By rule, the Big Ten West will crown a champion for the 10th straight season in 2023. Mercifully, it will never happen again after that.

The West champ is infamously 0-9 in the Big Ten championship game, which should begin to be more competitive come next year when the top 2 teams head to Indianapolis regardless of geographic location.

There will be no repeats of 2018, when Northwestern finished 8-4 overall with a loss to a MAC team and played for a conference title — because the Wildcats still finished 3 games clear of the 3 next-closest opponents in the division.

But whether it’s more accurately described as parity or mediocrity, at least you can count on the B1G West race usually being a doozy. Like last year, when 4 teams still had a mathematical possibility of winning the division heading into the final week of the regular season. Unranked Purdue finally won the crown before getting throttled by No. 2 Michigan in Indy.

This year’s West race is poised to be another to remember — although it seems unlikely that we’ll remember it for good reasons. Because none of these teams may actually be any good.

Sure, Iowa is in the Top 25, where it will remain until next weekend’s loss at Penn State. But the Hawkeyes have not solved their offensive woes.

Cade McNamara is as below-average as those who came before him at Iowa and is already proving himself as 1 of the worst quarterbacks in the B1G. After playing 3 non-conference opponents, McNamara is 11th in the conference in yards per attempt (5.9), completion percentage (53.5%) and passer rating (112.99).

Yet thanks to their defense and a pretty solid backfield, it’s difficult to see anyone but the Hawkeyes as the favorite in this division of misfit teams.

Could it turn out to be Wisconsin? Possibly. But the Badgers have yet to turn in a complete performance in their first 3 games under Luke Fickell.

Tanner Mordecai, another hyped transfer who was going to transform a Big Ten West offense, is just another mediocre B1G West quarterback so far. He’s 8th in yards per attempt and passer rating with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s pass defense is a liability in its first season of the post-Jim Leonhard era. The Badgers are 12th in opposing completion percentage and 13th in passing yards allowed per game. But perhaps that won’t be such a liability in a division where few teams can actually pass.

Minnesota certainly can’t.

Athan Kaliakmanis ranks last in the league with a 51.1% completion rate and 90.64 passer rating. Kaliakmanis, like Tanner Morgan before him, somehow looks worse each game he plays for PJ Fleck after showing some initial promise. Gophers fans should be deeply concerned about what that says for the program’s future trajectory as the B1G approaches a more rugged future for its middle class.

Purdue can throw the ball but can’t stop anybody from doing same. The Boilermakers are 13th in the B1G in points allowed and total defense. Purdue has already allowed 22 plays of 20 yards or more this season — 9 more than any other Big Ten defense. The Boilers played the toughest non-conference schedule in the B1G, so maybe that will actually improve as they get into the conference schedule.

Could Illinois wake up and worm its way into the race? Now that Penn State is out of the way, the schedule gets more manageable for the 1-2 Illini. But they’ll need better from quarterback Luke Altmyer, who has 3 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. (Or they’ll need to change quarterbacks.)

Even with that horrendous split, Almyer is only the 4th-lowest rated passer in the B1G. Everyone worse, of course, is also in the West — McNamara, Kaliakmanis and Northwestern’s Ben Bryant.

Most years, B1G West teams have stout defenses to counter their iffy quarterbacks. Just last year, the West had 3 of the nation’s top 4 scoring defenses as well as the top 2 defenses in yards per play.

This year already feels different. These aren’t vintage B1G West defenses. Their performance on third down provides some insight.

So far, the 6 worst Big Ten defenses on third down all reside in the West. Iowa, the best in the bunch, is only 7th overall in the conference on third down.

As divisional crossover games are likely to demonstrate, the Big Ten West certainly appears to be saving its worst for last.

Around the B1G horn

Couldn’t watch every game? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

No. 2 Michigan 31, Bowling Green 6

An all-around affront to offensive football.

The teams combined for 7 turnovers despite weather not being a factor — 4 for Michigan and 3 for Bowling Green. The Falcons succeeded in slowing the tempo down as much as possible, running 57 plays to Michigan’s 44.

It’s a testament to Michigan’s explosive playmakers that a game this boring could produce 31 points for either team. Of those 44 plays for the Wolverines, 4 went for 20 yards or more.

No. 6 Ohio State 63, Western Kentucky 10

The Buckeyes looked like a top-1o team for the first time all season.

Kyle McCord was slinging it all over the yard the way we expect Ohio State quarterbacks to. The receiving corps looked unstoppable the way we expect Ohio State receivers to. And the defense added a pair of late touchdowns to make it look like this game was never close — which it actually was for the first 23 minutes or so.

In a week where Ohio State could have looked ahead to Notre Dame, it was clear the Buckeyes were looking within.

No. 7 Penn State 30, Illinois 13

FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff clearly made the right call by pulling out of Champaign and heading to Colorado, even though it meant fans had 10 hours of pregaming left between the end of the show and kickoff.

This should have been an interesting game, though. Illinois limited Nicholas Singleton to 37 yards and Kaytron Allen to 54. Drew Allar completed 48% of his passes for 208 yards.

But Illini quarterback Luke Altmyer threw 4 pretty bad interceptions — no bad bounces or superb plays by Penn State defenders. Just guys following their assignments and getting rewarded for it.

It’s a pretty good sign when you can still win an imperfect performance by 17 on the road.

No. 25 Iowa 41, Western Michigan 10

Iowa’s 4th-and-goal touchdown with 30 seconds left made money change hands, as the Hawkeyes covered the point spread as a result. It’ll be even more amusing if those 7 points make the difference in Brian Ferentz’s points threshold at the end of the season.

All kidding aside, Leshon Williams’ 145 yards on 12 carries were a major boost for Iowa with Kaleb Johnson being a late scratch.

Louisville 21, Indiana 14

There’s no making Jeff Brohm go away. He’s now 5-1 against the Hoosiers.

Indiana nearly overcame a 21-0 halftime deficit before tragically getting stuffed a yard short of tying the game late in the fourth quarter. IU fans may be thinking about that yard a lot this November if the Hoosiers finish a win shy of bowl eligibility.

Indiana is clearly better than it was a year ago, especially on defense. But the Hoosiers still can’t finish. Maybe that would change if they called something other than a run up the gut of a defense allowing 2.1 yards per carry with the game on the line.

No. 20 North Carolina 31, Minnesota 13

Hard to determine which was worse between Minnesota’s passing offense and Minnesota’s passing defense.

Scratch that. It’s not.

The defensive struggles are at least justifiable against North Carolina standout Drake Maye, who threw for 414 yards. The Gophers even picked him off twice, so it wasn’t all bad.

But a 36.7% completion percentage and 4.4 yards per attempt against a pass defense that is just 56th in the nation even after that stifling effort?

Horrendous.

No. 21 Duke 38, Northwestern 14

Calm down, chief. You beat Northwestern. The Wildcats haven’t beaten a Big Ten opponent in the United States since 2021.

No. 8 Washington 41, Michigan State 7

By yards allowed — 713 of them — it was the worst performance in Michigan State history.

The Huskies managed to outdo the 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers, an all-time great team that rolled the Spartans for an unholy 666 total yards in Nick Saban’s 2nd game as Michigan State’s head coach.

Under normal circumstances, this should have been the final game of defensive coordinator Scottie Hazelton’s tenure. But with his boss suspended, the Spartans still need all hands on deck.

Wisconsin 35, Georgia Southern 14

Even with 6 takeaways and 6 sacks, the Badgers were unable to put this game away until there were 6 minutes remaining. Maybe it was the 88 penalty yards.

Wisconsin also allowed 455 yards, which means the Eagles actually outgained the Badgers by 4 yards.

On top of those oddities, a game in which the offenses combined for more than 900 yards was tied 7-7 at halftime.

Weirdness all the way around.

Rutgers 35, Virginia Tech 16

The Scarlet Knights, who lost 12 straight to the Hokies from 1993-2012, scored the biggest win in series history against their old Big East foes. Granted, that wasn’t a difficult task to achieve. Rutgers’ largest margin of victory in the series was previously a 19-6 triumph in 1920.

Fittingly, Rutgers paid tribute to that 1920 victory by finishing with 46 passing yards and still winning by multiple scores.

Nebraska 35, Northern Illinois 11

Change your quarterback, change your life.

It was Jeff Sims’ ankle injury rather than his poor performance that forced Matt Rhule to start Heinrich Haarberg, but the positive results were almost immediate. Haarberg passed for 158 yards with 2 touchdowns and no interceptions and ran for 98 yards and a score to lead Nebraska to its first win of the season.

Rhule wouldn’t commit to Haarberg as the starter afterward, so we’ll see if he insists on learning this lesson the hard way.

Syracuse 35, Purdue 20

It is virtually impossible to play the game of football worse than the Boilermakers did, which makes the fact this game was still up in the air late in the fourth quarter rather miraculous.

Purdue fumbled 7 times, though the Orange were only able to pounce on 3 of those fumbles. The Boilermakers also committed 11 penalties for 126 yards, which accomplished the impossible feat of being worse than Syracuse’s 9 flags for 109 yards.

Give the Boilers credit for 1 thing, though. They improved on last year’s game against Syracuse, when they committed 13 penalties for 138 yards.

Week 3 MVPs

1. RB Kyle Monangai, Rutgers

Monangai makes our top 5 for the 2nd straight week, but this time he’s at the top. Monangai had 3 touchdowns and 143 yards on 16 carries and is now the Big Ten’s leading rusher.

2. DL Jer’Zhan ‘Johnny’ Newton, Illinois

Newton was the best player on the field against Penn State, which is no small feat given how loaded the Nittany Lions are. It doesn’t necessarily show in the stats, but he was everywhere on the field. Newton finished with 6 tackles, 2 QB hurries, 2 passes batted down at the line of scrimmage and a blocked field goal.

When he’s drafted in the first round next spring, the tape of this game will show why.

3. LB Aaron Casey, Indiana

Another valiant defensive effort in a losing cause.

Casey had 10 tackles, 3 TFL and 2 sacks against Louisville. And the stats don’t include the play where he tackled 2 Cardinals at once.

Casey is starting to look like Iowa’s Jack Campbell did a year ago — always a nightmare for opposing offenses to deal with.

4. QB Heinrich Haarberg, Nebraska

Haarberg accounted for 256 scrimmage yards with 3 touchdowns without throwing an interception, which may make this the best performance we’ve seen from a Nebraska quarterback in the 2020s.

5. QB Kyle McCord, Ohio State

McCord was 19-of-23 for 318 yards and 3 touchdowns. If we didn’t expect every Ohio State quarterback to routinely perform like that, we probably would have ranked this higher on the list.

Play of the week

Even in the worst showing of his career — 3 interceptions — JJ McCarthy was able to connect with Cornelius Johnson for the most magical play of the week. Though let’s be real — it’s Johnson doing most of the magic here.

Blooper of the week