Remember how I said this last week?

After one week of college football its obvious that the top will stay the top until conference play starts barring a huge upset.

Whoops. Oklahoma made sure that would not be the case. But It sure didn’t seem like a huge upset either. But that’s ok, it makes things a bit more interesting rather than listing the same teams in the same order every week.

As a reminder I rank the teams both 1-7 in their respective divisions, and then 1-14 overall in the Big Ten.

Here are my Week 2 Big Ten Football Power Rankings;

Big Ten East:

1. Penn State Nittany Lions

Penn State easily took care of in-state rival Pittsburgh to claim the top spot this week. Georgia State comes in this week. The Panthers lost at home in week 1 to Tennessee State. Yeah...this ain’t gonna be pretty.

2. Ohio State Buckeyes

Oklahoma came into the Shoe last Saturday and whupped up on the Buckeyes. Ohio State looked vulnerable, and might not be quite the juggernaut we may have thought they could be. Guess we see. Well...not this week. Army comes to Columbus and its likely that our armed forces aren’t quite ready for this task.

3. Michigan Wolverines

Michigan just keeps quietly plugging along. They aren’t winning pretty, but they are winning. The Cincinnati Bearcats saw that in person last Saturday. You could argue they could have moved up to the #2 spot...but I still think at least at this time the Buckeyes are a better team.

Its going to be a bad weekend for our armed forces as Air Force heads to the Big House to probably suffer the same fate as Army.

4. Maryland Terrapins

The Terps didn’t seem to miss injured quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome much last week against Towson. Then again...it was Towson. Their new QB Kasim Hill will get another week to better learn the office as Maryland gets their bye already this week.

5. Michigan State Spartans

Michigan State so far looks much improved from the disastrous season of a year ago. Then again the Spartans looked fine in the non-con last year too. They took care of the Western Michigan Broncos last week and also get their bye week this week before taking on Notre Dame Fighting Irish the week after.

6. Indiana Hoosiers

Indiana had no problem with the Hoos last week doubling up on the Virginia Cavaliers. They were looking forward to trying to go 2-1 this weekend, but due to the impacts of Hurricane Irma their game at Florida International was cancelled this week. The two teams will make up the game—-but not until 2022.

7. Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Rutgers. Remember when things looked up for you after not losing as bad to Washington as we thought you would? Yeah...about that. Losing to a MAC team is not in itself that embarrassing...but Eastern Michigan ? The team that was 0-58 in its school’s history against Power 5 teams?

Just beat up on FCS Morgan State this week at home and try not to shame the rest of the conference again.

Big Ten West

1. Wisconsin Badgers

The Badgers let Florida Atlantic stick around, but the game was never in doubt. Wisconsin is the cream of this crop until we see something better—-which might be a while. The Badgers should at least be tested this week when they play the BYU Cougars in Provo—but with Cougar QB Tanner Mangum out, well the chance of the upset are pretty slim.

2. Iowa Hawkeyes

Iowa tried as hard as they could to lose ¡El Assico! But when all was said and done, Iowa State tried even harder to lose and did so. Iowa keeps the #2 spot, but its mainly for the failings of the teams below it than the strength of their wins. North Texas comes to Iowa City this weekend and there is no good reason why Iowa should not be 3-0 headed into Big Ten play.

3. Minnesota Golden Gophers

That was more like it. Minnesota did exactly what we wanted to see happen in Corvallis, and they took it to the Oregon State Beavers. Minnesota will have a decent test at home this week in the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders, but a win should be had and a 3-0 non-conference start into the bye week will put Minnesota halfway to bowl eligibility in PJ Fleck’s first season.

4. Nebraska Cornhuskers

Somehow Nebraska looks as bad as they did in the first half against the Oregon Ducks and they actually move up a spot? They looked much better in the 2nd half..and frankly Northwestern just was embarrassing last week. Northern Illinois comes to Lincoln this weekend and should be a way for the Huskers to get back on track.

5. Purdue Boilermakers

Purdue took the Ohio Bobcats out to the woodshed last Friday night. Could they actually be for real this year? We will get a better idea Saturday when they go to play the Missouri Tigers.

6. Northwestern Wildcats

Northwestern needs to feel the shame for how badly they played against the Duke Blue Devils . Man that was brutal. Bowling Green come into Evanston this week and Northwestern should be able to take care of business.

7. Illinois Fighting Illini

Illinois beat the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers last weekend without much fanfare. The way it should be this early in the season in a matchup like this. Friday night they get to head down to play Charlie Strong’s #23 South Florida Bulls team in what could be a painful night on national tv for the Illini.

Big Ten Teams Ranked 1-14

1. Penn State Nittany Lions (Previously #2)
2. Ohio State Buckeyes (#1)
3. Michigan Wolverines (#3)
4. Wisconsin Badgers (#4)
5. Iowa Hawkeyes (#5)
6. Maryland Terrapins (#7)
7. Michigan State Spartans (#8)
8. Minnesota Gophers (#9)
9. Nebraska Cornhuskers (#10)
10. Purdue Boilermakers (#11)
11. Northwestern Wildcats (#6)
12. Indiana Hoosiers (#12)
13. Illinois Fighting Illini (#14)
14. Rutgers Scarlet Knights (#13)

As always, if you disagree, let me know in the comments.