Is the Big Ten in trouble?

That may be a ridiculous claim to make after two weeks of football, but Week 2 was one of the worst weekends the conference has had in quite some time.

Eight teams played Power Four opponents, but only two - Michigan beat No. 11 Oklahoma and Iowa downed rival Iowa State - walked away with a victory. Minnesota got its teeth kicked in by Mississippi State at home, Oregon lost at Oklahoma State as a 23.5-point favorite, and top-ranked Ohio State capped off the embarrassing Saturday by blowing a 20-point fourth quarter lead at No. 4 Texas.

The league will have plenty of opportunities to respond, but there's no question that this wasn't the weekend it wanted to have.

Before we turn our attention to Iowa-Northern Iowa game coverage, here's our Week 2 batch of Big Ten power rankings.

No. 18: Rutgers (0-2)

Rutgers' best chance at a Power Four win this season slipped through the wayside in the Red Bandana Game against Boston College. That game was bigger than football, though.

No. 17: Purdue (1-1)

Purdue was so close to stealing a major home win over Wake Forest, but lost in double overtime. Brutal break for the Boilermakers, but being competitive was a good sign.

No. 16: Michigan State

Michigan State was in a dogfight in the first half with Eastern Michigan, but the Spartans did manage to pull away in the second half for a 35-7 win. Pat Fitzgerald still has a lot of work to do in East Lansing.

No. 15: Maryland

UConn has been a good program over the last few years, but give credit to Maryland for going into Connecticut and leaving with a blowout win.

No. 14: Wisconsin

Offensive explosions are possible in Madison after all. Scoring 36 points against Western Illinois isn't a major accomplishment for most teams, but when your offense has been as bad as Wisconsin's has in the Luke Fickell era, you'll certainly take it.

No. 13: Minnesota

What in the world happened to Minnesota? The Gophers completely imploded at home on national television to a Mississippi State team that has been one of the SEC's worst in recent years (yes, I know the Bulldogs have a star quarterback in Kamario Taylor, but still).

No. 12: Northwestern

The Wildcats were on an early bye week. A very intriguing game against Colorado awaits, which is going to be Northwestern's final game before moving to its new stadium.

No. 11: Nebraska

Nebraska pummeled Bowling Green. Not much else to say.

No. 10: Illinois

Illinois' defense struggled in Week 1, but it was still surprising to see Bret Bielema's Fighting Illini give up 31 points to Duke at home. Things haven't looked great in Champaign so far.

No. 9: Washington

Washington's offense looks absolutely abysmal right now. Scoring only 16 points and winning by two against a Utah State team that lost to Idaho State the week prior isn't a good sign for Jedd Fisch's group.

No. 8: UCLA

Bob Chesney's Bruins continue to be unstoppable in the second half. UCLA and San Diego State suffered through a scoreless first half, but the Bruins responded with 28 points after the break to win by 18. This isn't a team I wouldn't want to play this year.

No. 7: Michigan

Kyle Whittingham deserves a lot of credit for leading Michigan to a big-time home win against Oklahoma after the Western Michigan fiasco, but the only problem here? I don't the Sooners are very good.

No. 6: Iowa

Sometimes you just need to survive a rivalry game, and that's exactly what Iowa did against Iowa State. Is Hank Brown going to be the full-time starting quarterback? He played well against the Cyclones.

No. 5: USC

Allowing Louisiana to score 30 points is a tiny red flag for USC's defense, but the offense is good enough to win plenty of shootouts this year. Hopefully the 10,000 fans at the LA Coliseum were enthused.

No. 4: Oregon

Oregon hasn't looked the part of even a top 15 team to start the year, so the AP voters were justified to drop the Ducks 15 spots down to No. 21 after their shocking loss in Stillwater. Had Oklahoma State not spotted Oregon 14 points on a pair of interceptions, the Ducks would've lost by 17+ points. Embarrassing result for a national title hopeful.

No. 3: Penn State

Penn State gets to move up a spot because of Oregon's loss, but I wasn't that impressed with Matt Campbell's team against Temple. Iowa State East still has some kinks to work out on offense.

No. 2: Ohio State

I obviously didn't watch this game because I was covering the Cy-Hawk Game, but the entire Iowa media couldn't believe Texas came all the way back to beat Iowa State when we checked our phones later that night. Ohio State is still a national title favorite, but that's a tough early-season blow for Ryan Day's group.

The Buckeyes travel to Kinnick Stadium in three weeks.

No. 1: Indiana

It may be unfair to drop Ohio State out of the top spot after its loss to Texas, but that's the name of the game in our power rankings. Indiana won't play a Power Four team until its Big Ten opener against Northwestern on Sept. 25, but quarterback Josh Hoover has looked fantastic.

Keep this date circled on your calendar: Indiana hosts Ohio State on Oct. 17.

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HawkeyeRoundtable publisher Brad Schultz has covered the Iowa Hawkeyes since 2023. To send him story ideas, scoops, or criticize his writing, reach him at bradschultz@roundtable.io