The days of looking at the Big Ten Conference schedule and knowing which games will be won and lost are over. And no teams can demonstrate that better than the powerhouses that were upset last weekend.
Wisconsin's undefeated season was put to an end by unranked Northwestern. Ohio State was upset by up-and-coming Penn State. Michigan suffered its third defeat of the season to Minnesota.
Minnesota head coach Glen Mason said he's never seen the Big Ten as balanced as it is this season.
"Right now there's a lot of good football teams in the Big Ten," Mason said. "Maybe the only problem (is) on the national scope, everybody beats each other up and you still have a bunch of good football teams but their records don't reflect it."
Five Big Ten teams are currently in The Associated Press Top 25 poll. No. 8 Penn State ranks the highest, in front of No. 15 Ohio State, No. 16 MSU, No. 22 Minnesota, and No. 23 Wisconsin.
The result of the parity has been some surprise teams at the top of the standings and some traditional powers near the bottom.
Penn State, which clinched a bowl berth with its win over Ohio State, remains the only unbeaten team in the Big Ten with a 3-0 conference (6-0 overall) mark. Minnesota and Wisconsin, both picked to finish in the middle of the pack, are now tied for second.
On the flip side, Purdue, Michigan and Iowa, all ranked to begin the season, are now absent from the national polls.
Wisconsin head coach Barry Alvarez said although the standings are surprising, the balance throughout the conference is not.
"As you sat back and looked at all the teams that were preseason rated and then you took a look at some of the teams that weren't, I thought they were pretty good," Alvarez said.
Mason said he could sense before the season that there could be multiple contenders for the conference title.
"I can't remember when there was really a consensus amongst the coaches at the December meeting," he said. "You started looking at a great number of returning players on the teams that were pretty darn good last year."
Of the five nationally ranked Big Ten teams, four will play against each other this Saturday. MSU travels to Columbus to play Ohio State, and Minnesota hosts Wisconsin.
Michigan blues
Defending conference champion and preseason favorite Michigan might be the biggest surprise this year. After topping MSU on the road on Oct. 1 to improve to 3-2, the Wolverines fell to Minnesota last week for the first time since 1986, falling back to .500 on the season.
U-M cornerback Leon Hall stirred more controversy in Ann Arbor this week when he accused his teammates of "loafing" on a 61-yard Minnesota run late in the game that set up their game-winning field goal. U-M head coach Lloyd Carr said Hall's comments were inaccurate.
