Time to separate the contenders from the pretenders in the Big Ten, as most of the top half teams in the conference play each other.

A quick glance at the stats shows that Indiana has dominated, clearly. They've dominated so much that even without their captain and best player, Bryce Campbell, they are heavily favored against Michigan.

Flyhalf Teddy Terezis has scored 79 in the three conference games - over 26 points per game. Campbell has three tries, but his job has been more about distributing, helping set up Terezis (four tries), Tyler Sousley (five), and wing Jake Hidalgo (six). Flanker Tyler Graham also has scored five tries, while the entire Indiana team has given up exactly one try.

Also this weekend, Ohio State, 2-0, visits Illinois. The Buckeyes have not faced any of the stronger teams in the conference yet, but they've looked pretty good overall, despite a loss to Bowling Green. This game against Illinois could well decide one of the playoff teams for the Big Ten. Nathaniel Heister scored three tries for Ohio State in their 78-0 shutout of Iowa last week, and Jaime Barlow and John Walsh scored two. Illinois didn't play a conference game last week, and were thumped by IU the week before. but the Illini shut out Iowa September 17 45-0.

So what we will see, likely, is that Ohio State might end the weekend 3-0, and Indiana should beat Michigan even though the Wolverines were 2-0, leaving IU at 4-0.

So who else will challenge at the top? Well that question could be answered with Wisconsin at Minnesota. For Wisconsin, with the Crass brothers, Hunter and Tyler, playing smartly in the backs and Josh Kowalczyk leading a good forward effort, things are looking up. But of interest is Minnesota, a team that has undergone some coaching changes and looking to break into the conference's upper echelon.

Last week's 17-14 win over Michigan State wasn't exactly pretty, but two tries from Gabriel Cesarini, and another from Isaiah Nichols-Floyd, did the job. Cesarini scored the game-winner with ten minutes to go. 

Minnesota, then, is 1-1, and new coaches Jimmy Hanson and Mikayla Miller are looking to make big changes. 

"When Mikayla and I agreed to serve as interim coaches in January, we were surprised to see that we had only one senior, while the rest of the team was almost all freshmen and sophomores," said Hanson. "While they're young, most of them had come in with at least some rugby experience. Over the last eight months we've been able to entice a few experienced players back into the program and we've been fortunate to get some fresh athletes in the door too. These guys really care about each other, they care about the program, and they are eager to push towards their potential."

Hanson said recruiting and player retention is all about the culture.

"History says we'll get anywhere between 40 and 50 guys per year who are interested in rugby. At this point, we're only retaining about 25 of them. We believe that once we create a program that keeps the right people in the door our culture will continue to grow into something that people want to be, and stay, a part of. That, mixed with taking better advantage of existing recruiting opportunities and getting creative in some new ways, will hopefully get us over the tipping point," said the coach. "In terms of our D1A competition, it seems we definitely have some catching up to do. The bar has definitely risen over the last decade and teams need to have more pieces in place to be a regular competitor. When I played in the Big 10, it was enough that we were pretty good at the rugby part. Now you need to be actual athletes, too. Everyone is bigger, stronger and faster. Good rugby just isn't enough anymore. If we can get the recruiting and retention piece down and get the guys to adhere to the right strength and conditioning programs, in addition to continually getting better at the rugby part, I think we can grow to the point of regularly competing at the top of Big 10."

That's a big job, and it may not be accomplished yet, but the Gophers are one of the teams trying to get there.

This weekend's games: