Big Ten football power rankings, Week 7: Purdue chugging along

Bret Bielema and his Illinois team out-Iowa’d Iowa with a 9-6 victory over the Hawkeyes. Nothing was pretty about it but a win is a win.

The Illini turned over the ball three times but the defense stepped up each time. Of course it helps when you are playing an inept offense like Iowa.

Illinois drops a spot here just because of their less-than-stellar victory. But not all wins are pretty and Illinois finds itself in the Big Ten West division race. They can take control of it with a win against Minnesota next Saturday.

Purdue outlasted Maryland by two points, keeping their place among the top teams in the Big Ten West division. Quarterback Aidan O’Connell had a big day, throwing for 360 yards and two scores.

Purdue may have been aided by Maryland penalties but did themselves no favors by turning over the ball three times. Still, the Boilermakers did just enough offensively to gain a victory.

With back-to-back road victories, Purdue has looked impressive the last two weeks. They are very much alive in the division chase as we get to mid-October. The Boilermakers return home next Saturday to host Nebraska.

Penn State had a much-needed bye week to prepare for the latter half of their schedule. It is about to get real for these Nittany Lions as they travel to Michigan and then face Minnesota and Ohio State in three straight weeks. We will know how good this team is at the end of the month.