1. Iowa

2. Penn State

3. Michigan State (what, really?)

4. Ohio State

5. Michigan

6. Wisconsin

7. Minnesota

8. Purdue

9. Northwestern

10. Indiana

11. Illinois

• No, you are not seeing things: Michigan State is 3-0 in the Big Ten, including one victory over a team (Michigan) firmly entrenched in the upper half of this ballot. I'm as shocked as you are. They get Iowa and Penn State at home, and their toughest road game remaining might be (*sigh*) Purdue. Penn State gets the slight nod over MSU for having looked like a vaguely competent football team in more than one dimension for more than a couple weeks at a time. I don't anticipate MSU having much staying power here.
  
• Ohio State gets the customary drop, and barely remains in the top five because it has a) just one conference loss and b) that conference loss might be the worst of anyone else's in the top 5. 
  
• No, I'm not going to bump Purdue up so I can feel better about myself. They're not terrible, and they're clearly going to get a whole lot better under Danny Hope, but right now, they're a 2-5 team with a lot of work to do.
• And if that doesn't make you emo enough, then Scott Tolzien completely collapsing against another swarming Big Ten defense should. Clearly, Wisconsin's offense is not as spectacular as it was made out to be. Still a good early-season win.
• The Illinois collapse is utterly complete with a two-touchdown loss in Bloomington. Talent-on-talent, there is no reason that game doesn't look exactly like last year's 55-13 waxing of the Hoosiers in Champaigne. Instead, Illinois is winless in the conference, far-and-away its worst team while simultaneously managing to be its 3rd or 4th most talented. This is your team on Ron Zook.
• No idea what to do with Northwestern; they did beat Purdue after all.
• How scary does a finishing kick of three of the top five teams in the conference look right about now? How many victories are you expecting/would you be happy with out of those final three?