Big Ten Football Power Rankings 2017: Week 9 edition

Illinois came close but again fell short. This time they took the loss at Minnesota and the Illini are still winless in Big Ten play.

Surprisingly, quarterback Jeff George had a decent game. He was accurate throwing only five incompletions out of 23 passes thrown and he also threw a touchdown pass. The problem is he only threw for 128 yards. The Illini lack playmakers and do not pose a threat for completing big plays. They are pretty woeful but they are one of the youngest teams in college football. They have 14 true freshman starters. Only time will tell if this early playing time will payoff down the line, but it is certainly not looking good this year.

Illinois can certainly forget earning a bowl bid. Their hope is to just keep improving and getting a conference win. It will not happen this upcoming Saturday when they host Wisconsin.

Nebraska was on a bye week. Hopefully they had a chance to get some rest and attempt to fix some of their woes on both sides of the ball. They play at Purdue this upcoming Saturday.

Can’t believe I’m saying this, but Rutgers has pulled off two Big Ten wins in a row. First time the Scarlet Knights have accomplished the feat since joining the conference in 2014.

Rutgers was out-gained by Purdue badly, only posting 217 yards while giving up 474. However it was bend but not break for the Rutgers defense. They only gave up two field goals until Purdue finally got in the end zone with less than 30 seconds to play in the fourth quarter. The Scarlet Knights stood tall on the two-point conversion attempt and preserved the victory.

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It is a big deal for Rutgers to get two conference wins when they went winless in the Big Ten last season. Next they face a tall order in traveling to Ann Arbor where the Wolverines will probably be angry after their loss.