1. Wisconsin
Wisconsin stayed on track to get to the Rose Bowl Saturday, taking care of business in the Big House by beating Michigan 48-28. After being gouged by Illinois’ Mikel Leshoure Saturday, Northwestern must be quaking at the idea of facing Wisconsin’s run game next weekend looking for Big Ten championship glory. Backup running backs Montee Ball and James White combined for 354 yards rushing against Michigan, while the possibility of John Clay’s return from injury really makes Saturday’s regular season finale a frightening prospect. Badger nation should be feeling pretty rosy right now.
2. Ohio State
The Buckeyes pulled a Northwestern in Iowa City this weekend, taking down the Hawkeyes with a Dan Herron touchdown in the final two minutes of play. The loss would have been a crushing blow for the Buckeyes’ BCS bowl hopes, as Michigan State and Wisconsin both stayed at 1-loss as well. Instead, the Buckeyes made it past the Hawkeyes alive on the strength of one of the Big Ten’s strongest defenses (only 276 total yards allowed) and the clutch play of quarterback Terrelle Pryor. The Buckeyes need to beat archrival Michigan next Saturday to clinch at least a share of the Big Ten title.
3. Michigan State
Michigan State came very close to making the Big Ten a two-team race, but the Spartans stayed in the hunt Saturday thanks to the gutty play of quarterback Kirk Cousins. Down 11 points against Purdue in the fourth quarter, the Spartans came roaring back on two Cousins touchdowns (one in the air, one on the ground) and a blocked punt. The Spartans can’t quite rest easy yet: Of the three teams at the top of the conference, they have the toughest final test, playing Penn State in Happy Valley.
4. Penn State
Coming off a rough fourth quarter collapse against Ohio State last weekend, Penn State desperately needed a quality win against Indiana to resuscitate their 2010 campaign once again. What they got was a 41-24 win against Indiana, a solid if unspectacular defeat of a program in free-fall, in front of a neutral crowd in Maryland. Sophomore quarterback Matt McGloin had a terrific game, completing 22 of his 31 passes for 315 yards and two touchdowns. The Nittany Lions have their work cut out for them next week hosting Michigan State to end the season.
5. Illinois
What a difference a week makes! The Fighting Illini made a real jump with their huge win over Northwestern Saturday at Wrigley Field. By notching their sixth win they snagged bowl eligibility, and they did so in style, on the strength of 519 yards rushing. It’s been a season of ups and downs for the Illini, having beaten up Penn State and playing Ohio State close before losing to Minnesota and Michigan, yet with the season ending against Fresno State next week, it sure looks like they’ll be finishing on a high note.
6. Iowa
The Hawkeyes played three-and-a-half terrific quarters of football against Ohio State, but for the second week in a row they simply couldn’t finish, choking away a late lead against the No. 9 team in the country. Freshman running back Marcus Coker emerged as a bright spot, running for 70 yards on 9 carries, but otherwise the Iowa offense was rather unimpressive. The defense did well to hold OSU to 353 yards of total offense, but ultimately the late collapse will make it hard for Iowa fans to have any sort of good feelings come out of this season.
7. Michigan
The Wolverines ran into the best team in the conference Saturday, and bear the bruises to prove it. Michigan lost 48-28 at home against Wisconsin, but considering the Badgers’ 83-20 dismantling of Indiana a week prior, the 48 points allowed could almost be considered a win for the Wolverines. Almost.
The bigger issue in Ann Arbor, however, was the offense’s inability to score in the first half. The Wolverines were down 24-0 at the half, a fairly insurmountable margin for any team, much less a team that seems pathologically unable to make a defensive stop. Denard Robinson finally found room to run (and throw) in the second half; he ended the day with 239 yards passing and 121 yards rushing with two touchdowns. Despite the nice game from Robinson, Michigan continued to demonstrate they have not yet returned to the ranks of the conference’s elite.
8. Purdue
Despite all the injuries and all misfortune, Purdue once again played its heart out Saturday, falling late in East Lansing after holding a 15-point lead over the No. 12 Spartans. It was a brutal loss for the Boilermakers, who have already endured their share this year. They held Michigan State’s potent rushing attack to just 95 total yards, a major coup and played three quarters of complete football. The Boilermakers won’t reach a bowl game this winter, but at the very least they are finishing the season with pride intact.
9. Northwestern
The “Dan Persa for 2010 Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year campaign” really benefited from Saturday’s loss to the Illini. The offensive line’s inability to protect Persa’s replacement, redshirt freshman Evan Watkins, as well as Watkins’ own poor decision making, exposed just how much work Persa had done on his own in carrying the Wildcat offense. Unfortunately the defense was even worse than the anemic offense, even with all its starters healthy, giving up the aforementioned 519 yards rushing to a pretty one-sided Illinois offense. The Wildcats as it stands now look pretty much Texas-bound for their bowl game, with a loss at Wisconsin next Saturday seeming like a safe bet. Persa can’t heal quickly enough.
10. Minnesota
Minnesota picked up a big win in their bye week: Their Week 11 win over Illinois became significantly more impressive with the Illini’s dominant victory over Northwestern on Saturday. Unfortunately, the Gophers don’t have any bowl game suitors to impress this year (their two total wins fall well short of bowl eligibility), but at the very least they can point to a quality win when their season ends next week. First, though, they will host Iowa in what should be a harrowing experience for Minnesota: The Hawkeyes, coming off two bad collapses in their last two games, will be looking for a big win to release their frustration.
11. Indiana
After an embarrassing 83-20 loss against Wisconsin in Week 11, the Hoosiers could feel certain that there was nowhere to go but up. They were correct, in a sense, only losing by 17 to Penn State. Unfortunately that wasn’t enough to pull them out of the power rankings cellar. It was a solid showing for the Hoosiers, really — they were robbed of a home game by playing at the neutral FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland (home of the Washington Redskins), but 41 points surrendered to an average offense like Penn State’s was really nothing to write home about. The Hoosiers needed a win to maintain their pipe dream of bowl eligibility, and they failed in that endeavor. Instead, they are officially out of the postseason, and head coach Bill Lynch is probably out of a job.