Big Ten Football Power Rankings (Week 4): Penn State Looks Great, A Lot of Teams Look Bad

With Week 4 of the college football season in the books, here is where we have each and every team in the Big Ten ranked, based on strength of schedule, quality of on-field play and projection for the rest of the season.

Daniel Olinger | Sep 26, 2023

Big Ten Football Power Rankings (Week 4): Penn State Looks Great, A Lot of Teams Look Bad /

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Big Ten football lost its mind during Week 4 of the college football season.

Ohio State won on a buzzer beater in South Bend. Minnesota gave up 21 fourth quarter points to Northwestern and lost. Akron should have beaten Indiana in Bloomington.

It's hard to tell which teams, if any, are good in this conference outside of the very top tier. Here's where I have them ranked entering into the final week of September:

1. Michigan (4-0, 1-0 B1G)

Week 4 Result: W, 31-7 vs Rutgers

Week 5 Matchup: @ Nebraska

Rutgers got up 7-0 on Saturday and allowed fans to fire off some jokes, but Michigan still cruised in this game. It's so hard to form a critical opinion of this team because the Wolverines do not play a single team that can challenge them until Nov. 11, when they hit the road to play Penn State. For now, though, they still belong at the top of the conference.

2. Ohio State (4-0, 1-0 B1G)

Week 4 Result: W, 17-14 vs Notre Dame

Week 5 Matchup: Bye

Ohio State really should have lost this game. If not for some questionable play calling on Notre Dame's final offensive drive and coach Marcus Freeman and his staff somehow forgetting to put an 11th man on the field, the Buckeyes would be 3-1, and the team's fans would be furious with Ryan Day's highly questionable play calling.

Ohio State's offense doesn't look as lethal as it did in years past, and Penn State very well might just be a better team than them in 2023. But beating Notre Dame on the road is still the best win that any Big Ten team has so far this season, so the Buckeyes hold serve at No. 2 for the time being.

3. Penn State (4-0, 2-0 B1G)

Week 4 Result: W, 31-0 vs Iowa

Week 5 Matchup: @ Northwestern

I might have Penn State ranked as the third-best team in the conference, but it's by the thinnest of margins. There's a real case that coach James Franklin has built the best defense in the country in Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions are surrendering just under nine points per game, and even though it is the infamously terrible Iowa offense, the fact that Penn State held the Hawkeyes to 76 total yards and four first downs in a game is insane.

Penn State is good enough to win the Big Ten and compete for a College Football Playoff spot.

4. Maryland (4-0, 1-0 B1G)

Week 4 Result: W, 31-9 vs Michigan State

Week 5 Matchup: Vs Indiana

It only took a decade, but Maryland football is finally a viable "contender" in the Big Ten. Yes, the Terrapins are clearly a cut below the big three, but they've also separated themselves from the very troubling teams in the bottom half of the conference. They faced a bad Michigan State team with a terrible secondary in Week 4 and did exactly what they were supposed to do — throw all over them and win by three scores.

Maryland is good.

5. Wisconsin (3-1, 1-0 B1G)

Week 4 Result: W, 38-17 vs Purdue

Week 5 Matchup: Bye

Maybe the early season concern over coach Luke Fickell and his new-look Badgers was overblown. Wisconsin did what it was supposed to on Friday in easily curb stomping a bad Purdue team. Likewise, the loss to Washington State gets more understandable by the week, as the Cougars just beat an excellent Oregon State team in Pullman, and might be a top 15 team in the country with a dynamic quarterback in Cam Ward.

For the first time since 2019, Wisconsin should be the team to come out of the Big Ten West.

6. Iowa (3-1, 0-1 B1G)

Week 4 Result: L, 0-31 vs Penn State

Week 5 Matchup: Vs Michigan State

Iowa is the same the team it always is. The defense does a great job. The offense is repugnant. The Hawkeyes might still win 10-11 games because their schedule is that easy, but any actually great team they play will easily dispatch them.

7. Rutgers (3-1, 1-1 B1G)

Week 4 Result: L, 7-31 vs Michigan

Week 5 Matchup: Vs Wagner

There's a very real chance Rutgers could still lose to so many different teams in the conference. The Scarlet Knights' offense is a massive slog, and the individual talent is not amazing. But still, they put up a fight against the Big Ten's best team, and have not embarrassed themselves in any irredeemable fashion, unlike the other seven teams below them on this list. Rutgers stays in the top half of the conference for the time being.

8. Illinois (2-2, 0-1 B1G)

Week 4 Result: W, 23-17 vs Florida Atlantic

Week 5 Matchup: @ Purdue

It should tell you how bad Week 4 went for some Big Ten teams that coach Bret Bielema and his squad almost lost to a 1-3 Group of Five team at home, and still I could not drop them lower than this. It's still a win, and at least Illinois's two losses (Penn State and Kansas) came against a playoff contender and a team that is good enough to mess around and compete for the Big 12 title.

At this point, quality losses feel like a good thing for teams in the bottom half of the Big Ten.

9. Michigan State (2-2, 0-1 B1G)

Week 4 Result: L, 9-31 vs Maryland

Week 5 Matchup: @ Iowa

It's really hard to know what to do when ranking the worst teams in this conference. Michigan State is in disarray and looked terrible in two straight games. But it's not like the Spartans lost to bad teams. Washington and former Indiana quarterback Michael Penix Jr. look like national title contenders, and the aforementioned Maryland Terrapins are easily one of the five best teams in the Big Ten.

Until Michigan State looks awful against a below average team, it'll get a slight benefit of the doubt.

10. Northwestern (2-2, 1-1 B1G)

Week 4 Result: W, 37-34 vs Minnesota (OT)

Week 5 Matchup: Vs Penn State

No idea what to make of Northwestern. In Week 1 against Rutgers, the Wildcats looked like one of the worst teams ever, and its defense still has major shortcomings. However, it appears Ben Bryant has brings more juice at the quarterback spot than anyone has in Evanston since Peyton Ramsey in 2020. Bryant threw for 396 yards and four touchdowns in Northwestern's miraculous 21-point fourth quarter comeback on Saturday.

At the very least, with a quarterback that can air it out and some veteran players at wide receiver, Northwestern might accidentally win another Big Ten game or too thanks to its offense, as strange as that sounds.

11. Minnesota (2-2, 1-1 B1G)

Week 4 Result: L, 34-37 vs Northwestern (OT)

Week 5 Matchup: Vs Louisiana

True freshman running back Darius Taylor is the only positive on this team right now. The game management from coach P.J. Fleck during both the fourth quarter collapse and overtime was absolutely horrific. Even when Athan Kaliakmanis had his best game to date, the Minnesota quarterback still showed plenty of flaws.

This 2023 rendition of the Gophers feels like a huge step back for a program that had been consistently competent throughout Fleck's tenure.

12. Nebraska (2-2, 0-1 B1G)

Week 4 Result: W, 28-14 vs Louisiana Tech

Week 5 Matchup: Vs Michigan

Don't look now, but Nebraska might slowly be figuring it out?

At the very least, coach Matt Rhule has found an identity for the offense with Heinrich Haarberg at quarterback. His throwing ability leaves a lot to be desired, but 255 rushing yards and three touchdowns in two games portends to pretty spectacular dual-threat ability. Nebraska isn't amazing, but it looks better than it did two weeks ago.

13. Indiana (2-2, 0-1 B1G)

Week 4 Result: W, 29-27 vs Akron (4OT)

Week 5 Matchup: @ Maryland

Jack and I said it on our Monday podcast — Indiana just pulled off the worst win ever.

Even advancing to 2-2, nothing looked good for the Hoosiers, and they're now huge underdogs while traveling to College Park in Week 4.

14. Purdue (1-3, 0-1 B1G)

Week 4 Result: L, 17-38 vs Wisconsin

Week 5 Matchup: Vs Illinois

It's fair to argue that Purdue has lost to three quality teams in Fresno State, undefeated Syracuse and a surging Wisconsin, but the Boilermakers looked uninspiring in each game. Hudson Card and the offense occasionally get it going, but the defense looks so poor so often that it rarely matters.

Maybe Purdue proves me wrong in West Lafayette this weekend when it hosts a beatable team in Illinois. But this really looks like a massive rebuilding year for coach Ryan Walters here in his first season.