Big Ten football power rankings Week 6: The West division is wide open

Purdue pulled the Lee Corso not so fast, my friend with Minnesota. The Boilermakers won in a not-so-Boilermaker fashion with a run game and solid defense.

After a slow start to the season, Purdue looks to throw its hat into the wide-open West division race. They have another tough road contest this Saturday against Maryland.

Illinois marched into Madison and walked away with a 24-point victory. A nice homecoming for head coach Bret Bielema.

Chase Brown had a nice afternoon running the ball with 129 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Tommy Devito scored three touchdowns on the ground as well as completing 75 percent of his passes. The defense shut down the run game, holding the Badgers to just two yards.

Illinois is another Big Ten West team to keep an eye on. Bielema has the program moving in the right direction. Up next is a home game against the Hawkeyes.

It was not pretty but Penn State defeated Northwestern at home 17-7 in a rain-soaked Beaver Stadium. With the offense turning over the ball five times, four of them fumbles by Nittany Lion running backs, the defense stepped up. On Northwestern drives directly following the turnovers, Penn State allowed the Wildcats 8 yards and zero points. The offense owes the defense a nice steak dinner after the performance.

The weather most certainly did not help, but Penn State absolutely needs to get those turnovers cleaned up before they head into the meat of their schedule. A better opponent would have scored points on those gifts. Good thing they have an off week before heading to Ann Arbor in two weeks for what looks to be a top 10 showdown in the Big House.