The Big Ten’s three best teams all won comfortably over the weekend in a slate of games that quickly began to revolve around the league’s second tier of College Football Playoff hopefuls.
USC found itself trailing by double digits at home to Iowa in monsoon rain before rallying for a gritty victory that kept their postseason dreams alive. And Michigan turned the ball over five times against Northwestern at Wrigley Field but still conjured an escape on a last-ditch field goal as time expired. For now, at least, the conference can continue to dream of sending four teams to the playoff.
Here’s our latest batch of Big Ten Power Rankings following Week 12:
The Top 10
Result: 48-10 home win over UCLA
Injuries to star wide receivers Carnell Tate, who did not play, and Jeremiah Smith, who entered the game listed as questionable on the injury report and only saw limited action, hardly seemed to bother the Buckeyes during another comprehensive victory in which all three phases made significant contributions.
With the passing game somewhat muted, Ohio State leaned on its rushing attack for 222 yards and four touchdowns on 33 carries, as true freshman tailback Bo Jackson notched his fourth 100-yard effort this season. He was one of three running backs to reach the end zone on Saturday alongside Isaiah West (eight carries, 61 yards, one TD) and James Peoples (six carries, 42 yards, two TDs).
A stingy Ohio State defense kept the Bruins off the scoreboard until there were just :17 remaining in the third quarter, by which time the Buckeyes had built a 34-point lead. Defensive coordinator Matt Patricia’s group limited UCLA to 2.7 yards per carry and frustrated sophomore quarterback Luke Duncan, who started in place of the injured Nico Iamaleava (concussion). The coup de grâce came in the final seconds of the third quarter when defensive back Lorenzo Styles Jr. returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown, the Buckeyes’ first return of that length since Ted Ginn against Minnesota in 2005.
Ohio State will host Rutgers on Saturday (noon ET on FOX) before traveling to No. 18 Michigan for the regular-season finale.
Result: 31-7 home win over Wisconsin
The 37-yard field goal by kicker Nico Radicic with :55 remaining in the second quarter gave Indiana a slim 10-7 lead at halftime before the Hoosiers roared to life.
Another week without star wideout Elijah Sarratt (hamstring) proved easy to overcome for quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who completed 22 of 24 passes for 299 yards and four touchdowns. It marked the fifth time that Mendoza, who transferred from Cal, has tossed at least four scores in a single game this season, with Saturday’s effort allowing him to break the single-season school record held by last year’s quarterback Kurtis Rourke (29).
Once again, wideout Charlie Becker stepped forward with a second consecutive 100-yard outing in place of Sarratt, who has only caught two passes for 6 yards since Oct. 18 due to nagging injury issues. Becker, meanwhile, has now made 12 receptions for 226 yards and a touchdown the last two weeks against Penn State and Wisconsin, flashing the depth of talent that not many people knew the Hoosiers possessed.
Indiana’s defense, which is coordinated by rising star Bryant Haines, stymied the Badgers all afternoon by forcing two turnovers and only allowing 168 yards of total offense.
Sitting at 11-0 for the first time in school history, Cignetti’s team will now enjoy a bye week before the regular-season finale against in-state rival Purdue.
Result: 42-13 home win over Minnesota
This was an impressive bounce-back performance from Oregon quarterback Dante Moore, whose sizzling start to the season had cooled considerably with subpar outings against then-No. 7 Indiana, Wisconsin and then-No. 20 Iowa in three of his last four games. Moore completed 27 of 30 passes for a career-high 306 yards and two touchdowns on Friday night in what was unquestionably his finest collegiate effort. His 90% completion rate established a new single-game record for the Ducks.
Moore welcomed the healthy return of standout tight end Kenyon Sadiq, who’d missed most of the last two games due to injury, with the pair connecting eight times for 96 yards and a score against the Gophers. A predictably balanced Oregon attack also churned out 179 rushing yards and four scores as the Ducks outgained Minnesota by a staggering 310 yards of total offense, converting 66% of the time on third down along the way.
Clear weather conditions at Autzen Stadium offered a welcome reprieve for head coach Dan Lanning’s team, whose last two games against Iowa (road) and Wisconsin (home) were played in hideous environments that muffled the Ducks’ aerial attack.
A closing stretch against No. 16 USC and Washington won’t be easy over the next two weeks, but with just a single loss thus far, Oregon controls its own destiny to reach the College Football Playoff for a second consecutive season.
Result: 26-21 home win over No. 21 Iowa
USC’s path toward the College Football Playoff felt like it was close to evaporating on Saturday afternoon when Iowa executed a beautiful trick play that gave the visitors a 14-point lead late in the second quarter, with rain pouring down at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. But the Trojans responded by tacking on a field goal just before halftime and then scoring 16 points on their first three possessions of the second half to surge in front for good, extending their postseason chances for at least another week.
Despite the difficult weather conditions, Trojans quarterback Jayden Maiava navigated his first interception-free performance since beating Michigan State on Sept. 20, completing 23 of 32 passes for 254 yards and a touchdown. Most of that production was facilitated by USC star wide receiver Makai Lemon, whose 153 yards and a touchdown on 10 receptions represented 42.5% of the Trojans’ total yardage. It marked the second consecutive week in which Lemon recorded double-digit receptions after snagging 11 against Northwestern, and he now ranks third nationally in receiving yards with 1,090 behind only Danny Scudero of San Jose State (1,155) and Skyler Bell of UConn (1,153). Head coach Lincoln Riley and his team will now prepare for a seismic matchup at No. 6 Oregon on Saturday that will likely shape the playoff outlook for both teams.
Result: 24-22 road win over Northwestern
Survive and advance. That’s what Saturday’s game result boiled down to for Michigan on an afternoon when head coach Sherrone Moore’s group was sloppy, disorganized and undisciplined but still emerged unscathed. The Wolverines became just the second team in the last five years to finish minus-5 in turnover margin and still win the game, a distinction that had only belonged to 2024 SMU (minus-6 vs. Duke) prior to the comedy of errors at Wrigley Field.
There were two head-scratching interceptions thrown by quarterback Bryce Underwood and a fumble by wide receiver Andrew Marsh on an end around that was doomed from the start. There was a fumbled punt return by wideout Semaj Morgan and a botched handoff between Underwood and reserve running back Bryson Kuzdzal, the replacement for injured starter Jordan Marshall (19 carries, 142 yards, 2 TDs), who was already replacing former Alabama transfer Justice Haynes (foot surgery). Even kicker Dominic Zvada, a first-team All-American last season, missed two attempts before composing himself enough to drill the game winner as time expired. Almost nothing about the Wolverines’ performance was acceptable or aesthetically pleasing, especially considering the unseasonably warm temperatures, other than the players’ unrelenting effort in the fourth quarter.
Moore and his staff have plenty to clean up before traveling to Maryland next week and hosting No. 1 Ohio State in the regular season finale.
Result: 24-6 home win over Maryland
Although the level of competition wasn’t particularly potent — Maryland entered the weekend on a five-game losing streak — the Illinois defense strung together its second consecutive strong showing after a brutal stretch in which the Illini surrendered an average of 39.6 points per game against Indiana, USC, Purdue, Ohio State and Washington, three of which ended in losses. Defensive coordinator Aaron Henry’s group limited the Terrapins to just 55 rushing yards on 18 attempts (3.3 yards per carry) and stopped them 11 of 14 times on third and fourth down combined. The only points Maryland managed came on a pair of field goals by kicker Sean O’Haire in the opening half.
Illinois leaned on a three-headed rushing attack that included tailbacks Kaden Feagin (14 carries, 81 yards, one TD) and Ca’Lil Valentine (20 carries, 64 yards) in addition to quarterback Luke Altmyer (11 carries, 62 yards), outgaining the Terrapins by 170 yards on the ground. Such a disparity in rushing efficiency prompted head coach Bret Bielema to praise his offensive line during the postgame news conference as the Illini finished with an advantage of more than 11 minutes in time of possession.
With remaining games against Wisconsin (away) and Northwestern (home), both of which are winnable, Illinois is within striking distance of its second consecutive nine-win season, something the program has never accomplished.
Result: 26-21 road loss to No. 17 USC
What a difference two weeks can make. The Hawkeyes entered their Nov. 8 matchup against then-No. 9 Oregon with a 6-2 overall record and a 4-1 mark in conference play, still alive in this year’s race for the College Football Playoff. But head coach Kirk Ferentz and his team failed to protect a late fourth-quarter lead over the Ducks in an eventual 18-16 loss and then squandered an 11-point halftime edge over the Trojans on Saturday to see the arc of their season harshly flattened.
Iowa’s four losses this season — to Iowa State, Indiana, Oregon and USC, four teams with a combined record of 34-7 — have come by just 13 total points. That’s how thin the margins are in a sport that is experiencing more and more parity each season. The Hawkeyes only had four possessions in the second half against USC as heavy rains flooded the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and just one of those drives gained more than 25 yards. None of them netted points. And while Ferentz’s team only turned the ball over once on an interception by quarterback Mark Gronowski late in the third quarter, an inability to convert on fourth down in the waning moments of the fourth resulted in another costly change of possession.
Iowa can still reach eight wins by beating Michigan State (home) and Nebraska (away) in its next two games, but any shot at the playoff has vanished.
Result: Idle
The outlook for Nebraska’s season seemed rather bleak once the Cornhuskers suffered their third conference loss at home to then-No. 23 USC on Nov. 1. Not only did that defeat eliminate head coach Matt Rhule’s team from the College Football Playoff race, but starting quarterback Dylan Raiola suffered a broken leg that will sideline him for the remainder of the year. And yet, a few weeks later, following a gutsy road win over UCLA behind true freshman signal-caller TJ Lateef and a bye that gave the coaching staff more time to retool the offense sans Raiola, the Cornhuskers are in a decent spot with two games remaining. They’ll travel to Penn State this weekend before hosting Iowa in the season finale, closing in on the program’s first nine-win campaign since 2016.
Result: 49-13 home win over Purdue
Washington saw its goal of reaching the College Football Playoff squashed two weeks ago in a stunning loss at Wisconsin, saddling the Huskies with a third conference defeat at a time when head coach Jedd Fisch was reportedly interested in other jobs, primarily for family reasons. But Fisch rebuked those rumors at a news conference early last week, reaffirming his commitment to Washington given the program’s stockpile of talent and promising future. Then on Saturday, Fisch’s players responded with a thorough deconstruction of Purdue that slashed any narrative about potential distractions.
A fumble and a punt on the Huskies’ opening two possessions gave way to six consecutive touchdowns from the latter stages of the first quarter through the end of the third, by which point the score was 42-3 in home team’s favor. Washington’s offense turned in an extremely balanced effort as quarterback Demond Williams Jr. completed 16 of 19 passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns while the rushing attack gained 212 yards and scored five more times. That the Huskies still erupted for 506 yards of total offense despite playing without starting tailback Jonah Coleman and top receiver Denzel Boston, both of whom were sidelined due to injury, speaks to the depth of talent accumulated by Fisch the last two years.
Washington travels to UCLA this weekend before hosting No. 6 Oregon in a finale the Ducks likely need to win if they want to reach the College Football Playoff.
Result: 42-13 road loss to No. 8 Oregon
The Jekyll-and-Hyde season for Minnesota continued on Friday night when the Gophers were blasted by Oregon in a game that was over after the first quarter. Head coach P.J. Fleck’s team has now lost conference matchups by 39 points to No. 1 Ohio State, by 38 points to Iowa and by 29 points to No. 8 Oregon — all of which were on the road. The Gophers remain unbeaten in Big Ten play at home with wins over Rutgers, Purdue, then-No. 25 Nebraska and Michigan State. For Fleck and Co., the latest defeat represented a defensive implosion in which Minnesota was gashed for 510 yards one week after surrendering 467 yards to the Spartans.
The Gophers couldn’t stop the run (179 yards) or the pass (331 yards), nor could they get Oregon off the field on third down (66% conversion rate). This was also the fifth time in the last seven outings that Minnesota’s rushing attack was held to 100 yards or fewer, sinking to 126th in the country and last in the Big Ten with just 105 yards per game.
Still, manageable games against Northwestern (away) and Wisconsin (home) mean Fleck will have a good chance to reach eight wins for the fifth time since taking over the program in 2017.
The Rest
Result: 24-22 home loss to No. 18 Michigan
Despite earning their fifth victory with a shutout of Purdue in mid-October, the Wildcats still need one more win to reach bowl eligibility after dropping a third straight game. Even though Northwestern was outgained 496-245 in total yards and only converted twice in 12 attempts on third down, head coach David Braun’s team was still in position to steal this game thanks to a stunning plus-five advantage in turnover margin that included two interceptions and three fumble recoveries. But a defense that, at times, made life exceedingly difficult for the Wolverines, allowed an 11-play, 50-yard drive in the final minutes to set up a game-winning, walk-off field goal by Michigan kicker Dominic Zvada. The Wildcats need to beat either Minnesota (home) or Illinois (road) to reach the postseason.
Result: 28-10 road win over Michigan State
Even without fired coach James Franklin and injured quarterback Drew Allar, the version of Penn State that rolled into Spartan Stadium on Saturday was far closer to what most people envisioned when the Nittany Lions were ranked No. 2 in the country to begin the season. Tailback Kaytron Allen carried 25 times for a career-high 181 yards and two scores as Penn State dominated the ball to finish with a 15-minute advantage in time of possession. The Nittany Lions pulled away from Michigan State with back-to-back touchdown drives in the fourth quarter that covered 76 yards and 62 yards, respectively, to snap a six-game losing streak and give interim coach Terry Smith his first victory. If Penn State can beat Nebraska (home) and Rutgers (away) over the next two weeks, the Nittany Lions will still qualify for a bowl game.
Result: Idle
By taking care of business against Maryland on Nov. 8, the Scarlet Knights gave themselves a chance to reach bowl eligibility with two games remaining. But in order to participate in the postseason for a third straight year — something that hasn’t happened at Rutgers since 2012-14 — head coach Greg Schiano and his staff will need to engineer an upset of either No. 1 Ohio State or Penn State. The former might be a lost cause given how well the Buckeyes are playing and how much talent they have, but who’s to say Rutgers can’t stun an underachieving Penn State team that is likely eager for its season to end? Don’t count the Scarlet Knights out just yet.
Result: 31-7 road loss to No. 2 Indiana
Wisconsin’s latest spin on the quarterback roulette wheel landed on true freshman Carter Smith, a former four-star prospect — and one-time Michigan commit — who was the No. 24 quarterback in the country. Smith made a relief appearance two weeks ago in his team’s upset win over then-No. 23 Washington, chipping in 15 carries for 47 yards and a touchdown while also completing three passes for 8 yards. He ran far less frequently, and far less effectively, against the Hoosiers but threw for a career-high 98 yards, though his only touchdown pass was effectively canceled out by an interception. As a team, the Badgers managed just 168 yards of total offense and only cobbled together two drives longer than 11 yards.
Result: 48-10 road loss to No. 1 Ohio State
Few teams, if any, have a legitimate chance of beating the juggernaut Buckeyes this season. Even fewer can muster a potential upset without their starting quarterback, which is exactly what the Bruins tried to do at Ohio Stadium. News broke on Saturday morning that UCLA would be without quarterback Nico Iamaleava after he suffered a concussion in the loss to Nebraska two weeks ago. That left sophomore quarterback Luke Duncan, who didn’t find out Iamaleava was unavailable until roughly 24 hours before kickoff, to make the first start of his career against the No. 1 defense in the country. It went almost exactly how you’d expect: Duncan completed 16 of 23 passes for 154 yards and a touchdown on a night when the Bruins didn’t score until less than a minute remained in the third quarter. UCLA’s losing streak has now stretched to three.
Result: 24-6 road loss to Illinois
Despite losing a sixth consecutive game, embattled head coach Mike Locksley received a bit of good news on Sunday when athletic director Jim Smith published a letter to Maryland fans saying there won’t be a change in leadership ahead of the 2026 campaign. Instead, Smith said Locksley needs “the full support of our department, our university and all of Terp Nation,” which will include an uptick in resources and investment for the football program. Locksley, 55, took Maryland to three consecutive bowl games from 2021-23 but has never finished .500 or better in Big Ten play. His conference record now sits at 17-46 following Saturday’s loss to Illinois.
Result: 28-10 home loss to Penn State
Michigan State only trailed by four points at the end of the third quarter on Saturday before a leaky defense surrendered back-to-back touchdowns that put the game out of reach, capping another unsightly week for the program in which NCAA sanctions stemming from violations that occurred under former coach Mel Tucker and current head coach Jonathan Smith resulted in, among other things, three years of probation and 14 vacated wins. The Spartans, who have lost seven in a row, must beat either No. 21 Iowa (road) or Maryland (home) to avoid their first winless Big Ten campaign since 1958 — though all of Tucker’s conference victories are gone now, too. It’s basketball season in East Lansing.
Result: 49-13 road loss to Washington
Another week, another lopsided loss for first-year head coach Barry Odom, who is staring down the barrel of a winless league slate. The Boilermakers have now lost nine straight games after beginning the season with victories over Ball State and Southern Illinois — two opponents outside the power conferences. Purdue trailed 35-0 early in the third quarter en route to a sixth defeat by double digits and a fourth by 19 points or more. Now, Odom and Co. will have a bye before hosting No. 2 Indiana in what feels like another looming blowout.
Michael Cohen covers college football and college basketball for FOX Sports. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13.
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