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Believe it or not, we are about midway through the 2026 college football regular season, and we are starting to see clear separation among teams in the Big Ten. Some teams we thought would be there, like Oregon and, ahem, Michigan, have stumbled, while surprises abound with teams like UCLA and Northwestern -- at least so far.
At this point, Ohio State and UCLA are the lone undefeated teams in the conference, but we can't count out teams like defending College Football Playoff champion Indiana and Iowa, who only have one loss overall this year, both by the Buckeyes.
It's our weekly Big Ten football power rankings, and what we think we know now will likely change drastically as teams figure out their identities and improve, or give up on the season (yes, it does happen).
Here's a look at our Week 7 Big Ten football power rankings. We start from No. 18 and make our way down to No. 1.
The hope and belief was that Maryland could get its first conference win hosting a Big Ten winless Rutgers squad, but that didn't happen, and now head coach Mike Locksley has been sent packing. Will this team give up for the rest of the season, or will the firing of its head coach provide a spark towards improvement? There's an off week ahead to try and regroup.
The Scarlet Knights have been playing better, and that was finally rewarded with their first Big Ten win of the season at Maryland. It's still going to be an uphill climb to win enough games to get to a bowl game, but you have to start somewhere, right?
Michigan State has been competitive, but it just can't finish games. There have been a multitude of injuries, and you get the feeling Pat Fitzgerald's team will continue to get better. Unfortunately, the schedule isn't very kind from here on out, so we may not see a win for a bit, starting with a game in the Rose Bowl against an undefeated UCLA squad next week.
The Illini have also been hit hard by the injury bug, and had a week to rest. A win against Oregon would go a long way toward thinking this team could do enough to make it to a bowl game, but that, and many other games coming up, will be challenging to say the least.
Purdue has two more wins in the Big Ten than it's had over the last two years (two) but came back down to Earth a little in a loss at home to Washington. Will the off week give the Boilers the chance to go regroup and come out to find another win or two this year?
You could make a case for dropping Penn State lower than this, but at least the Nittany Lions have been very competitive, losing the last two games in hard luck fashion. The Matt Campbell era has not gotten off to a great start, and the goal at this point might be to just get bowl-eligible.
That was more like it for Washington. The offense has been sputtering and grinding, but it found a little magic against a Purdue team that was playing pretty well, and did it on the road. The Huskies have a tough schedule through the back half, but if the offense continues to fire as it did, they could have a say in knocking off one of the contenders.
The Wolverines finally benched quarterback Bryce Underwood and got a spark from CJ Carr at quarterback, all the way to a pretty important win to build momentum the rest of the way. The defense has been great, but the offense looks like it should be playing on black and white television. Can Carr continue to lift that side of the ball? It's going to be pretty hard against a really good Indiana defense next week, but that's going to be a fun one to watch.
Minnesota has looked really good at times (against Michigan), and then head-scratching at others (at Purdue). The Gophers now get a chance to set things right with the battle for Floyd of Rosedale against Iowa, but the offense will have to play much better against a really solid Iowa defense (what else is new).
Okay, I know it was a loss, but we're now sold on this Wisconsin team being much better than last year, with a chance to make a decent bowl game. A big opportunity knocks with USC coming to Camp Randall and a shot at grabbing some momentum to finish out the back half of the season.
We never know what we are going to get from Northwestern on a year-to-year and even game-to-game basis, and so far we've seen an unexpected and surprisingly good Wildcats squad that is solid but not great in a lot of areas. Northwestern can't afford a letdown game against Rutgers this week if it wants to remain in the hunt for some goals many didn't have on the board to start the year.
We're still not sure what to think of this USC team. Yeah, there's only one loss, but the defense has been far from championship caliber many times this season, so we can't elevate the Trojans much higher than this until we feel better about that side of the ball. It's a sneaky, sneaky game at Wisconsin this week to try and stay in the mix near the top of the Big Ten.
Matt Rhule's team is probably the best he's had in Lincoln. The defense has played great, and if he could just squeeze a little more out of the offense in big games, Nebraska could be undefeated right now. The 'Huskers are a bit snakebitten, having lost their two games by a combined six points, but can still make some noise down the stretch.
It feels like Oregon has had a letdown this year with all the hype entering the season, and losing starting quarterback Dante Moore hasn't helped, but after beating Nebraska, the Ducks have just one conference loss with a shot at Ohio State in a few weeks and a lighter back half of the schedule. Don't count Oregon out just yet because this is still a very talented roster.
Iowa has been able to win some close games this year to remain at the top of the Big Ten, and the schedule isn't all that daunting the rest of the way out. If the Hawkeyes can stay away from that inexplicable loss we've seen almost every year, there's not only a chance to get to Indy but also to get to the College Football Playoff. The game at Minnesota won't be easy, especially if the good Gopher squad shows up.
The Bruins just keep getting it done and are the only undefeated team left in the Big Ten after a win against Wisconsin. The win vs. Oregon really opened up some eyes, and UCLA could be undefeated heading into the last two games of the season at Michigan and against USC. It's time to start talking about this team being a legitimate threat to get into the College Football Playoff, but is it really as good as Indiana and Ohio State?
Indiana could still be undefeated if not for a few inches of white. The Hoosiers played well enough to beat Ohio State at home, but made some uncharacteristic mistakes and mental errors against a really good Buckeye squad, which had something to do with it. The offense still needs to get better if this team expects to be there at the end, but the defense is going to travel anywhere.
It was a big win on the road against an Indiana team that had won 22 straight, but now head coach Ryan Day and staff have to figure out how to keep this team on the winning track with the loss of starting quarterback Julian Sayin. There's enough talent on this team to still win against anyone, but can Luke Fahey and/or Tavien St. Clair do enough to make this team still a national title contender? There's an off week to figure it out, and the entire college football world will be watching.
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