INSIDE SLANT: Gophers flying under the radar

As the number of unbeaten teams across the country dwindled to four this week, the one-loss teams are right back in the mix for the inaugural College Football Playoff. That includes the Big Ten's Michigan State, Ohio State, Nebraska and -- Minnesota?

The Gophers remain unranked in the Associated Press poll this week and are really on no one's national radar. They barely survived lowly Purdue in a 39-38 victory on Saturday in Minneapolis. But they are 3-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since 1990 and No. 24 in this week's coaches' poll.

And there's a strong possibility that Minnesota moves to 4-0 in the conference next week when they visit lowly Illinois, which has one Big Ten win in the past two seasons. The Gophers' only loss so far this season came on the road to No. 10 TCU in a nonconference game.

Minnesota had to work hard to get past Purdue, overcoming a 31-20 halftime deficit and going ahead for the first time since early in the game on a 52-yard field goal with 4:59 left.

"Good teams find a way to win," coach Jerry Kill told his players during halftime. "We're going to find out about your character and we're going to find out about your discipline. I've been here a million times, but Minnesota has not always been here. We need to find out who we are and what we are."

If Minnesota did run the table in the Big Ten, it would be quite an accomplishment. Their last four games are Ohio State and Iowa at home and Nebraska and Wisconsin on the road.

The Gophers recognize there's a lot of heavy lifting yet to do.

"It's just a start," said running back David Cobb, who rushed for 194 yards and one touchdown against Purdue to surpass 1,000 yards for the second straight year. "So it depends on how we finish."

It's unlikely that the Gophers will run the gauntlet, but it's exciting for a program that has struggled for years to even dream about the possibility of reaching the Big Ten championship game in December in Indianapolis.

Should Minnesota somehow get that far, the opponent most certainly will be eighth-ranked Michigan State (6-1, 3-0) or No. 13 Ohio State (5-1, 2-0). Both stayed where they were last week in the Associated Press poll after identical 56-17 victories over Indiana and Rutgers, respectively.

"I think polls are just something to do until the end of the year, to be honest with you," Dantonio said.

Ohio State coach Urban Meyer thinks the Buckeyes are a top-10 team.

"I'm sure you're asking me so someone will blog it out and say, 'Here's Coach Meyer rantin' and ravin'.' I'm not," he said. "Do I think we're top 10? I don't really watch other teams, but I think we're playing at a pretty high level right now."

Before the Michigan State-Ohio State showdown on Nov. 8 in East Lansing, the Buckeyes have games at Penn State and at home against Illinois, and the Spartans face archrival Michigan at home before a bye week.

"This week is very big for us," Michigan State running back Nick Hill said Saturday after running for a career-best 178 yards against Indiana. "It's a rivalry game, there's going to be a lot of emotion, a lot of preparation with an attitude. But we're going to stick to what we do; we're not going to get overly emotional about it. We're going to play with a chip on our shoulder and come out like we still have something to prove."

FIVE BIGGEST TAKEAWAYS FROM WEEK 8 IN THE BIG TEN:

1. Are Michigan State and Ohio State as identical as their 56-17 victories on Saturday suggest? The Spartans routed Indiana and the Buckeyes whipped Rutgers by the same scores. Both have one loss this season and none in conference play. Can the Nov. 8 meeting in East Lansing get here soon enough?

2. Nebraska and Minnesota could be headed for a showdown for West Division supremacy on Nov. 22 in Lincoln. Minnesota is 3-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since 1990 and faces Illinois on the road and Iowa and Ohio State at home before taking on the Cornhuskers, who are 6-1 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten.

3. After Saturday's games, the Big Ten solidified its position as the rushing kings of college football. The top four ground gainers in major college football all hail from the conference. Indiana's Tevin Coleman remained No. 1 with 1,192 yards, followed by Wisconsin's Melvin Gordon (1,046), Nebraska's Ameer Abdullah (1,013) and Minnesota's David Cobb (1,013). Cobb had the best day this weekend with 194 yards on 35 carries and one touchdown in a 39-38 win over Purdue.

4. Ohio State redshirt freshman J.T. Barrett wasn't even supposed to play this year until Braxton Miller went down with a season-ending shoulder injury that forced him onto the field. From out of nowhere has become the best quarterback in the Big Ten and maybe even a Heisman Trophy contender. He has been phenomenal in leading the Buckeyes to four straight wins since the loss to Virginia Tech and ranks third nationally in passing efficiency and sixth in touchdown passes (20) and first in the Big Ten in total offense (333.0 yards per game).

5. Northwestern has an emerging young running back with Justin Jackson. The freshman rushed for 128 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries in Saturday's 38-21 loss to Nebraska. He is sixth in the Big Ten in rushing with 630 yards in seven games. Jackson has helped the Wildcats overcome the loss of Venric Mark, a senior who decided before the season to transfer.