There is a national championship contender in the Big Ten not named Ohio State or Oregon.

It’s just not the team everyone assumed it would be.

Penn State has proven itself to be unworthy of its lofty preseason ranking, and at this rate the Nittany Lions aren’t even a lock to play in a bowl game, especially now that quarterback Drew Allar is out for the season with a leg injury and coach James Franklin was fired on Sunday.

Then there is Indiana, overlooked entering the season, dismissed as a one-year fluke. The anti-Penn State, earning everything.