\n Ohio State is back in the top spot in this week\u2019s Big Ten Power Rankings. <\/p>\n
\n\tEntering Week 11, Indiana had been the most dominant team in college football this season, with a r\u00e9sum\u00e9 that includes a pair of high-quality road wins over Oregon and Iowa. The Hoosiers came dangerously close to suffering their first loss of the season, however, as they squandered a 20-7 third-quarter lead to fall behind 24-20 at Penn State before surviving the scare with a game-winning touchdown on a spectacular catch by Omar Cooper Jr.<\/a> with 36 seconds left to play.\n<\/p>\n \n\tOhio State, on the other hand, rolled to its eighth straight win by at least three scores in a 34-10 victory at Purdue<\/a>. The Buckeyes haven\u2019t come close to losing a game this season, and they were far more dominant in a 38-14 win over Penn State<\/a> just two weeks ago than Indiana was this past weekend. As a result, Ohio State reclaims the top spot in my Big Ten Power Rankings for the first time since Indiana\u2019s win over Oregon.\n<\/p>\n \n\tElsewhere in the Big Ten, Oregon solidified itself as the conference\u2019s third-best team by beating Iowa on the road with a game-winning drive of its own. USC kept itself in the College Football Playoff conversation with a 38-17 win over Northwestern, while Washington\u2019s playoff hopes vanished with its loss to Wisconsin. Nebraska bounced back from its Week 10 loss to USC by beating UCLA as a road underdog, while Maryland\u2019s post-September collapse continued with a 35-20 loss at Rutgers.\n<\/p>\n \n\tAll of those results led to upward and downward movement in this week\u2019s Big Ten Power Rankings. The rankings compare the conference\u2019s 18 teams based upon their performance throughout the season, factoring in their overall records, conference records, head-to-head results, strength of schedule and how convincingly they\u2019ve won or lost each game.\n<\/p>\n \tPlayoff Locks<\/p>\n \t1. Ohio State (9-0, 6-0)<\/p>\n \n\tWins: Texas (14-7), Grambling State (70-0), Ohio (37-9), at Washington (24-6), Minnesota (42-3), at Illinois (34-16), at Wisconsin (34-0), Penn State (38-14), at Purdue (34-10) \n\tWhile Ohio State still doesn\u2019t have any individual win that\u2019s as impressive as Indiana\u2019s road win at Oregon, the Buckeyes have done what they\u2019re supposed to do against inferior opponents week in and week out. Their season-opening win against Texas is looking more impressive by the week now that the Longhorns are back in the top 10\u00a0of the CFP rankings, and Ohio State has beaten everyone it\u2019s played by at least 18 points since.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe defending national champion looks like college football\u2019s team to beat once again, and unlike Indiana and Texas A&M \u2013 the only other two remaining unbeaten teams in the FBS this season \u2013 the Buckeyes have won decisively against every unranked opponent they\u2019ve faced.\n<\/p>\n
Losses: None
Last Week: 2
CFP Rank: 1\n<\/p>\n