By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – My second Big Ten football power rankings has no change on top, but there was close to being a change as Iowa fans saw this past Saturday night at Kinnick Stadium where Penn State escaped with a last-second victory.

The Nittany Lions literally were inches away from losing to Iowa, but Trace McSorley's 7-yard touchdown pass to Juwan Johnson as time expired somehow managed to miss the outstretched fingers of several Iowa defenders, including sophomore free safety Amani Hooker.

"During the moment, it felt like I was real close to it," Hooker sid. "And then watching it on video, I was still real close to it. Probably a couple inches."

I thought briefly about listing the name Saquon Barkley instead of Penn State because there were times in last Saturday's game against Iowa when he seemed like a one-man show. But football is also considered the ultimate team sport and Barkley didn't score the game-winning touchdown, so I went with Penn State.

I still believe that Ohio State is the most talented team on paper, but we won't know for sure until after the Buckeyes defeat Rutgers, Maryland and Nebraska in the next three games to set the stage for the Oct. 28th showdown against Penn State at home.

As for Iowa, it moved up one spot from my first rankings despite the 21-19 loss to Penn State. Some will dismiss me as being a homer, but it was more a case of giving Iowa credit for nearly pulling off a huge upset and because the pickings were slim under the circumstances.

Minnesota and Northwestern are coming off bye weeks, while Maryland, Michigan State and Purdue are coming off losess.

You could almost say that Iowa moved up one spot by default.

1. Penn State, 4-0, 1-0 – The Nittany Lions are proof that softer NCAA sanctions and an incredible running back can make a disgraced program elite again.

2. Michigan, 4-0, 1-0 – Jim Harbaugh complains to the local gas and sip that its crushed ice isn’t crushed enough and it hurts his teeth, which hurts his ability to coach football.

3. Wisconsin, 3-0, 0-0 – I’m guessing Paul Chryst spent the bye week admiring Barry Alvarez and doing whatever he said to do.

4. Ohio State 3-1, 1-0 – The Buckeyes set a school record with seven different receivers catching touchdown passes in the 54-21 victory Nevada-Las Vegas this past Saturday. Some Ohio State fans still aren’t pleased and wonder why it wasn’t eight different receivers and why the Buckeyes haven't won a national title since 2014..

5. Iowa, 3-1, 0-1 – The Hawkeyes lost on the field, but moved up one spot in the rankings because of how they lost and because the nine teams ranked below them did nothing to show they’re better, including Minnesota, which is coming off a bye week.

6. Minnesota 3-0, 0-0 – I’m hearing that P.J. Fleck used his entire roster of players to body surf across campus before doing 60 push-ups on his knuckles in honor of the kid from the Cobra Kai who had to do 60 push-ups on his knuckles as punishment after being knocked down on the mat in the 1984 movie classic, “The Karate Kid.”

7. Indiana, 2-1, 0-1 – The next two games against Penn State and Michigan will say a lot about Indiana’s potential and about the condition of its visiting lockeroom.   

8. Northwestern, 2-1, 0-0 – The Northwestern players spent the bye week excelling in academics.

9. Purdue, 2-2, 0-1 – It probably isn’t in his contract, but first-year Purdue coach Jeff Brohm should receive a bonus for keeping Purdue fans interested in football throughout the month of September.

10. Michigan State, 2-1 0-0 – The Spartans are 5-10 overall since defeating Iowa in the 2015 Big Ten championship game. Jim Harbaugh is also having sleepovers with elite recruits, so there is an uneasy feeling in East Lansing.

11. Maryland, 2-1, 0-0 – The Terrapins won at Texas 51-41 in the season opener and lost at home to Central Florida 38-10 last Saturday. Where in Pete’s sake would you rank them?

12. Nebraska, 2-2, 1-0 – Now that former All-American center Dave Rimington has agreed to be Nebraska’s interim athletic director, the school should consider asking the NCAA to make an exception and allow the 57-year old Rimington to play a fifth season with the Cornhuskers.

13. Illinois, 2-1, 0-0 – I recently was asked when the last time Illinois was dominant in football and then started my answer by researching Red Grange on the Internet.

14. Rutgers, 1-3, 0-1 – After spending last week in the 13^th spot, the Scarlet Knights have done a Maxine Nightingale and are right back to where they started from last year.