Big Ten Power Rankings: Michigan, Penn State hold serve amid chaotic week originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

The Big Ten saw its top teams hold serve over Week 3, but there was plenty of turmoil near the bottom of the conference in a busy non-conference slate of games.

Perhaps the best showing of the weekend came from Ohio State, who thrashed Western Kentucky to set themselves up for a Week 4 showdown with Notre Dame. Penn State also did what it needed to against Illinois, though Drew Allar struggled in his first career road start for the Nittany Lions.

Minnesota dropped a tough contest at North Carolina, while Purdue fell to 1-2 after losing to Syracuse in West Lafayette.

Nebraska got on the win column over the weekend, while Indiana and Northwestern both fell to Power Five opponents.

Here is this week’s ranking:

14 Northwestern (Last Week: 13)

Any positive momentum Northwestern generated in their win against UTEP was quickly erased with a flat showing against Duke, with the Blue Devils scoring pretty much at will in a 38-14 laugher in Durham.

Things won’t get any easier for the Wildcats when they welcome Minnesota to Evanston this week, with the Gophers’ tough defense serving as a stern test for a Northwestern squad that has struggled to move the ball at times this season.

13 Indiana (Last Week: 12)

The Hoosiers went down 21-0 to the Cardinals in the first half, but Tayven Jackson continued to impress as he threw for 299 yards and a touchdown in an ill-fated comeback attempt by Indiana.

Indiana will have to do better than 58 yards rushing on 27 attempts if they want to win games moving forward, but count us among those intrigued by the idea of this Indiana squad facing Maryland and Michigan in coming weeks.

12 Michigan State (Last Week: 9)

Michigan State had been a strong second-half team in their first two…