Big Ten Power Rankings: Indiana at the top in Week 5, as Iowa and UCLA surprise as threats

Week 4 brought the first full weekend of conference play in the Big Ten, which provided some teams with their first real test of the 2026 season. 

While much of the focus was on Oregon's visit to the Coliseum to face USC, where the Ducks emerged with a much-needed win in spite of Dante Moore's first-half concussion, two other teams made significant statements on Saturday. 

The first was UCLA, which improved to 4-0 in Bob Chesney's first season at the helm with a 54-3 beatdown of Maryland that will likely be one of the final nails in Mike Locksley's coffin in College Park. The Bruins' offense has looked terrific in the first four weeks of the season, averaging 44.8 points per game thanks to a top-5 rushing attack in the country that's averaging more than 280 yards per game on the ground. 

While the Bruins have yet to face a top team, they've proven they are far superior to the bottom tier of the Power Four, having already bludgeoned California, Purdue and Maryland this season. That's a big step in the right direction for Chesney's group, and now UCLA will get a bye week to dig in on preparation for what will be a ranked showdown in Week 6 at Oregon. 

The other early-season surprise (in a good way) in the Big Ten is Iowa, which stunned Michigan in the Big House with a last-second touchdown pass to pull off a 20-19 win. It was a victory only a Kirk Ferentz-led team could pull off, as the Hawkeyes were outplayed by the Wolverines by most every metric, but in the turnover battle and special teams.

SEC Power Rankings: Texas tops Georgia in Week 5 on the strength of an impressive resume

Austin Nivison

The 4-0 Hawkeyes will now return home to welcome No. 5 Ohio State to Kinnick Stadium, where we will learn exactly how much of the gap they've closed to the conference's elite teams. 

Where do UCLA and Iowa fall in our first batch of Big Ten Power Rankings? Let's find out...

1. Indiana Hoosiers 

The defending champs are 4-0, and that's enough to retain the top spot, but last week's narrow escape against Northwestern raised some red flags that this Hoosiers team has taken a step back from last year's group that won a national title. Josh Hoover's inconsistent play raises concerns about the offense's ability to reach the same heights as a year ago, and while the running game has picked up the slack, injuries have depleted their running back room. The defense still looks elite -- although they did get carved up late by Aidan Chiles in the Northwestern game -- but this year's Indiana clearly has less margin for error compared to last year's team that steamrolled most opponents. 

2. Ohio State Buckeyes

Ohio State is a fourth-quarter collapse at Texas away from the top spot, but this Buckeyes team looks the part of a title contender again. Jeremiah Smith is the best receiver in the country and is making a strong case to be an all-timer in college football history, putting up video-game numbers through four games (154.3 yards per game and 7 touchdowns). Julian Sayin looks terrific, they can actually run the ball this year, and the defense is playing at an elite level again, despite so much of last year's defense playing on Sundays this fall. The real question is whether the Buckeyes can get out of their own way in big games. The biggest criticism of Ryan Day's tenure has been Ohio State's tendency to turtle up in big moments, and the Texas loss did nothing to ease concerns about their approach to closing out wins against top competition. 

3. Oregon Ducks 

The Oregon offense finally looked like the Oregon offense again on Saturday in LA, taking down rival USC in a shootout. The coming weeks will tell us a lot about whether that was the Ducks starting to hit their stride under new coordinator Drew Mehringer or more of a byproduct of playing a leaky Trojans defense. A well-timed bye week gives Dante Moore some added time to work through concussion protocol, but Dylan Raiola's performance against USC provides plenty of confidence in Eugene that they can hold up even if Moore misses a few weeks of play. The offense coming to life was a welcome sight, and if they can sort out some of their defensive issues during the bye week, the Ducks can get right back in the conversation for the Big Ten title and a high seed in the playoff. 

4. UCLA Bruins

Bob Chesney: Good football coach. That's been the big takeaway from the first four games of the UCLA season. While the "Chesney is the next Curt Cignetti" discourse is a bit premature in my opinion (largely because UCLA does not have the same kind of financial backing as Indiana), I am a believer in this year's Bruins as a legitimate threat. Nico Iamaleava is the household name for the UCLA offense, but they're dominating with their rushing attack in 2026, with Wayne Knight being a name fans should get to know. The offense looks legitimate, but there are questions about the Bruins' defense. That is the unit that might keep them from breaking through into the true upper echelon of the Big Ten this season, but they are an incredibly fun team to watch, and that hasn't been the case with a UCLA team in some time. 

5. Iowa Hawkeyes 

The polar opposite of UCLA is Iowa. The Hawkeyes are once again here to serve everyone their vegetables on Saturdays. It's not exciting, at times can be wildly frustrating, but dammit if it's not effective. Kirk Ferentz painted his masterpiece on Saturday at the Big House in a 20-19 win over Michigan, thanks to a special-teams touchdown, a turnover battle win and meeting the minimum requirement for offensive production to win. That's Iowa football, and in its own way, it's beautiful. Reality may arrive on Saturday in the form of the Ohio State Buckeyes, who roll into Kinnick Stadium. Everyone, including Ohio State, knows what to expect from Iowa in that game, and the Buckeyes are going to have to prevent the Hawkeyes from dragging them into the mud. Even if they lose that game, their schedule is extremely friendly the rest of the way, and there is a real path for Iowa to the College Football Playoff. 

6. USC Trojans

It's another year and another Lincoln Riley-led USC team that's not ready to compete with the Big Ten's best. This was supposed to be the year the Trojans moved up and contended for a conference title and the playoff, but the loss to Oregon was an all-too-familiar sight for USC. The USC defense is once again brutal, and as spectacular as Jayden Maiava and the offense can be, their margin for error against top competition is effectively zero because the defense will give up so many points. There's plenty of talent on the USC roster, and after landing the top recruiting class in 2026 (and with a buyout in the $70 million range), Riley might get another year to try and sort things out. But there's a consistent pattern during Riley's USC tenure of being firmly in the Big Ten's second tier, and this year's squad isn't breaking the trend. 

7. Nebraska Cornhuskers

The Huskers have looked awfully good through the first four weeks, and Anthony Colandrea looks to be a fantastic pivot from Dylan Raiola by Matt Rhule. They ought to get to 5-0 after a visit from a Maryland team that just got destroyed at home and is firmly on Quit Watch, but then we'll learn exactly how much of a threat this Nebraska team is with back-to-back games against Indiana and Oregon. If they can split that pair of games, we'll have to readjust our expectations for this Nebraska team. For now, we're in the monitoring stage of a team that has done exactly what it's supposed to in the first four weeks of the season. 

8. Wisconsin Badgers

You could see how much the comeback win at Penn State meant to Luke Fickell and this Badgers team in their postgame celebration. Fickell was brought back for a prove-it year, and that was a proof-of-concept win on the road. It wasn't pretty, but let's be honest, it's not really supposed to be with Wisconsin. Colton Joseph can be an adventure, and he's got to tighten up with the turnovers if the Badgers are going to make a real leap forward against a friendly schedule that dodges Ohio State, Indiana and Oregon. But the defense looks like a Wisconsin defense is supposed to, and there's genuine optimism in Madison for the first time in a while that they're finally on the right trajectory. 

9. Northwestern Wildcats

Northwestern is...pretty good! David Braun has done a very nice job of getting this Wildcats squad not just to respectability, but to be competitive on the road with the defending national champs. Aidan Chiles is the platonic ideal of a college football quarterback, capable of making both mind-numbing mistakes and jaw-dropping throws, sometimes within a couple of throws of each other. At his best, he's dynamic, which is something Northwestern hasn't exactly been known for over the years, and coupled with a solid defense, the Wildcats are no longer a Big Ten pushover. 

10. Minnesota Golden Gophers

The win last week at Washington was huge for the Gophers. After getting smacked at home by what we now know is a legitimately good Mississippi State team, Saturday in Seattle was a gut check. They passed, and they still have a great opportunity to climb the ladder in the Big Ten and put up another 8- or 9-win season. Having a quarterback like Drake Lindsey gives Minnesota a shot against almost anyone, and while this isn't as stingy a defense as the best we've seen under P.J. Fleck, the Gophers seem to be solid again on that side of the ball. The question that the Mississippi State loss raised is whether they can handle offenses with elite athletes, which will determine if the Gophers can do a bit more than just put together another nice season. 

11. Penn State Nittany Lions

The honeymoon period for the Matt Campbell era ended last Saturday with a brutal loss to Wisconsin. Penn State had that game in hand and watched as the Badgers ripped it away, and now they have to reset and refocus on a short week before a trip to Northwestern that looks far more challenging than it did when the schedule came out. Penn State needs Rocco Becht to be sharper, especially with Koby Howard out with injury, but Becht's long been a high-variance quarterback dating back to his Iowa State days. When he's got it, he can be dynamic and lead a win against just about anyone. Unfortunately, the flip side is that when he's off, turnovers and accuracy become problems in a frustrating loss. 

12. Michigan Wolverines

What a rollercoaster the first four weeks have been for Michigan. They started with the controversial win over Western Michigan that no one in Ann Arbor felt good about, then they thumped Oklahoma, who we now know is actually pretty bad, struggled early against UTEP before blowing them out and then they lost a game they probably should've won by two scores to Iowa. The truth is, this is a Kyle Whittingham team. They have a physical, nasty defense and an offense that seems to underperform relative to their perceived talent level. That was a lot of Whittingham's teams at Utah, especially towards the end of his tenure, and that probably means the rollercoaster ride is far from over for the Wolverines. The schedule was already tough with Indiana, Oregon and Ohio State, but now it looks even tougher with UCLA's hot start. This is a team that feels like it could beat anyone and lose to anyone on any given Saturday. As an outsider, that makes them fascinating. As a Michigan fan, it probably creates tremendous anxiety. 

13. Washington Huskies

Washington was thought to be a dark-horse candidate in the Big Ten this year. Even though they are 3-1, it's already pretty clear that it's not the case. The offense that was so dynamic last year has dropped off considerably, which is surprising given quarterback Demond Williams Jr. is back in Seattle (after a dramatic offseason). A loss at home to Minnesota showed exactly where Washington is in the Big Ten hierarchy, and for a team that had dreams of a magical run to the playoff, they look more like a squad that will be fighting just to make it to a decent bowl game. 

14. Illinois Fightin' Illini

We'll start with the positive for the Illini: Katin Houser is fun, and the offense has a legitimately high ceiling with him under center. Unfortunately, this defense forgot how to tackle or cover anyone in the offseason. It's been so bad on that side of the ball that defensive coordinator Bobby Hauck left the program after four games. Perhaps that means a turnaround is on the way, but this is a rare Bret Bielema squad that's being carried by a high-powered passing attack while its defense is a liability. Purdue is up next on the schedule, and while that presents an opportunity to get a win, a loss to the Boilermakers would ring alarm bells in Champaign. 

15. Michigan State Spartans

It's genuinely remarkable how quickly Pat Fitzgerald turned Michigan State into a team that looks almost exactly like his old Northwestern squads. Against better teams, their entire plan is to drag you into the mud and make life difficult. That hasn't resulted in wins against Notre Dame and Nebraska, but they also kept it closer with the Irish than anyone else and avoided embarrassment, so perhaps that counts for something. The offense is a tough watch, but the defense appears to be improved. Fitzgerald is a coach you hire to raise your floor, and it seems like that is happening. The concern is that he also lowers your ceiling, but after four consecutive losing seasons, that's a trade-off Michigan State's willing to accept if it gets them closer to respectability on the field. 

16. Purdue Boilermakers

Purdue cannot play any defense, but at least the offense is fairly fun. They've been outgunned in a couple of shootouts this year with Wake Forest and UCLA, but Ryan Browne has seemingly taken a leap forward at the quarterback position, and the Boilermakers will put your defense to the test. That is a welcome sight after a couple of truly bleak years in West Lafayette. This week, they get a leaky Illini defense (that's beat up after facing Ohio State), and it's quite possible Purdue could win their first Big Ten game since 2023. 

17. Maryland Terrapins

They're about to change the locks on Mike Locksley in College Park. The Terps looked awful in a 54-3 loss to UCLA at home on Saturday, and it seems like a matter of time before a coaching change gets made. There was a time when you could at least count on September Maryland to provide false hope of a good season, but this year, the Terps didn't even make it to October before everything came crashing down. Trips to Nebraska and Ohio State the next two weeks won't make things any easier. 

18. Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Good news: Rutgers nearly upset USC two weeks ago and then thumped Howard to get their first win of the year this past Saturday. Bad news: This is still a team that lost to UMass at home by 16 and then a bad Boston College team to open their season. Greg Schiano desperately needs to turn this season around, and at the very least, the Scarlet Knights have shown some improvement and don't look like a team that's going to fold immediately. That said, this defense is among the worst in Power Four football, and they're about to face an Indiana team that has plenty of motivation to hand them a beatdown in Week 6.