​Three weeks are now in the rearview mirror for this year’s college football season, and we are starting to learn a little bit about the Big Ten and which teams look like pretenders and those that have some work to do in order to even be considered pretenders.We still feel pretty good about Ohio State and Indiana, but we might be able to throw Penn State, USC, and Oregon (maybe Iowa) into that conversation as well. Rutgers and Purdue look to be two of the bottom teams right now, and the rest will have to sort themselves out. And then there’s Michigan, and that’a bout all we can say about that.It’s our weekly Big Ten football power rankings, and things continue to sort themselves out and will so even more when the conference season gets fully underway. There are only three games to judge by, and this will change a thousand ways once the teams in the League start beating up on themselves.Here’s a look at our Week 3 Big Ten football power rankings. We start from No. 18 and make our way down to No. 1.No. 18 – Rutgers Scarlet Knights (0-3) | No. 18 last week ⇔LastGame Result: Lost 42-35 vs. USCNext Game: vs. HowardWhy the rankingRutgers played a lot better against what we think is a pretty good USC team but still fell short. The Scarlet Knights are still winless on the season, and it’s hard to put them anywhere but here at this point. Maybe Greg Schiano’s crew can use this last performance as a springboard to better things.No. 17 – Purdue Boilermakers (1-2) | No. 17 last week ⇔LastGame Result: Lost 52-38 at UCLANext Game: vs. Notre DameWhat goes into the rankingThe Boilermakers have had no problem putting up points but often leave the defense on the bus. It looks like Purdue will have to outscore teams this year, and that’s going to be hard once we get into the heart of Big Ten play.No. 16 – Minnesota Golden Gophers (2-1) | No. 16 last week ⇔LastGame Result: Won 41-7 vs. AkronNext Game: at WashingtonWhat goes into the rankingThe Golden Gophers looked like world beaters against Akron, but we can’t forget the egg they laid against Mississippi State, which is more indicative of the competition P.J. Fleck will have his team rowing against. The former is probably more accurate than the latter.No. 15 – Michigan State Spartans (2-1) | No. 15 last week ⇔LastGame Result: Lost 27-10 at Notre DameNext Game: vs. NebraskaWhat goes into the rankingWe still don’t know enough about what Pat Fitzgerald has cooking in East Lansing. The Spartans looked competitive against a very good, potential CFP team, Notre Dame. If they keep playing like that, it could be a good start to a new era. We’ll likely know more next week when Nebraska comes to town.No. 14 – Maryland Terrapins (2-1) | No. 13 last week ⇩LastGame Result: Lost 35-26 vs. Virginia TechNext Game: vs. UCLAWhat goes into the rankingI guess we shouldn’t be surprised by what happened against Virginia Tech. Maryland has beaten up on inferior teams and struggled against those with a pulse during the M