A shift of power was legitimately felt in the Big 10 this year. Highly hyped traditional powers suffered once-in-a-generation upsets and surprising losing streaks, while mediocre programs followed their new coaches to in-conference success. Don't believe me? Check the statistics from the past ten years. (Note: The numbers in parentheses are the finishing Big 10 ranking of the team in 2008. For ranking the teams that had the same in-conference record in 2008, I went to overall record. If that didn't resolve which team was ranked higher, I went to head-to-head match-up.)
| Team | Overall Record | In-Conference Record | Bowl Record | Big 10 Championships | |
| #1 | Ohio State(2) | 94-27 | 60-20 | 5-4 | 5 |
| #2 | Michigan(10) | 93-32 | 63-17 | 5-5 | 4 |
| #3 | Wisconsin(6) | 90-37 | 44-36 | 6-3 | 2 |
| #4 | Penn State(1) | 74-48 | 42-38 | 5-1 | 1 |
| #5 | Purdue(9) | 74-51 | 45-35 | 3-6 | 1 |
| #6 | Iowa(5) | 64-57 | 40-40 | 3-3 | 2 |
| #7 | Minnesota(7) |
62-59 | 31-49 | 3-4 | 0 |
| #8 | MSU(3) | 61-59 | 32-48 | 2-2 | 0 |
| #9 | Northwestern(4) | 50-69 | 29-51 | 0-3 | 1 |
| #10 | Illinois(8) | 48-69 | 27-53 | 1-2 | 1 |
| #11 | Indiana(11) | 40-75 | 21-59 | 0-1 |
0 |
Michigan's well-documented fall from perennial power is shown in its -8 difference. Wisconsin's -3 difference, while not as dramatic as the Wolverines, seemed especially steep because of the Badgers #8 preseason national ranking. Michigan State and Northwestern, spurred on by their intense coaches and solid defenses, both show a +5 difference thanks to their strong play.