Buckeyes, Lions lead way

1. Ohio State (1-0): Ooooh, the offense is good, but ohhhhh the defense needs a shot of adrenaline. Expect an energy surge against the not-so-mighty Ducks.

2. Penn State (1-0): No way PSU should have escaped Wisconsin with a win, but the defense made big plays in the closing minutes to seal it. Gut checks matter.

3. Wisconsin (0-1): The Badgers have the best defense in the conference, but while defense wins championships at least some offense is needed to win games.

4. Michigan (1-0): OK, so clubbing Western Michigan isn’t exactly cause for celebration, but a decade ago it would have been. That’s progress.

5. Iowa (1-0): The Hawkeyes flushed a supposedly dangerous Indiana by 28 points. The Cyclones won’t go down the drain so easily.

6. Minnesota (0-1): The good news for the Golden Gophers is they gave Ohio State all it could handle. The bad? Tailback Mohamed Ibrahim is lost for the season with a leg injury.

7. Michigan State (1-0): Sparty dismantling Northwestern was the conference surprise of Week 1. MSU would like to avoid getting surprised by the Penguins in Week 2.

8. Maryland (1-0): The other Tagovailoa (Taulia) — 26 of 36 passes for 332 yards and three TDS last week against West Virginia — will direct Howard’s end.

9. Rutgers (1-0): And just like that, the Scarlet Knights no longer are the biggest football joke in northern New Jersey. Can you say New York Jets?

10. Indiana (0-1): The sky is not falling, despite a bad loss to Iowa in Week 1.

But if the Big Sky pulls a stunner and Idaho wins this week, the Hoosiers’ bright horizon darkens.

11. Purdue (1-0): The Boilermakers are best when Jeff Brohm’s pass-happy offense shows wrinkles. But the lame run game and defense will make Brohm grow old fast.

12. Northwestern (0-1): Just when it appears the Wildcats have turned a corner they hit a dead end. Is there a way out with such a porous run defense?

13. Nebraska (1-1): It takes guts to rank the once-mighty “N” this low, or at least more intestinal fortitude than the Cornhuskers too often seem to show.

14. Illinois (1-1): The Illini have no problem remembering the Alamo. They just re-lived it by losing to Texas-san Antonio.

BEN QUEEN/USA TODAY SPORTS Maryland quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa escapes the pocket and pressure from West Virginia’s Vandarius Cowan during Saturday’s game.