Hlog Week 13 Big Ten Rank: 1. Wis., 2. Neb., 4. Iowa

The Big Ten title game is set, but there is a full-slate of games remaining. That's not dramatic.

On with the ranking of the league's teams in Week 13 of a 12-game season.

1. Wisconsin, W 20-7 at Minnesota: This is what a team does to stay in contention for a BCS bowl. It goes on the road, plays a team with a lot of momentum, and conquers it.

Wisconsin's vastly underrated defense held the Gophers to 185 yards and one score. The Badgers held the ball for over 35 minutes.

That's 10 straight wins for the Badgers over their border rivals, prompting Wisconsin linebacker to hold a sign saying "10 Straight."

"It's a good decade for us," Borland said.

"Right now they're a very, very good team and working on being a great team," said Wisconsin Coach Gary Andersen. "I'm not so sure they're not a great team right now."

2. Nebraska, W 23-20 (OT) at Penn State: Rotten weather, starting quarterback Tommy Armstrong knocked out of the game early with an ankle injury, down 20-17 in the fourth quarter, a touchdown stripped by the officials for a bogus personal foul penalty, a week after a gutting home loss to Michigan State.

Great win.

“I told them I'm proud of them,” Pelini said. “I told them last night it is an honor for me to coach this group of guys.

“It's a special group of kids. There's something special going on here with these kids.”

3. Michigan State, W 30-6 at Northwestern: Like Wisconsin, Michigan State did what a BCS bowl-contender is supposed to do. It went on the road, was focused, and rolled.

Connor Cook passed for 293 yards and two touchdowns. Jeremy Langford rushed for 150 and two touchdowns. The offense has come together in the second half of the season. Beware, Ohio State.

“Early in the year, coming off a season like last year, you can't help but to worry if they're going to get better,” MSU linebacker Denicos Allen said about the Spartans' offense in this column by the Lansing State Journal's Graham Couch.

Couch added: After Saturday, the doubts should be gone.

Not only about this MSU offense or football team. But also this program.

Mark Dantonio has earned your trust.

4. Iowa, W 24-21 vs. Michigan. We're getting to the point of the season in which bowl projections start to approach realism.

If the Hawkeyes win at Nebraska Friday, I think you're talking Outback Bowl. If Iowa loses, my guess is Nebraska in the Outback and the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl in greater Phoenix debating between Michigan and Iowa, with the leftover going to the Gator Bowl.

Iowa and Michigan would both be 7-5, Iowa has made two recent appearances to the BWWB when it was the Insight Bowl, and Michigan is a name-program.

So the feeling is pretty strong here that the Hawkeyes are headed to Florida. But don't buy those plane tickets just yet.

5. Illinois, W 20-16 at Purdue. The Fighting Illini's 20-game Big Ten losing streak is over.

"It was just kind of serenity," Illinois wide receiver Steve Hull said of the victory. "It was kind of peaceful. It was an it's-about-time kind of feeling. … You can win nonconference games but conference play is where your pride is and getting a Big Ten conference win has definitely electrified us a lot more."

"To see the kids crying, to see the kids filled with emotion after a victory, that's what athletics is about," Illinois Coach Tim Beckman said. "That's what football is about. It isn't about me. … It's about these players and the monkey is off their back."

6. Ohio State, W 42-14 vs. Indiana. Is it fair to put a dominant winner this low in the poll? No. But this was the expected result, and people don't get much credit for achieving expected results no matter how unfair that may be.

Ari Wasserman of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer wrote the following Sunday:

Quit trying to come up with teams behind Ohio State that are more deserving of the No. 3 spot in the BCS standings. They keep losing, and believe it or not, Ohio State is good. It's tough enough on the Buckeyes that they aren't even considered as an equal to Alabama or Florida State – which will likely cost them a chance to play for the national title – so they don't need to be constantly grouped in with the teams behind them. Going undefeated is a very tough task, regardless of what is said about Ohio State's schedule. There's a reason there's only three teams left in the unbeaten category. Ohio State is closer to Alabama and Florida State's caliber than the teams behind it.

7. Penn State, L 23-20 (OT) vs. Nebraska. This one got away from the Nittany Lions. As Cory Giger of the Altoona Mirror details in this story, it was all on the special teams.

Penn State's special teams gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown. And missed an extra point. And missed a field goal in overtime. And had a punt blocked. And fumbled, but recovered, a punt and a kickoff.

Sam Ficken of Penn State missed a 37-yard field goal in the OT. Nebraska's Pat Smith made a 42-yarder after that. That's how some football games are decided.

8. Michigan, L 24-21 at Iowa. Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner fumbled the ball away on the Wolverines' last offensive play.

I lost the game myself," Gardner said. "I fumbled the ball when they trusted me to drive down and score.

"I had the ball. I gave it to the other team when we were going down to score."

Gardner wasn't good. His receivers weren't good, dropping too many passes. His team's running game wasn't good.

How did this team build a 21-7 lead? Defense. That defense will have to play out of its mind Saturday against Ohio State, or that game will be ugly.

9. Indiana, L 42-14 at Ohio State. The Hoosiers have lost 19 straight games to Ohio State.

The expected loss means the 4-7 Hoosiers will not be going to the Heart of Dallas Bowl, which is highly unlikely to have a Big Ten representative. Unless the bowl wrangles Maryland.

“This is not the season I predicted or that our team hoped for,” said Indiana senior wide receiver Kofi Hughes, “But I love my team. I love all the guys around me, and I know that we fight hard. I can only hope and pray that next season that everything gets worked out, that everything gets fixed."

Indiana hosts Purdue Saturday. So it will at least go out with a victory.

10. Minnesota, L 20-7 vs. Wisconsin. Patrick Reusse of the Minneapolis Star Tribune will rip when he thinks ripping is warranted. He didn't rip the Gophers after this game. Here is an excerpt from his column from that contest:

When it comes to the physical part of playing Big Ten football, coach Jerry Kill's third Minnesota team is far different as a collection of competitors than was his second.

This time, Wisconsin running backs weren't tearing through gaps in a defense on the retreat. This time, White and Melvin Gordon faced resistance early and still were encountering it late.

“We thought we did a pretty good job,” Kill said. “Wisconsin wasn't running all over the place. … Physically? I think we're catching up.”

Catching up, as in what it takes to stand up to the pounding that exists over the course of a conference schedule, to show you can be physical not only in September against Eastern Nowhere but in November against the Big Ten's tough guys.

11. Purdue, L 20-16 vs. Illinois. This was Purdue's chance for a Big Ten win. The moment passed.

"We have to stop and change the culture and say, ‘This is not going to happen anymore.' We're going to know what we're supposed to be doing and we've got to go from there.”

Those were the words of Purdue quarterback Danny Etling. He is a first-year freshman. He'll have better days.

12. Northwestern, L 30-7 vs. Michigan State. The Wildcats are 0-7 in the Big Ten, and now they go to Illinois to play a team that is feeling good about itself.

"The year '13 … good riddance," Northwestern Coach Pat Fitzgerald said. "Something about that number I don't like a whole lot. I like those hotels who don't put it on their floors."