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

Minnesota defeated Wisconsin to retain Paul Bunyan’s Axe. It is the first time they have won consecutive games against the Badgers since 1993 and 1994.

The Gophers now await their bowl fate after an eight-win season. While the Gophers entered the season with expectations of competing for a Big Ten West title, a three-game losing streak in October nearly killed those hopes. They hung on mathematically until their loss to Iowa last week.

Overall not a terrible year for PJ Fleck’s sixth season. The Gophers are really going to miss Mo Ibrahim after this season and those will be big shoes to fill moving forward.

Due to Iowa’s loss on Friday against Nebraska, Purdue entered Saturday’s game against Indiana knowing they needed a win to punch their ticket to Indianapolis. The Boilermakers were down 7-3 at halftime but outscored the Hoosiers 27-9 the rest of the way to win their first-ever Big Ten West division championship.

Now the Boilermakers will face Michigan for the Big Ten title. They will be heavy underdogs but Purdue has a history of playing spoiler. They have nothing to lose.

Overall it was a solid season for Purdue. It did not start great and there was trouble in the middle of the year as well, but the Boilermakers finished strong.

Penn State defeated Michigan State 35-16 in their regular season finale to complete a 10-win season. After the last two seasons of a combined 11-11, Nittany Lion fans have to be feeling good this year.

Sure they got smacked in Ann Arbor and blew a fourth-quarter lead at home against Ohio State. The Nittany Lions ended the season with no signature wins. Despite it, this team has some real talent and is looking to conclude the season with a New Year’s Six Bowl game.

The future is bright with the running back duo of Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen plus former five-star quarterback Drew Allar ready to take the reigns from Sean Clifford next season. This team should be fun to watch next year.