Another week has come and gone. The first full slate of Big Ten play saw No. 3 Ohio State rout Rutgers, 49-10, No. 4 Michigan swat away any upset ideas from Iowa in Kinnick, 27-14, and No. 10 Penn State downed Northwestern, 17-7.
Elsewhere, Purdue shocked then-No. 23 Minnesota, 20-10, Maryland kept the Michigan State blues rolling, 27-13, and Nebraska finally picked up a win over Indiana, 35-21. Finally, Wisconsin‘s Paul Chryst got the axe following the Badgers’ embarrassing 34-10 home loss to the Hawkeyes’ next opponent, Illinois.
Now, only Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State still have sparkling marks of perfection, though Maryland, Minnesota, Purdue, and Illinois are all receiving votes in the latest USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll.
Ohio State running back Miyan Williams earned Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors after rushing for a career-high 189 yards and tied 38- and 48-year old school records with five rushing touchdowns in the Buckeyes’ runaway win in Piscataway, N.J.
Defensively, Purdue’s Cam Allen nabbed Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week recognition following a two-interception performance against Minnesota that helped spearhead the Boilermakers’ upset win in the Twin Cities. It’s the second Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week accolade in his career and the first for Purdue since Jalen Graham was honored on Nov. 1, 2021.
Penn State punter Barney Amor punted five times for 200 yards and had four punts land inside the 20-yard line and three downed inside the 10-yard line. Finally, Nebraska cornerback Malcolm Hartzog returned a blocked punt 30 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter to give Nebraska a 14-7 lead over Indiana to pick up Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors. It represented the Huskers’ first blocked punt return touchdown since 2009 and the Huskers’ first special teams touchdown since 2019.
After all of the Week 5 results, there’s heroes aplenty and jockeying in the rankings. The latest Big Ten Power Rankings courtesy of College Football News look like this.
