Reader, you may be wondering why you should trust yours truly to rank all 13* Big Ten teams in order after #rowtheboat defeated Penn State last week. And you would be correct! Time for the power rankings!

1. Ohio State Buckeyes (at Rutgers, 3:30 on BTN)

Ah, nothing like having another scrimmage, this time against a MAC school, to tune up for the biggest two games of the season. Could the Buckeyes top last week’s 73 points? Possibly!

2. Minnesota (at no. 20 Iowa, 4 p.m. on FOX)

Fresh off a contract extension, P.J. Fleck led #rowtheboat to their biggest win in years. Will they avoid a letdown on the road against a tough Iowa team? *shakes eight ball violently* Doubtful

3. Penn State (vs. Indiana, noon on ABC)

After a disappointing loss last week against Minnesota, the Nittany Lions get a gimme ga–(looks at college football rankings, very confused) a ranked Indiana team with a 7-2 record. This is a critical game for PSU with OSU still looming the following week.

4. Wisconsin (at Nebraska, noon on BTN)

The Scott Frost Nebraska football savior tour is starting up again. Unfortunately for Nebraska, they are bad at football. Badgers roll.

5. Michigan (vs. Michigan State, noon on FOX)

Michigan begins a critical three weeks that will probably determine if Jim Harbaugh is back as coach of the Wolverines. Luckily for him, the Spartans are a mess and have lost four straight.

6. Indiana

For the first time since 1994, the Hoosiers are an AP-ranked football team. That’s not gonna last after Saturday.

7. Iowa

After beating rival Iowa State by a point, Iowa has lost 3 close games to ranked teams for the other key games on their schedule. Expect the Hawkeyes to come through this time against the Gophers.

8. Illinois (Bye)

A much-deserved bye week for Chicago’s Big Ten team.

9. Purdue (Bye)

We’ve got some news for the 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣0️⃣ football season … about 57 feet by 150 feet !

Details ➡️ https://t.co/Xp6AmAAvw8#BoilerUp pic.twitter.com/gPLRQ6aMjJ

— Purdue Athletics (@PurdueSports) November 14, 2019

10. Michigan State

Coach Mark Dantonio got the dreaded vote of confidence *before* the Spartans blew a 21-point fourth quarter lead last week against Illinois. Dantanio is 24-23 since 2015. I think we know where this is headed.

11. Maryland (Bye)

Maryland scored 79 points in their opener against Howard. They gave up 73 last week to OSU. That about sums up the bottom of this conference.

12. Nebraska

If the Huskers win two of their final three games, they will somehow get to six wins this season.

13. Northwestern (vs. UMass, noon on BTN)

One of the worst teams in the Big Ten gets perhaps the worst team in all of college football Saturday. Also this thread:

I don’t want to dunk on the Northwestern J-students, in part because I think we need journalists now more than ever and punching down in his profession is extremely shitty, but I do want to tell a story about why we call people who might not want to be contacted for stories.

— Kevin Van Valkenburg (@KVanValkenburg) November 12, 2019

14. Rutger(s)

Fun Fact: Did you know that Rutger(s) is the state university of New Jersey?