The No. 6 Oregon Ducks improved to 7-1 on the season with a home win over the Wisconsin Badgers. The top three teams in the Big Ten power rankings remain unchan

With the conclusion of Week 9 in the Big Ten, the conference standings are beginning to take shape. A trio of contenders have separated themselves from the pack — yet the Oregon Ducks, among those three, still struggled mightily on Saturday evening against a rugged Wisconsin squad that came ready to play.

Based on records to date, the Big Ten has five options for a fourth bid: Iowa, Nebraska, Washington, USC and Michigan. They have the same number of losses (two) but different resumes. Our assessment of their CFP prospects, from best to worst:

Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt revealed his midseason top 5 coach of the year candidates and two Big Ten coaches made his list.

Wisconsin class of 2026 commit, linebacker Aden Reeder, is taking an official visit to Michigan on Saturday for its home game vs. Purdue

Michigan joins Matt Painter 's Purdue in the top 10 from the Big Ten Conference, while UCLA, Illinois, Michigan State and Wisconsin are among the other teams from the conference in the top 25 to start the season. Led by Braden Smith, the Boilermakers are the early favorite for not only the national championship but also for the Big Ten Conference.

Ben Bolch of the L.A. Times posted on Monday afternoon the current odds for who will be the Bruins ' next coach, and Smith was near the top of the list. Per BetOnline, Smith has the second-best posted odds of being the next UCLA head coach at 4-1. Only Washington head coach Jedd Fisch has better odds at 3-1.

Heading into the season, NBC Sports senior writer, Kurt Helin, had the Houston Rockets ranked as the sixth-best team in the Association. And that may have been