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The Big Ten may want to change their name to the Little Ten (in football anyway)

After their awful showing a week ago, where Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State were outscored 112-48 against Notre Dame, Oregon, and Virginia Tech (as well as Purdue and Northwestern losing to MAC teams), it seemed as if things could only go up from there for the Big Ten, but given this past weekend's performance by the conference, that apparently wasn't the case.

Before this weekend, the Big Ten was a combined 1-5 (.167) against the other power 5 conferences (and Notre Dame). They'd also lost to two MAC teams. How did they perform against such clubs this weekend?

West Virginia 40 Maryland 37 (0-1)

Iowa State 20 Iowa 17 (0-2)

TCU 30 Minnesota 7 (0-3)

Washington 44 Illinois 19 (0-4)

Notre Dame 30 Purdue 14 (0-5)

Also, Bowling Green defeated Indiana 45-42 (third MAC team to beat a Big Ten team in the past two weeks)

So, to this point in the season, the Big Ten is 1-10 (.091) against the other four power conferences (and Notre Dame), with only seven other such contests left on the slate pre-bowl season. These games include:

1) Indiana at Missouri (likely loss)

2) Iowa at Pittsburgh (likely loss)

3) Maryland at Syracuse (toss-up)

4) Utah at Michigan (leaning win)

5) Miami (Florida) at Nebraska (leaning win)

6) Cincinnati at Ohio State (leaning win)

7) Northwestern at Notre Dame (likely loss)

Even if the Big Ten were to go unbeaten in these seven games (which is highly unlikely), they'd finish 8-10 (.444) against such competition this season (pre-bowls). If they go 3-4 or 4-3, which is much more likely, they'd finish either 4-14 (.222) or 5-13 (.278) against such competition.

After three weeks, there are only two unbeatens left in the Big Ten conference - Nebraska and Penn State, neither of whom were ranked in the AP top 25 this past week. The conference is 1-10 against the other power 5 conferences (and Notre Dame), with their most impressive such victory (their only victory) coming via Big Ten newcomer Rutgers against winless Washington State. Yes, the conference may be called the "Big" Ten, but to this point in the season, they've appeared to be anything but that, and may want to alter their name to a much more fitting title - the Little Ten.

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/scoreboard?confId=5&seasonYear=2014&seasonType=2&weekNumber=3
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