By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – After ranking the Big Ten football teams for this week, I reached these four conclusions:

Jim Harbaugh is way overpaid.

Tom Allen is way underpaid.

Tradition and hype is overrated.

Developmental programs are underrated.

Harbaugh is the Big Ten’s highest paid coach, earning slightly more than $8 million annually, but he hasn’t earned that ridiculous salary this season, or in any season at Michigan, for that matter, considering he has yet to defeat Ohio State and has just one victory against Michigan State.

The Wolverines fell to 2-4 with Saturday’s 27-17 loss to previously winless Penn State, and it’s been stunning to see how far, and how fast, both of these blue-blood programs have fallen this season.

I found myself watching the Indiana-Rutgers game more this past Saturday than the Penn State-Michigan game because it was more entertaining.

Just think about that.

And speaking of Indiana, Tom Allen has done a masterful job in turning a program with so little tradition into a Big Ten contender.

Allen’s emotional post-game speech to his players in the moments after Indiana’s 42-35 loss at Ohio State was captivating. His players hung on every word as Allen praised them for not quitting after falling way behind.

Something can be gained from losing, and Allen gained even more respect from his players for how he responded to the Ohio State loss.

Speaking of the Buckeyes, their toughest opponent so far has been the COVID-19 global pandemic, which has cost Ohio State two games, including this past Saturday’s game against Illinois.

Ohio State has to play at least six games to qualify for the Big Ten championship game, so yes, the situation is critical.

The Big Ten only has five teams with winning records right now, and obviously, those five teams occupy the top five spots.

That was the easy part.

The hard part was ranking the other nine teams with non-winning records. It was sort of like ranking Air Supply’s top nine songs in that it was hard to choose which teams weren’t quite as bad as the others. I could’ve just used records to rank the teams, but records can be deceiving.

1. Ohio State, 4-0 – COVID-19 has been a much tougher opponent for Ohio State than Michigan ever has been under Jim Harbaugh.

2. Indiana, 5-1 – Tom Allen makes approximately $5.3 million less than Jim Harbaugh does annually.

3. Northwestern, 5-1 – Pat Fitzgerald makes slightly more than $5 million annually, which is probably less than what two-thirds of his current players will be making in 10 years, thanks to their degrees from Northwestern.

4. Wisconsin, 2-1 – The Badgers have been more inactive than the Maytag repair man. I know, I’m dating myself.

5. Iowa, 4-2 – Clap your hands, of course, with permission from Scott Frost, if you think Iowa is the best 4-2 team in the country.

6. Maryland, 2-2 – Unlike Ohio State, the Terrapins seem to benefit from not playing.

7. Rutgers, 2-4 – The Scarlet Knights are without question the best Power 5 team from the state of New Jersey.

8. Purdue, 2-3 – The Boilermakers, despite having two of the best receivers in college football, are the third best Power 5 team in the state of Indiana.

9. Minnesota, 2-3 – P.J. Fleck is in a hotly contested battle with Scott Frost for the top spot on the list of Big Ten head coaches who annoy Kirk Ferentz the most.

10. Illinois, 2-3 – I’m guessing Lovie Smith would be near the top of the list of Big Ten head coaches for whom Kirk Ferentz respects the most.

11. Michigan State, 2-3 – The up-and-down Spartans are harder to read than a book written in Chinese.

12. Michigan, 2-4 – Jim Harbaugh might have trouble right now finding anybody who wants to have a sleepover with him.

13. Nebraska, 1-4 – Despite being 10-19 under Scott Frost, Nebraska fans still can take pride in having the best Power 5 team from the state of Nebraska.

14. Penn State, 1-5 – Penn State might actually be the best 1-5 team in the country.