It doesn’t look like either team will make it back to Indianapolis this December.

The Spartans (2-5, 0-4 Big Ten) are a staggering four games behind No. 2 Michigan (7-0, 4-0) heading into their annual showdown game this Saturday.

The Hawkeyes (5-3, 3-2), who are off this week, still has something of a plausible path to the West title. But it involves winning their final four games, which would include home victories over the Wolverines and unbeaten and seventh-ranked Nebraska (7-0, 4-0), and one more loss for Wisconsin (5-2, 2-2) and two for surging Northwestern (4-3, 3-1).

So how did two teams that just 10 months ago played a title game end up here?

Michigan State’s young defense, which held the Hawkeyes to just 13 points in that slugfest of a championship game in 2015, is letting up nearly 30 points a game. The Spartans had as many as six freshmen playing defense at times in last week’s last week’s 28-17 loss to Maryland (5-2, 2-2).

Iowa’s defense ranks 20th nationally at 18.9 points allowed per game. But its offense has been a mess since mid-September, failing to score more than 21 points in four of its last six games.

”It certainly gives you time to look deeper at what you’re doing and re-assess where your team is at,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said of the bye week. ”Right now, we’ve come short three times. We’d certainly like to close that gap.”

Michigan State hosts rival Michigan knowing that a loss would eliminate the Spartans from the East race.

”The (Michigan) game is played on the field. You’ve got to be able to block, tackle and catch the football,” Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said. ”This is a very fundamental game played at a very high level, and we’ve got to be able to win our fair share of battles.”

BAD BREAK FOR THE BADGERS

Wisconsin kept its slim West hopes alive with a 17-9 win at Iowa last week. But the Badgers suffered a major blow when it was announced that linebacker Jack Cichy, its leading tackler, is out for the season with a torn pectoral. Cichy had 60 tackles, including 37 in his last three games. The Badgers host the Huskers in a critical West showdown, and sophomore Ryan Connelly is expected to take Cichy’s place.

THORSON’S GROWTH

A big reason why Northwestern has turned into a 1-3 start into a winning record has been the progress of sophomore quarterback Clayton Thorson. He has nine touchdown passes against just one pick in his last three games, all victories, and is third in the Big Ten with 240 yards passing per game. The only league player with more touchdowns than Thorson (14) is J.T. Barrett of No. 6 Ohio State (6-1, 3-1), who host the Wildcats on Saturday.

”He’s really gaining confidence through his experience. It’s gaining knowledge of our offense, trusting in his abilities and just playing at a faster tempo,” said Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald, an Illinois native who yelled ”Go Cubs!” at the end of his time on the weekly coaches’ teleconference.

GEORGE LEGACY AT ILLINOIS

Illinois found itself down to its third quarterback in last week’s 41-8 loss to Michigan, and the game went about as expected. Jeff George Jr., the son of former Illini star and top NFL draft pick Jeff George, was 4 of 15 passing for 95 yards with a TD, an interception and a fumble in his first start. Coach Lovie Smith wouldn’t commit to George as the starter for this week’s home game with Minnesota (2-5, 1-3).

”We saw improvement on until the end of the game. What Jeff brings to the table is a strong arm. He’s confident in his arm, making all of the throws,” Smith said.

HE SAID IT

”We’re in this together, as a staff and as players. Tough coaches and tough players fight through things,” said Ohio State coach Urban Meyer about last week’s loss. All three of Meyer’s national title teams bounced back from a regular-season loss.

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Online: www.collegefootball.ap.org

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The 15-1 Cardinals took advantage of losses by Duke and Michigan to move up two spots to No. 1 on Monday in The Associated Press’ Top 25 poll. This is just the second time in school history they’re on top. The other time was the final poll of 2008-09, a season in which they reached the final eight of the NCAA tournament.

Hours later, Louisville used a strong second half to beat Connecticut 73-60 on Monday night to move to 16-1.

Louisville was one of five teams to receive a first-place vote this week, and that backs Pitino’s point.

“I think the top teams will play musical chairs for No. 1 for the next two months and it will be really significant at the end of the year,” Pitino said before the Monday’s game. “We played a tough nonconference schedule and I’m really happy the way our guys have battled through injuries. We’ll try to hold the musical top as long as we can.”

The Cardinals, who have won 11 straight since losing to Duke in the final of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, received 36 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel. That’s 23 more than Indiana, which moved up from fifth.

Indiana was No. 1 in the preseason poll and for the first five weeks of the regular season. Duke, which was No. 1 for the past four weeks, was third with 14 No. 1 votes. The Blue Devils were followed by Kansas and Michigan, which drew one first-place vote each.

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Four teams entered the week unbeaten — Duke, Michigan, Arizona and Wyoming — and each suffered its first loss.

It was the first time three of the top four teams lost in the same week since November 2003, when the top four teams — Connecticut, Duke, Michigan State and Arizona — all were defeated.

Syracuse, Arizona, Gonzaga, Minnesota and Florida rounded out this week’s top 10.

There were four newcomers to the poll this week: No. 21 Oregon, No. 22 Virginia Commonwealth, No. 24 UCLA and No. 25 Marquette.

It is VCU’s first ranking since the 1984-85 season. Oregon is back in for the first time since 2007-08. Marquette was ranked last season, and UCLA, which was No. 13 in the preseason poll, is back after being out for the past seven weeks.

They replaced Georgetown, Cincinnati, Wichita State and UNLV, who all lost once last week.

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He bounced back to play again and Derrick Nix scored 17 points to help No. 22 Michigan State pull away for a 66-56 victory over Nebraska on Sunday night.

The Spartans — and Dawson in particular — held their breath early in the second half when the sophomore forward tumbled to the court in pain. He missed the Big Ten and NCAA tournament last season after tearing the ACL in his left knee.

“I was scared for a minute and said, ‘Not again,’ ” he said.

Nebraska’s Ray Gallegos was called for a foul when he trailed Dawson on his layup attempt.

“He really didn’t clip me,” Dawson said. “When I planted, the knee buckled.”

After Dawson was examined, he walked slowly off the court and later was able to jog back onto it.

“All of a sudden he came out running like Superman,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said.

Dawson was cleared to return much to the delight of the fans, who gave him a standing ovation with ear-to-ear grins.

“I think my smile was even bigger,” Izzo said. “I was scared to death.”

Dawson showed his knee was very healthy in the final seconds, soaring to slam an alley-oop pass from Keith Appling for the game’s final basket.

Michigan State didn’t have much else to cheer about until late in what was a closely contested game for much of the night.

“I have no idea why we looked so lethargic and why we missed so many shots,” Izzo said. “I am very disappointed in the performance.”

The Spartans (14-3, 3-1 Big Ten) have won three straight and kept the Cornhuskers (9-8, 0-4) from winning their first conference game this season.

Nebraska, which lost its two previous Big Ten road games to Michigan and Ohio State by an average of 20-plus points, was very competitive for much of the game at Michigan State.

“We’re not in it for any sort of consolation prize,” first-year Cornhuskers coach Tim Miles said. “We want to win the game.

“Credit Michigan State, they made winning plays. We had a bad shot and two turnovers late that hurt us. We don’t have enough things going our way to make errors late in the game.”

Nebraska’s David Rivers was put in the starting lineup and had 18 points — two points from his career high — in a breakout performance for a player averaging 5-plus points a game.

“I was more focused,” he said. “I knew someone had to step up and it just happened to be me who made some shots.”

Dylan Talley scored 17 points and Gallegos added 12 while Cornhuskers center Andre Almeida was held scoreless. The Huskers were without Brandon Ubel, who missed the game with an elbow injury. The 6-foot-10 senior is Nebraska’s leading rebounder and third-leading scorer.

Spartans reserve center Adreian Payne scored 14 points, combining with Nix to score 31 points.

“Their big kids went 12 of 17 and our center was 0 for 4,” Miles said. “We need Andre to match those guys if we’re going to be successful.”

Nix broke a 50-all tie with a layup with 6:17 left and Appling later connected on three free throws to give the Spartans a five-point lead, matching their largest to that time. After Nebraska pulled within a point, freshman Gary Harris responded with a 3-pointer — after missing his first 10 shots — that put Michigan State ahead 58-54 with 1:49 remaining during a 14-4 run.

Izzo, though, was not happy.

“They played harder than us, they coached better than us,” Izzo said. “They probably deserved to win the game in every way.”

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