7. Indiana Hoosiers (3-0)
Last week's ranking: No. 8 (+1)
Last week's game: W, 73-0 vs Indiana State
The Hoosiers looked for real in their Friday night trampling of Indiana State, one of those games where the eye test matched the result despite there being a huge skill gap between them and their opponent. Fernando Mendoza had a beautiful stat line: 19-for-20 with 270 passing yards and five touchdowns. Now ranked No. 19 in the nation, Indiana has a real chance to repeat last season's heroics.
8. Michigan Wolverines (2-1)
Last week's ranking: No. 9 (+1)
Last week's game: W, 63-3 vs Central Michigan
Michigan is a weird team this year, as it looked like a completely different team this week than it did last week in an underwhelming loss to Oklahoma. Sure, the level of competition of the two teams they played are vastly different, but Bryce Underwood once again looked like a superstar after being completely counted out. Its upcoming matchup against Nebraska will be a super curious one to watch.
9. Nebraska Cornhuskers (3-0)
Last week's ranking: No. 7 (-2)
Last week's game: W, 59-7 vs Houston Christian
The Cornhuskers drop two positions in the power rankings despite back-to-back big wins against lowly opponents. There's nothing they did wrong to deserve the fall, but their nationally-ranked counterparts just deserve a little extra recognition. Luckily for them, they have a chance to immediately jump back to where they were with a matchup against Michigan coming up.
10. Michigan State Spartans (3-0)
Last week's ranking: No. 11 (+1)
Last week's game: W, 41-24 vs Youngstown State
The Spartans are 3-0, but it hasn't exactly looked pretty. FCS Youngstown State kept it close with them this past week, they nearly lost to Boston College the week before, and they had an uninspiring win against an 0-3 Western Michigan team in Week 1. This week's game against USC is the ultimate "prove it" game for Michigan State in the early part of its season.
11. Minnesota Golden Gophers (2-1)
Last week's ranking: No. 10 (-1)
Last week's game: L, 27-14 vs California
I'll give some grace to Minnesota despite its loss, as it came at the hands of a Cal team that looks like it will be pretty good this season. The Gophers' offense didn't look bad despite scoring only 14 points - it had 335 yards of offense, balanced on the ground and through the air, which was only five less yards than Cal. Turnovers ended up being the difference in the game, but looking at the box score, it was an evenly-matched contest.
12. Iowa Hawkeyes (2-1)
Last week's ranking: No. 12
Last week's game: W, 47-7 vs UMass
Iowa's offense bounced back after a treacherous performance against Iowa State, as quarterback Mark Gronowski finally threw over 100 yards. However, the Iowa State loss now looks even worse on their resume after the Cyclones barely squeaked by Arkansas State.