Michigan. This team looks amazing. Perhaps Ohio State and especially Michigan State have just been underplaying, but as things stand now, Michigan looks like the team to beat.
Ohio State. The Buckeyes played well for the most part against Maryland, especially the offense. The defense had some troubling against Maryland's running and let up a few big plays that allowed Maryland to stay in the game for longer than they should have.
Iowa. The Hawkeyes took care of Illinois en route to a perfect 6-0 record, something we haven't seen from this team in a long time. Next week's game against Northwestern is huge. If they can pull off a victory in Evanston, they've got an easy path to the B1G Championship.
Michigan State. Another week, another underwhelming down-to-the-wire win for Sparty against a cellar dweller. Connor Cook played well, unfortunately a lot of his nice passes were dropped by receivers. The defense seems to be getting worse every week, they'll have to really step up their game next week in Ann Arbor.
Northwestern. Well, that game really couldn't have gone worse for the Wildcats. Their defense gave up 3 TDs, their offense gave up a TD, and their special teams gave up a TD. They'll need to beat Iowa next week if they want to stay in the conference race.
Wisconsin. The Badgers won, but looked pretty bad doing it for most of the game. The defense took a major step back, surrendering some big plays that led to 3 Nebraska TDs. Aside from a good showing in the 4th quarter, the passing was inconsistent and the run game ineffective.
Minnesota. The Gophers soundly beat Purdue, and their offense had a pulse which was nice to. Unfortunately their remaining schedule is brutal with tough match-ups against Michigan, Ohio State, Iowa, Wisconsin and Nebraska and Illinois teams that can give them trouble. Beating Nebraska next week is crucial if they want to make a bowl game.
Illinois. Coming off a win against Nebraska, the Illini played respectfully against Iowa, keeping the game close the whole way through. They're still in contention for the B1G, which is not something I expected at this point in the season.
Nebraska. I feel a bit weird having the 2-4 Cornhuskers over 1 and 2 loss Penn State and Indiana teams, but I'm extremely confident they'd beat both of those teams quite easily. OT loss to Miami, and final second losses to BYU, Illinois, and now Wisconsin.
Penn State. The Nittany Lions beat Indiana. They look like they've improved a bit since Temple, but I see at best two more wins for them this season.
Indiana. After a strong showing against Ohio State, they rolled over for Penn State. They're already at 4 wins and they've still got Purdue, Maryland, and Rutgers to play so I like their chances of going bowling this year.
Rutgers. They played a very close game against Michigan State and led at the half. Couldn't get it done on their last drive of the game to tie the game, which ended on a bizarre, anticlimactic 4th down spike.
Maryland. They kept it close with Ohio State for a little while, their QB looked pretty awesome at times. They've got a tough schedule ahead of them, I think they'll be pretty lucky to win more than 1 game going forward.
Purdue. Sigh. The Boilermakers fell flat on their faces against Minnesota. After coming just short of upsetting MSU last week, I was expecting a better game out of them. I still they'll upset someone though, maybe Indiana or Nebraska if their unlucky streak continues.