Big Ten Football Power Rankings Week 14: Michigan State, Iowa are kings

Oct 24, 2015; East Lansing, MI, USA; General view of Big Ten logo on field prior to a game between the Michigan State Spartans and the Indiana Hoosiers at Spartan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

With just one Big Ten football game remaining, here are the week 14 conference power rankings.

Sadly, the Big Ten football regular season has come to an end and there’s just one conference game remaining: the title game between the West division champ, No. 4 Iowa, and the East division winner, No. 5 Michigan State.

Prior to the season, people were already calling the Big Ten the worst of the Power Five conferences and even dubbing the conference the most top-heavy in all of college football. Basically, it was Michigan State, Ohio State and then everyone else.

While the Spartans and Buckeyes have proven to be two of the best teams in the nation yet again, the rest of the conference has picked up the slack and the Big Ten has five teams in the latest edition of the College Football Playoff rankings — three in the top six.

The Iowa Hawkeyes are unbeaten, Northwestern is a solid 10-win team, Michigan is trending up this season with Jim Harbaugh, Ohio State is 11-1 and Michigan State is looking for a shot to play for the national title with a win in the conference title game Saturday.

One thing is for sure: there will be a Big Ten team in the College Football Playoff for the second straight year. Also, the conference will field about nine, maybe 10, bowl eligible teams.

Let’s take a look at the week 14 Big Ten football power rankings.

It wasn’t the prettiest second season in the Big Ten for Rutgers as the Scarlet Knights finished the year by losing to fellow second-year team Maryland after a second-half meltdown at home. Rutgers will have an uphill battle next year as it will try to replace one of the top receivers in the country in Leonte Carroo while also trying to figure out the quarterback situation.

Speaking of uncertain quarterback situations, the Maryland Terrapins are lucky enough to have one of the best dual-threat prospects in the nation coming in. However, this program is going to be completely under the rebuilding phase as a permanent head coach has yet to be named. It was a disappointing year for the Terrapins, but they avoided a winless conference campaign with a victory over Rutgers to finish the year.

Next: No. 12 Purdue - No. 10 Minnesota