely with a QB change.
Oregon appears to have fallen farther, replacing Brock Thomas, who started Week 7 with Dante Moore still out, with Dylan Raiola, who led a late come-from-behind win against Nebraska in Eugene late Saturday night. Once again, Nebraska proved it was up for the fight, and once again, Nebraska couldn’t get over the hump.
The Huskers almosts keep them in Tier 2 of the power rankings, but it won’t mean much in terms of their pursuit of a College Football Playoff bid, or even just the first meaningful victory for the program in a while.
Tier 1
2. Ohio State 6-1 (4-0) at Indiana 19-15 W
1. Indiana 6-1 (3-1) vs. Ohio State 19-15 L
Indiana was inches from beating Ohio State, had a clear plan for defending Jeremiah Smith, which worked for most of the game aside from one jackpot heave into the end zone from Julian Sayin, and didn’t lose its starting quarterback to a long-term injury. So, yeah, the Hoosiers are staying at No. 1 even after a head-to-head loss to Indiana.
In an AP poll ranking, the Buckeyes have to stay in front of the Hoosiers, but in a power ranking, Indiana should be No. 1 in the Big Ten.
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