SiriusXM Big Ten Radio’s Football Power Rankings – Week Two

Pete Pistone and the rest of the SiriusXM Big Ten Radio team will unveil “Power Rankings” each week of the college football season. Check out this week’s “Power Rankings” below, and start listening to SiriusXM Big Ten Radio (Ch. 372) on the SiriusXM app now.

Here’s how the SiriusXM Big Ten Radio team voted after Week Two to determine this week’s “Power Rankings:”

1. MICHIGAN

Blake Corum ran for three touchdowns and J.J. McCarthy threw two more scoring passes to Roman Wilson to help No. 2 Michigan rout UNLV 35-7 Saturday. Corum had 80 yards rushing on 15 carries and caught two passes for 23 yards. McCarthy completed his first 13 passes and finished 22 of 25 for 278 yards and two touchdown passes to Wilson, who had four receptions for 89 yards and has five touchdown receptions through two games.

2.   PENN STATE 

Nick Singleton ran for three touchdowns and No. 7 Penn State’s defense was nearly perfect as the Nittany Lions defeated Delaware 63-7 on Saturday. Kaytron Allen ran for 103 yards and a touchdown, while quarterbacks Drew Allar and Beau Pribula each scored on second-half runs for the Nittany Lions who dominated their FCS counterparts. Penn State (2-0) scored touchdowns on its first four possessions. All of Singleton’s and Allen’s scores came inside five yards and ended long drives that wore the Blue Hens (1-1) down.

3.   OHIO STATE 

Kyle McCord threw for three touchdowns in the first half, two of them to All-American Marvin Harrison Jr., and No. 5 Ohio State blew past Youngstown State 35-7 on Saturday. McCord, starting for the Buckeyes in his third year in the program, was 14 for 20 for 258 yards and also threw a scoring pass to Emeka Egbuka, a solid bounce-back against a lesser opponent after a shaky opener at Indiana last week.

4.   IOWA

Jaziun Patterson rushed for 86 yards and a touchdown, Iowa’s defense made a final stand in the last two minutes, and the Hawkeyes beat Iowa State 20-13 on Saturday to take back the CyHawk Trophy and give Kirk Ferentz his 200th win as a Division I coach. The Cyclones scored with 2:53 left to make it a seven-point game, and they got the ball back a minute later after forcing a three-and-out. But they turned over the ball on downs when Ethan Hurkett stuffed Cartevious Norton for a 2-yard loss on fourth-and-1, and Cade McNamara took a knee twice to run out the clock.

5.   MINNESOTA

Darius Taylor ran for 193 of Minnesota’s 296 yards and a touchdown, and the Gophers pulled away in the second half to beat Eastern Michigan 25-6 Saturday night. Sean Tyler added 93 yards on the ground for Minnesota, which had just 55 rushing yards in last week’s season-opening 13-10 win against Nebraska.

6.   MARYLAND 

Roman Hemby ran for 153 of his 162 yards in the second half, and Maryland overcame a wretched start to beat Charlotte 38-20 on Saturday night. The 49ers (1-1) scored two touchdowns in a 10-second span early in the first quarter — the second of which came when Maryland’s Taulia Tagovailoa threw a pick-6 on his team’s first offensive play. The Terrapins (2-0) mostly shut Charlotte down after that, however, and slowly took control of the game.

7.   PURDUE

Hudson Card threw for 248 yards and rushed for a score to lift Purdue to a 24-17 victory over Virginia Tech on Saturday after a lengthy weather delay. Card’s 1-yard run with eight minutes remaining was the difference for the Boilermakers (1-1), who handed first-year coach Ryan Walters his first victory and took some of the sting out of a 39-35 defeat to Fresno State in the season opener.

8.   WISCONSIN

Cameron Ward passed for 212 yards and two touchdowns and added another 43 yards rushing, Nakia Watson scored on a 1-yard run with 5:30 remaining and Washington State upset No. 19 Wisconsin 31-22 on Saturday night. Wisconsin (1-1) scored 16 straight points and was driving in the fourth quarter with a chance to take the lead before running back Chez Mellusi fumbled near midfield.

9.    INDIANA 

Tayven Jackson completed 18 of 21 passes for 236 yards and added a 10-yard touchdown run in his first career start, and Indiana racked up 558 yards of total offense Friday night in a 41-7 rout of visiting Indiana State. Jaylin Lucas finished with 10 carries for 88 yards and four catches for 39 yards. His pair of 25-yard TD runs opened the scoring in the first quarter. Jackson’s scamper up the middle made it 21-0 at the end of the period and the Hoosiers (1-1) were never threatened the rest of the way.

10.  RUTGERS 

Kyle Monangai ran for a career-high 165 yards and a touchdown to lead Rutgers to a 36-7 win over Temple Saturday night. Monangai carried the ball a career-high 28 times for a 5.9 average as Rutgers (2-0, 1-0 Big Ten) defeated Temple for the seventh straight time. Rutgers quarterback Gavin Wimsatt threw for 199 yards and a touchdown as the Scarlet Knights pounded out 458 total yards.

11.  MICHIGAN STATE 

Nathan Carter ran for 111 yards and three touchdowns and Noah Kim three scoring passes to lead Michigan State to an 45-14 victory over Richmond on Saturday. Carter had scoring runs of 2, 44 and 6 yards in the third quarter to put the game out of reach for the Spartans (2-0). Kim started the game hitting only three of his first seven pass attempts and then completed 15 straight to finish 18 of 22 for 292 yards. He had scoring passes to Tre Mosley, Tyneil Hopper and Antonio Gates Jr.

12. ILLINOIS

Jalon Daniels threw for 280 yards and two touchdowns in his season debut, Devin Neal ran for 120 yards and a score, and Kansas beat Illinois 34-23 on Friday night in the first meeting between the Power Five schools since 1968. The Illini’s Luke Altmyer threw for 202 yards and a touchdown while running for 70 and two more scores, and he showed some moxie by bouncing back from a crushing blow from Kansas defensive lineman Austin Booker to lead a fourth-quarter rally.

13. NORTHWESTERN

Ben Bryant threw for a touchdown and ran for one, and Northwestern used a huge second half to beat UTEP 38-7 Saturday afternoon for its first win. The Wildcats (1-1) scored all but seven of their points in the second half in stopping a 12-game losing streak and giving interim coach David Braun his first victory. Bryant threw an 18-yard touchdown to Thomas Gordon on the opening drive of the third. He scored from the 1 just over two minutes later, after Xander Mueller returned an interception 28 yards to the 3.

14.  NEBRASKA 

Shedeur Sanders accounted for three scores, Colorado’s defense forced four turnovers and the 22nd-ranked Buffaloes beat longtime rival Nebraska 36-14 on Saturday.