Big Ten football power rankings, Week 14: Michigan reigns as king

Wisconsin seemed to play an ultra-conservative game against Minnesota and ended up losing 23-16, their second straight loss to their bitter rival. With Graham Mertz sidelined late in the game due to injury, backup Chase Wolf drove the Badgers into position to tie the game. They had a first and a goal from the Gophers five yard line. Four penalties set the Badgers back and a last-gasp heave from Wolf on a 4th and goal from the 25 fell incomplete in the end zone.

Now the surprise news this past Sunday was the Badgers deciding not to stick with interim coach Jim Leonhard, instead hiring Luke Fickell to take over the program. A 6-6 finish is certainly disappointing for Wisconsin, but Fickell should make it an interesting offseason as he attempts to turn around what has been a solid program until this year.

Iowa had a great opportunity after winning four in a row to make it five and head back to Indianapolis in back-to-back seasons. Instead, the Hawkeyes blew it in their loss to Nebraska.

As it was all season, the Hawkeye offense was bad. Alex Padilla came in after Spencer Petras was hurt in the first quarter, although Petras was ineffective to that point anyway. Padilla did lead Hawkeye scoring drives once they were down four scores but ultimately it was too late and the comeback fell short.

Now Padilla has announced he will enter the transfer portal. The Hawkeyes still have a bowl game to play, but Kirk Ferentz needs to do something to fix this putrid offense in the offseason. The defense deserves so much better than playing with this offense.

Illinois had fewer yards and first downs than Northwestern and it still did not matter. Safety Sydney Brown returned a fumble and interception for scores in a 41-3 rout of the Wildcats. Northwestern could not get out of their own way, turning over the ball six times.

By losing three games down the stretch, the Illini effectively took themselves out of the Big Ten West division. But the season was an improvement over last year’s 5-7 record. The Illini now wait for their bowl fate and it could be a nice January 2nd destination. This team is improving under Bret Bielema as they even were in the CFP rankings at one point this season. They should be formidable again next season.