SHORT TAKES
• Northwestern calls itself "Chicago's Big Ten team," but it was sure hard to tell last weekend. The Wildcats received little to no mention in the local papers on Friday and Saturday, before the Gophers game. About 30,000 fans showed up at Ryan Field. The 27-0 win lifted Northwestern to No. 13 in the AP poll. As Teddy Greenstein wrote in the Sunday edition of the Chicago Tribune: "This team deserves far more."
• Saturday's marquee Big Ten game pits Northwestern, with the nation's No. 1 scoring defense (7.0), at Michigan, which ranks No. 2 in that category (7.6). Sure, Jim Harbaugh has put his stamp on the Wolverines already. But people forget that Michigan allowed the seventh-fewest yards in the country last season (311.3 per game) under then-coach Brady Hoke.
• 'Bama's Nick Saban is the highest-salaried college football coach ($7.09 million), according to USA Today. From the Big Ten, Harbaugh is second ($7M), OSU's Urban Meyer third ($5.86M), PSU's James Franklin eighth ($4.40M), Iowa's Kirk Ferentz 14th ($4.08M), MSU's Mark Dantonio 21st ($3.67M), NU's Mike Riley 39th ($2.7M), the U's Jerry Kill 43rd ($2.50M), NW's Pat Fitzgerald 44th ($2.49M) and UW's Paul Chryst 46th ($2.3 million).
