Ohio State Football: Buckeyes lead B1G power rankings after Week 3

LINCOLN, NE - OCTOBER 14: Head coach Urban Meyer of the Ohio State Buckeyes before the game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Memorial Stadium on October 14, 2017 in Lincoln, Nebraska. (Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)
LINCOLN, NE - OCTOBER 14: Head coach Urban Meyer of the Ohio State Buckeyes before the game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Memorial Stadium on October 14, 2017 in Lincoln, Nebraska. (Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images) /
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The Ohio State football team continues to roll but the same can’t be said for the Big Ten as a whole. The conference underachieved in Week 3 once again.

For about 35 minutes, it looked like the Big Ten’s day was about to get much worse.  However, the Ohio State football team used a 20-point barrage in the third quarter to secure the win over TCU saving the conference from further embarrassment.

The Buckeyes leave Texas 3-0 and Urban Meyer is now back with the team fulltime.

What we learned in the win is the Buckeyes have several areas to fix if it has any aspirations of competing for national title.

The linebackers are still getting burned, Michael Jordan needs to improve his snap accuracy and the secondary seems to get lost covering deep throws.

I think Jordan and the secondary will get their issues fixed.  I am concerned about the linebackers.  This has been a two-year problem that was exposed in another big game.

We also learned yesterday the Big Ten continues to falter when it is over-hyped.

What happened to part of the Big Ten yesterday was humiliating.

Where to begin?

I thought Wisconsin would lose a couple of games this year because the Badgers away schedule is challenging.  I did not see them losing to BYU.

I never thought the Badgers were a serious playoff contender so I don’t see this loss as anything more than a stain on the Big Ten’s overall strength.

Kansas was the doormat of the FBS the past few years.  After beating Rutgers 55-14, the Jayhawks officially passed the baton off to the Scarlet Knights.

Year three for Chris Ash looks like it will a long one because his team quit on him.

The Scott Frost era is not getting off to the start Cornhuskers’ fans hoped it would.  Troy is a decent team, but we can’t forget that it was beat by Boise State 56-20 two weeks ago.

Nebraska’s woes will continue next week when it travels to Michigan.  An 0-3 start won’t mean anything in the long-term, but it does reflect the amount of work Frost has before his team will be competitive again.

Northwestern’s season went into Lake Michigan with a 39-34 loss to Akron. I thought the Wildcats would compete for the West Division.  Apparently, they can’t even compete for the MAC East.

The Terps’ promising season took a significant hit with the 35-14 loss to Temple.  Their offense was completely shut down by an Owls’ defense that was shredded in losses to Villanova and Buffalo.

Maryland’s ceiling was probably seven wins.  The Terps will be lucky to get to five now.

The Illinois loss to South Florida and Purdue’s to Missouri were understandable, but at the end of the day they are still losses.  Neither team is any good and that’s a black eye for the conference.

The good news is Iowa, Michigan, Penn State, Minnesota and Indiana all won decisively. Granted the competition was weak so we can only say they did what was expected.

It is way too early to tell if these losses will haunt the Big Ten champion on playoff selection Sunday.  I do think they will be a factor, especially if the champion has one loss.

More from Ohio State Football

After three weeks, here is how I rank the Big Ten

  • 1) Ohio State
  • 2) Penn State
  • 3) Iowa
  • 4) Michigan
  • 5) Wisconsin
  • 6) Michigan State
  • 7) Minnesota
  • 8) Indiana
  • 9) Maryland
  • 10) Nebraska
  • 11) Northwestern
  • 12( Illinois
  • 13) Purdue
  • 12) Rutgers

Next. Unit grades by quarter for OSU vs. TCU. dark

Unfortunately for the Big Ten, only a few teams have performed well so far this season. That certainly won’t aid the conference champion in making the College Football Playoff, especially if they suffer a loss along the way..