Large Ten Energy Rankings: Ohio State Stays on High; Nebraska Rises, Washington Falls

This was a weekend of close calls for some of the Big Ten’s best teams as No. 9 Oregon needed a game-winning field goal to topple Iowa and No. 2 Indiana needed arguably the catch of the year from wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. to facilitate a last-second comeback against Penn State. 

Elsewhere around the conference, Washington bowed out of the College Football Playoff race with an ugly road loss to Wisconsin, while No. 19 USC ran away from Northwestern to remain in the thick of the postseason hunt.

Here’s a team-by-team breakdown of our latest Big Ten Power Rankings following Week 11:

The Top 10

Result: 34-10 road win over Purdue

Strange things sometimes happen at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana, and for a brief window on Saturday afternoon, it seemed like Ohio State might fall victim to such an occurrence. 

The Buckeyes lost starting wide receiver Carnell Tate to an undisclosed injury during warmups and found themselves trailing 3-0 after the first quarter. But the team assembled by head coach Ryan Day looks more and more like a machine each week, and with the second quarter against the Boilermakers came an onslaught of three consecutive touchdowns and a field goal that broke the game open for good, snuffing out any possibility of an upset. 

Even without Tate on the perimeter, Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin — whose Heisman Trophy candidacy continues to gain momentum — topped 300 passing yards and an 80% completion rate for the third straight week. He’s playing remarkably well for a player of any age, let alone a redshirt freshman. Time and again he connected with star wideout Jeremiah Smith, who hauled in a season-high 10 catches for 137 yards and a score. No other receiver caught more than three passes for the Buckeyes. 

A defense that continues to lead the nation in both scoring (7.2 points per game) and total yards (211.6 yards per game) held Purdue below 100 yards on the ground (92) and through the air (94) in another smothering effort. Ohio State will host UCLA on Saturday. 

Result: 27-24 road win over Penn State

For the second time this season, Indiana was pushed to the absolute brink in a difficult road environment. And for the second time this season, the Hoosiers mounted an incredible game-winning drive to preserve their undefeated record and inch ever closer to an appearance in the Big Ten Championship game. 

Head coach Curt Cignetti’s team led by 13 at the midway point of the third quarter before squandering that advantage and falling behind, 24-20, late in the fourth. The Hoosiers needed every bit of magic that quarterback Fernando Mendoza, a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate, could conjure on a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive sure to be remembered, discussed and memorialized by Indiana fans for years to come. Mendoza completed passes gaining 22, 12, 29, 17 and 7 yards on a frantic possession in which his final throw was snared in the back of the end zone by wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. for a leaping, toe-tapping score that shattered whatever remained of the Nittany Lions’ already broken hearts. 

Cooper and fellow wideout Charlie Becker, who caught seven passes for 118 yards against Penn State after entering the game with seven receptions all season, were the unquestioned stars on an afternoon when Indiana played without No. 1 receiver Elijah Sarratt, sidelined by a lingering hamstring issue. Together with Mendoza, they catalyzed the program’s first-ever victory at Beaver Stadium following 13 failed attempts. 

Result: 18-16 road win over No. 20 Iowa

Ever since Oregon — a high-flying, speed-racing juggernaut from the Pacific Northwest — joined the Big Ten in the latest flurry of conference realignment, this was the kind of game many were interested in seeing the Ducks try to win: on the road, long flight, difficult environment at Kinnick Stadium, cold temperatures, horrible weather, plenty of in-game adversity. And while nothing about this particular contest was pretty, with neither team topping 150 passing yards, it’s impossible to question Oregon’s toughness given the nature of Saturday’s victory. 

Head coach Dan Lanning and Co. fell behind 16-15 with 1:51 remaining in the fourth quarter when Iowa quarterback Mark Gronowski plunged across the goal line for a 3-yard score, capping a marathon drive that covered 93 yards on 12 plays and might have broken an opponent with lesser leadership. But the Ducks responded with a 10-play, 54-yard march of their own in the waning moments, highlighted by an otherworldly throw from quarterback Dante Moore that snuck over the arm of a defender and into the hands of wideout Malik Benson, vaulting Oregon into field goal range. 

It was arguably the Ducks’ only passing highlight on an afternoon when they leaned on the rushing attack for 261 yards on 36 carries, punishing an Iowa defense that hadn’t given up more than 173 on the ground all season. From there, kicker Atticus Sappington drilled a 39-yard field as time expired — his third make of the game in horrendous conditions — to secure a thrilling win. 

Result: 38-17 home win over Northwestern 

USC’s fortunes turned shortly before halftime when Trojans quarterback Jayden Maiava made an incredible defensive play that took what appeared to be a surefire Northwestern touchdown off the board. After tossing an ugly interception, Maiava chased down defensive lineman Najee Story to force a fumble near the goal line that crossed through the end zone and went out of bounds for a touchback. It was a remarkable display of effort from Maiava, who finished the game having completed 24 of 33 passes for 299 yards and two touchdowns. He now ranks second in the Big Ten in passing yards (2,614) and sixth in passing scores (17). 

Maiava’s primary target on Friday night was USC standout wide receiver Makai Lemon, an exceptional talent often overshadowed by the duo of Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate at Ohio State. Lemon caught 11 passes for a career-high 161 yards and reached the end zone twice: once on a 7-yard pass; once on a 4-yard run. He ranks tied for ninth nationally in receptions (61), third in receiving yards (937) and tied for 16th in receiving touchdowns (seven). 

When combined with yet another steady rushing performance from walk-on tailback King Miller, who topped 100 yards for the third time in his last four games, the Trojans amassed 482 yards of total offense and scored on six of their opening nine possessions. They’ll host Iowa on Saturday.

Result: Idle

The forgiving nature of Michigan’s schedule in November means that head coach Sherrone Moore and his staff will likely find plenty of time to chip away at their preparations for No. 1 Ohio State in the anticipated regular season finale. An unspectacular win over Purdue earlier this month gave way to a bye week in which the Wolverines almost certainly began working through a few things related to the Buckeyes. Now, the only teams standing between Michigan and its archrival are middle-of-the-pack foes Northwestern and Maryland — two teams that have now lost seven straight games combined. All signs are pointing toward an iteration of The Game in which the Wolverines can secure a place in the College Football Playoff if they handle Ohio State for a fifth straight year and avoid slipping up between now and then.

Result: 18-16 home loss to No. 9 Oregon

For Iowa to win this bonafide College Football Playoff eliminator, head coach Kirk Ferentz and his team were always going to need the right set of circumstances in a prototypical clash of styles with Oregon. It would have to be low-scoring: The Hawkeyes were never going to match the Ducks’ firepower. It would have to be a battle in the trenches: The Hawkeyes’ lines needed to impose themselves on both sides of the ball. It would have to be, at times, so ugly that the average fan might lose interest in the proceedings: The Hawkeyes love turnovers and special teams contributions more than most. And if the temperamental Midwest weather could play its part, too, that would be even better. 

All of those factors coalesced exactly how Ferentz would have wanted — and he acknowledged as much in his postgame news conference — but Iowa still fell short in the critical moments. The Hawkeyes erased an eight-point deficit in the fourth quarter to take a 16-15 lead with 1:51 remaining after quarterback Mark Gronowski found the end zone as a runner. But the defense surrendered a 10-play, 54-yard drive in the waning seconds that allowed Oregon to set up the game-winning kick as time expired. It was a gutting way for the Hawkeyes’ playoff hopes to expire. 

Result: Idle

It will be interesting to see whether Illinois experiences any decline in focus over the next few weeks now that its path toward the College Football Playoff is effectively blocked. A third conference loss to previously unranked Washington on Oct. 25 all but sealed the Illini’s fate given their earlier defeats to then-No. 19 Indiana and No. 1 Ohio State. There are enough teams around the country with two or fewer losses to where every three-loss program might be on the outside looking in at this year’s field. And that is especially true for an Illinois squad that suffered a stunning 53-point loss to Indiana in which its distance from one of the Big Ten’s elite proved canyon-like. The Illini will be favored against each of their remaining opponents — Maryland, Wisconsin and Northwestern — with a chance to finish the regular season 9-3 overall. But getting there without the CFP to play for will require an immense amount of discipline and concentration. 

Result: Idle

Aside from the simple fact that Minnesota has won 67% of its games this season — no easy task in the parity-riddled era of college football — there’s nothing particularly impressive about the résumé assembled by head coach P.J. Fleck and Co. The Gophers lost an early non-conference game at Cal by two scores, got pummeled by No. 1 Ohio State in a game that was never competitive and then were blown out by Iowa in an embarrassing performance. Scattered between those defeats are conference wins over Rutgers, Purdue, Michigan State and then-No. 24 Nebraska — a quartet with an overall Big Ten record of 6-21 combined. And so this bye week is extremely important as Minnesota prepares for its most difficult remaining game at No. 7 Oregon on Nov. 14. By beating the Ducks, Fleck’s team would secure back-to-back seasons with multiple wins over ranked opponents.

Result: 28-21 road win over UCLA

There are plenty of legitimate reasons to be critical of the job head coach Matt Rhule has done since taking over Nebraska, namely his unsightly record against ranked opponents, but he deserves considerable praise for the Cornhuskers’ performance at UCLA on Saturday. 

It would have been easy for Nebraska to simply roll over following the season-ending injury to quarterback Dylan Raiola a week prior, in the same game when the Cornhuskers’ hopes of reaching the College Football Playoff were officially dashed. But Rhule did an exceptional job preparing true freshman quarterback TJ Lateef for the first start of his career and ensuring everyone else maintained focus.

Lateef completed 13 of 15 passes for 205 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions on a night when Nebraska built a 28-7 lead early in the third quarter. His calm, controlled performance was balanced by another stellar effort from tailback Emmett Johnson, who carried 28 times for 129 yards and a score. It marked the third straight game and sixth contest overall in which Johnson has topped 100 yards this season. He now ranks fifth nationally in rushing (1,131 yards) and is tied for 11th in rushing touchdowns (11). Rhule’s team is now within striking distance of its first nine-win season since 2016. 

Result: 13-10 road loss to Wisconsin 

In a week when head coach Jedd Fisch’s name was widely circulated in connection with various job openings, the Huskies turned in their worst performance of the season to officially bow out of the College Football Playoff race. The weather in Madison, Wisconsin, certainly favored the home team on an evening when temperatures hovered around freezing and a wintry mix complicated matters in the second half, but that didn’t make Washington’s performance any less dispiriting. 

One of the more explosive offenses in the Big Ten was limited to just 251 total yards and turned the ball over twice against a downtrodden team that entered Saturday’s game riding a six-game losing streak. Dual-threat quarterback Demond Williams Jr., who received some fairly pointed criticism from Fisch in the postgame news conference, was held to his lowest passing output of the season (134 yards) and only averaged 3.2 yards per carry on 19 rushes. Washington failed to score a single point on its final seven possessions — a stretch that included one interception, one lost fumble, one missed field goal, one turnover on downs and three punts.

With forthcoming games against Purdue and UCLA before a difficult season finale against No. 9 Oregon, the Huskies should still claw their way to eight wins. 

The Rest

Result: 38-17 road loss to No. 19 USC

An impressive two-game run featuring back-to-back wins over Penn State (22-21) and Purdue (19-0) in mid-October has now given way to consecutive road defeats against better competition, first on the road at Nebraska (28-21) and then at USC (38-17) on Friday night.

Northwestern went back and forth with the Trojans for much of the first half until its offense stalled for good late in the second quarter. The Wildcats only produced three points across their final seven possessions — one of which ended with a fumble, another with a turnover on downs — and were outgained 482-280 in total yards.

Despite racking up five victories by Oct. 18, it’s possible Northwestern will fail to secure bowl eligibility amid a difficult closing run that includes No. 21 Michigan (neutral), Minnesota (home) and Illinois (away). 

Result: 35-20 home win over Maryland 

Even though quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis tied a career high with four touchdown passes, this game belonged to tailback Antwan Raymond, a budding star for the Scarlet Knights. Raymond carried the ball a staggering 41 times for 240 yards against Maryland — the highest single-game yardage total in the Big Ten this season — and became just the fourth player in the country to reach 1,000 yards overall, joining a group that includes Cam Cook from Jacksonville State (1,179); Emmett Johnson from Nebraska (1,131) and Ahmad Hardy from Missouri (1,046). This is also the first time in school history that Rutgers has enjoyed a 1,000-yard rusher in back-to-back seasons, with Raymond following in the footsteps of Kyle Monangai, a seventh-round pick by the Chicago Bears earlier this year. 

Now, head coach Greg Schiano and Co. must beat either No. 1 Ohio State (away) or Penn State (home) in their final two games to reach bowl eligibility.

Result: 13-10 home win over No. 23 Washington

Persistent questions about the job security of embattled head coach Luke Fickell were officially put to rest Thursday, roughly 48 hours before kickoff against the Huskies, when Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh announced there would be no change ahead of the 2026 season. The vote of confidence in Fickell, whose record since taking over the program is 16-19 overall and 9-15 in the Big Ten, was rewarded with an inspired defensive effort to upend Washington, which entered the game still clinging to the possibility of reaching the College Football Playoff.

Fickell’s group limited star quarterback Demond Williams Jr. to 134 passing yards and 61 rushing yards, stymieing the Huskies 13 times on third and fourth down combined. The Badgers held Washington scoreless in the second half to win despite only producing 48 passing yards themselves, exactly half of which came on a fake punt. 

Result: 28-21 home loss to Nebraska

The Bruins have officially regressed to the mean following a heartwarming three-game winning streak in October that, for a moment, transformed UCLA into one of the best stories in college football. Since then, however, interim coach Tim Skipper and his team have endured a 50-point road loss to No. 2 Indiana and now a deflating defeat to Nebraska, which lost starting quarterback Dylan Raiola to a season-ending injury earlier this month. UCLA trailed 21-7 at halftime in a callback to the slow starts that plagued now-fired coach DeShaun Foster, and they failed to pull within a single score until the waning minutes of the fourth quarter. Things won’t get any easier for Skipper’s crew this week when the Bruins travel to No. 1 Ohio State. 

Result: 27-24 home loss to No. 2 Indiana

Moral victories certainly don’t count for much in college football, but given everything the Nittany Lions have endured this season, they deserve credit for erasing a 13-point deficit against Indiana to take the lead with 6:27 remaining, at which point a pass from Penn State quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer found tailback Nicholas Singleton for a 19-yard touchdown. But a Penn State defense that has underachieved all season — even with the high-priced hiring of coordinator Jim Knowles, formerly of Ohio State — flopped with the game on the line. Knowles’ group allowed a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive in 75 seconds as Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza picked the Nittany Lions’ secondary apart with one big completion after another. This is the program’s first six-game losing streak since 2004. 

Result: 35-20 road loss to Rutgers

The Terrapins continue to find ways to lose conference games under head coach Mike Locksley, whose Big Ten record sunk to 17-45 since taking over the program in 2015. This time, Maryland fell by multiple scores despite winning the turnover battle and rushing for 305 yards on just 29 carries. But Locksley’s defense surrendered 485 yards of total offense and allowed Rutgers to convert eight times in 12 attempts on third down, all of which helped facilitate nearly a 10-minute advantage in time of possession for the Scarlet Knights. 

After beginning the season 4-0, the Terrapins must win two of their final three games against Illinois (away), Michigan (home) and Michigan State (home) to reach bowl eligibility.  

Result: Idle

At this point, the Spartans seem to be inching their way toward an inevitable divorce from head coach Jonathan Smith, whose record is now 8-13 overall and 3-12 in conference play since taking over the program following a successful stint at Oregon State. Smith’s team will come out of the bye having lost six straight games, including five by double digits, after capitulating at Minnesota in what ended as an overtime defeat. Perhaps the only glimmer of hope for Michigan State was the impressive debut by redshirt freshman quarterback Alessio Milivojevic, who completed 20 of 28 passes for 311 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions in place of Aidan Chiles. 

The Spartans will host Penn State on Saturday before closing the season against Iowa (away) and Maryland (home/Ford Field). 

Result: 34-10 home loss to No. 1 Ohio State 

Another week, another lopsided loss for Purdue. And while it’s true that the Boilermakers led 3-0 after the first quarter — sending momentary shockwaves through the Ohio State fan base — head coach Barry Odom’s team finished with just 94 passing yards and 92 rushing yards in another offensively challenged outing. Purdue was outgained 473-186 in total yards and only kept the ball for 19 minutes. 

With two remaining games against ranked opponents, the Boilermakers are careening toward a second consecutive winless season in the Big Ten.  

Michael Cohen covers college football and college basketball for FOX Sports. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13.

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