It has been a wild first two weeks in the Big Ten West division. The current standings look less like the football rankings many were expecting and more like the 2021 US News and World Report college rankings, with Northwestern and Purdue (ranked 9th and 53rd, respectively) sitting atop the division at 2-0.
Entering the season, it was widely assumed by national media that there were three contenders with a chance to represent the west division at the Big Ten Championship game in Indianapolis: Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. Just two weeks into the season, that predication couldn't be further from the truth.