Ranking Best Big Ten Football Matchups of Week 5
It didn't take long for there to be a major shake-up in the Big Ten hierarchy.
Michigan State came into league play flying high after a surprising 36-28 upset of Notre Dame on the road in prime time. But during the first official week of conference play, the Spartans were smacked in a 30-6 rout by a surging Wisconsin team, at home no less.
Meanwhile, 60 miles south of East Lansing, Michigan was making a statement with a 49-10 demolition of Penn State that wasn't nearly as close as the score would indicate. After a shaky start, the Wolverines are rounding into shape and flexing their muscle.
On Saturday afternoon, the Michigan-Wisconsin matchup headlines a solid crop of games that will help further shape the Big Ten pecking order.
No. 5: Minnesota at Penn State
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Penn State came into the season with high expectations for James Franklin's third team in Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions finally have a quarterback who's suited for Franklin's spread system after the departure of Christian Hackenberg, and Saquon Barkley has the potential to be one of the country's top running backs.
While Trace McSorley is a much better fit behind center and Barkley leads the Big Ten with six rushing touchdowns, Penn State has been gashed defensively. The Nittany Lions have given up 91 points in losses to Pitt and Michigan, and at 2-2 on the season, Franklin has to be feeling pressure to put victories on the board.
That'll be tough this week, as undefeated Minnesota is set to invade Happy Valley for a 3:30 p.m. ET showdown. Quarterback Mitch Leidner is playing at a high level, as he's completing 64.5 percent of his passes for a Gophers team that's averaging nearly 40 points per game.
If the Nittany Lions don't make drastic improvements defensively, they'll have a tough time taming this pesky Minnesota squad.
No. 4: Northwestern at Iowa
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This was supposed to be a pivotal showdown that played a huge role in deciding who would win the Big Ten West Division.
Coming into the season, Iowa and Northwestern were projected at the top or near the top as favorites to win the West, but both have fallen short of their preseason expectations. Northwestern stumbled to a 1-3 start with losses to Western Michigan and FCS foe Illinois State, while Iowa fell short in a stunning 23-21 upset to North Dakota State.
Both teams struggled again last week. The Wildcats gave up 556 total yards in a 24-13 loss to Nebraska, and the Hawkeyes struggled with a greatly overmatched Rutgers team in an uninspired 14-7 victory.
Iowa still has the pieces to contend in the Big Ten, but it'll have to play with some urgency when it hosts Northwestern on Saturday afternoon.
No. 3: Rutgers at Ohio State
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Ohio State is coming off an early-season bye week—something Urban Meyer wished had come later in the year—and the Buckeyes are set to face a unique foe when Rutgers comes to town.
It's not that Ohio State is unfamiliar with the Scarlet Knights—it's the exact opposite with former co-defensive coordinator Chris Ash now at the helm. Ash, who served under Meyer from 2014-15, has Rutgers at 2-2 coming into Ohio Stadium.
Quarterback J.T. Barrett should be very familiar with the defense he'll face on Saturday, but on the flip side, Ash knows all of the shortcomings in Barrett's game. These two squared off in practice for two years, so the cat-and-mouse approach is a legitimate storyline to watch.
Despite that storyline, the No. 2 Buckeyes have been pegged as enormous 37-point favorites to improve to 4-0, according to Odds Shark.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
No. 2: Michigan State at Indiana
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Michigan State's team motto coming into the season was "Back2Back," signifying the Spartans' goal of repeating as Big Ten champs after winning the league in 2015.
Those aspirations took an enormous hit in the first week of conference play, when Michigan State got manhandled by a more physical Wisconsin team at home. The Spartans actually outgained the Badgers 325 yards to 317, but Tyler O'Connor threw three interceptions and Michigan State was kept out of the end zone for the first time in Big Ten play since 2010.
Can Mark Dantonio's squad bounce back and make a run at the East Division title?
The Spartans will have to play perfect football from this point on, and that starts on the road when they travel to Bloomington for a prime-time matchup with Indiana this Saturday. Michigan State has had little trouble with the Hoosiers in recent years, taking the last three meetings by an average of 26.3 points.
No. 1: Wisconsin at Michigan
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Most experts and fans came into the season expecting to wait until late October or November for a Top 10 matchup in the Big Ten, but with Wisconsin's surprising 4-0 start, that's exactly what we're getting when the Badgers visit Michigan on Saturday.
Paul Chryst's team started off the year with an upset over a then-No. 5 LSU team, but it was the road win over Michigan State last Saturday that propelled them into legitimate playoff contention. Quarterback Alex Hornibrook looks like a star in the making and calmly dissected one of the best defenses in the country last weekend, and the Badgers defense is once again fierce, allowing just 11.8 points per game (which ranks seventh nationally).
But Michigan is rounding into shape and becoming one of the most complete, all-around teams in the country. The running game was a concern early, but the Wolverines just gashed Penn State for 326 rushing yards in a 39-point blowout victory.
That, plus home-field advantage, is why Jim Harbaugh's squad is holding steady as 10-point favorites, according to Odds Shark. But if Wisconsin proved anything last week, it's up to the challenge of hitting the road as a big underdog.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
