How the Big Ten landscape looks like after Ohio State's key Week 10 win

After crossing the Week 10 mark, the first College Football Playoff rankings are due Tuesday, November 4th. And, the Big Ten is expected to wield a significant presence.

As schools start to gear up for the final push of the year, it’s time to take another look around the Big Ten landscape to see how everything is falling into place with Bowl season and the CFP in sight.

Top-ranked 1 Ohio State ran over Penn State by a score of 38-14 after another stellar performance by quarterback Julian Sayin, who keeps gaining momentum in the Heisman Trophy race. A visit to Purdue is next on the calendar, but a date in Ann Arbor slated for November 29th still lurks as the biggest pending test for head coach Ryan Day’s pupils.

2 Indiana blew past Maryland as quarterback Fernando Mendoza and the Hoosiers stay on course towards the Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis, on Saturday, December 6th.

6 Oregon had the weekend off, as the Ducks prepare to face off at Iowa for their next outing. At this point, the school from Eugene would be in the CFP, but they still have two pending matches against teams ranked in AP’s Top-25: 20 USC and 24 Washington.

The Trojans managed to survive a scare against Nebraska, barely, taking a 21-17 win against a Cornhusker team that lost its quarterback Dylan Raiola in the third quarter. Still, it’s a nice rebound after losing to Notre Dame the week before. We can’t count them out of the CFP just yet, but they’ll need to do a number on Oregon for that to crystallize.

21 Michigan squeaked past Purdue by 21-16 on a day where quarterback Bryce Underwood didn’t have a great performance. The Wolverines are, however, still very much in the race for a spot in the CFP, if they can manage an upset over the Buckeyes in the regular season finale.

Meanwhile, 24 Washington earned a spot among the Top-25 teams according to AP during their week off, and they will get a crack at Wisconsin next weekend, looking to improve their chances for a place within the CFP’s best 12. A showdown versus Oregon in the regular season’s last weekend will likely determine if the Huskies are worthy of CFP consideration.

There are, at the moment, 10 bowl eligible teams for the Big Ten: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oregon, USC and Washington. Northwestern could add themselves to the list with a win against the heavily favored Trojans next week.