The true Big Ten contenders/pretenders after Week 8

Oregon saw its team jump to the top spot in the AP poll following its 35-0 shellacking of Purdue compiled with former No. 1 Texas losing to Georgia.

Quarterback Dillon Gabriel completed 21 out of his 25 passing attempts for 290 yards with two touchdowns in the win over Purdue, who had some buzz as a potential upset pick prior to the game. Oregon quickly put that to rest.

After the Ducks’ win against Ohio State, Gabriel’s Heisman status took a massive leap forward with most sportsbooks only having Miami’s Cam Ward and Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty in front of Gabriel.

The Ducks still have one of the more difficult remaining schedules. Oregon will welcome No. 20 Illinois to Eugene before enduring road trips to Michigan and Wisconsin. ESPN’s FPI only gives the Ducks a 15.9% chance to win all of their remaining five games

However, Oregon has passed every test they have faced so far this year, and their win over Ohio State is the most impressive win any Big Ten school has enjoyed through eight weeks. Until proven otherwise, the No. 1 team in the country is a surefire contender for the Big Ten title.

No. 13 Indiana- Pretender

Hoosiers fans would have been ecstatic had they been told in the preseason this football team would be involved in Big Ten contender conversations. It would be accurate to say this is uncharted territory for Indiana football.

Last Saturday, Indiana welcomed an upstart Nebraska program featuring blue-chip freshman Dylan Raiola. The game was expected to be a showcase of sorts for Raiola, with the opportunity to take down a ranked team on the road.

The Hoosiers instead turned it into their own showcase, walloping the Cornhuskers 56-7. The 49-point beatdown matched Indiana’s most lopsided Big Ten victory in their program’s existence.

Quarterback Kurtis Rourke threw for 189 yards and a touchdown for the Hoosiers, whose 7-0 start to the season is their best since 1967. What Curt Cignetti has done in his first year as the team’s head coach is remarkable, and he should be included in every Coach of the Year conversation down the road.

With all that being said, Indiana remains a pretender for two reasons.

The first is that Rourke put up that aforementioned stat line in just one-half of the play. Rourke suffered a thumb injury that kept him out of the second half and was later deemed to require surgery.

While Indiana did not have too much difficulty in the second half with backup quarterback Tayven Jackson, Rourke had established himself as a dark-horse Heisman contender after Indiana’s undefeated start to the season. Losing the Ohio transfer for any amount of time will hurt the offense.

The Hoosiers have at least an 80% chance to win each of their remaining games aside from a trip to Columbus to take on Ohio State, according to ESPN.

Assuming they lose against the Buckeyes and win out an 11-1 record might not even be good enough to qualify for the Big Ten Championship after tiebreakers work themselves out. Even if Indiana does qualify, they lack the big-game experience and raw talent to keep up with Ohio State, Oregon and Penn State.

No. 4 Ohio State- Contender

Ohio State’s most recent game was a Week 7 loss to the aforementioned Ducks in a game that truly could have gone either way. Had quarterback Will Howard had a bit better clock management on the Buckeyes’ final drive, we could be talking about how Ohio State looks by far the best team in the country.

It goes without saying that Ohio State’s loss does not hurt their status as a true Big Ten contender.

Howard has been outstanding since transferring from Kansas State. He has thrown for 1,574 yards and 14 touchdowns on the year. Seven of those touchdowns have gone to wide receiver and freshman phenom Jeremiah Smith.

Ohio State notoriously spent around $20 million to build a championship roster this season, and anything short of a ring would be considered a colossal disappointment.

The team has lived up to expectations despite the loss, and has opportunities to improve their resume with ranked matchups against No. 3 Penn State and No. 13 Indiana remaining on their schedule.

The Buckeyes also have their annual rivalry game against Michigan, which is never an easy game whether Michigan has a competent quarterback or not.

A slip-up or two, however, in one of the aforementioned matchups could result in trouble for head coach Ryan Day.

No. 3 Penn State- Contenders

This one was very tough to determine.

On one hand, Penn State ends Week 8 as the No. 3 team in the nation following a 6-0 start. The offense has looked improved and more explosive under new coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, quarterback Drew Allar has taken some leaps forward in his second year as a starter and their defense ranks among the top 10 in the nation in points allowed, with opposing teams managing just 14.5 points a game against the Nittany Lions.

On the other hand, they simply have not looked all that impressive.

Among their six wins are a 34-27 survival of Bowling Green in which Penn State was down at halftime, and a 33-30 overtime miracle at USC. Tight end Tyler Warren had a record-setting day with 17 catches for 224 yards in the Nittany Lions’ first West Coast Big Ten trip, but they still needed USC’s kicker to miss a 45-yard field goal in overtime to secure the win.

The chaos around the college football landscape may have helped boost their ranking despite those close calls, but Penn State does not have the resume of a traditional third-ranked team.

They have an opportunity to change that with a matchup at Wisconsin up first before a showdown against the aforementioned Buckeyes, but Penn State does not have much room for error after how they’ve looked the first half of the season.

Alex Perez is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email app5877@psu.edu.